Passage 1

Hidden Valley looks a lot like the dozens of other camps that dot the woods of central Maine.

There′s a lake, some soccer fields and horses. But the campers make the difference. They′re allAmerican parents who have adopted kids from China. They′re at Hidden Valley to find bridgesfrom their children′s old worlds to the new. Diana Becker watches her 3-year-old daughter Mikadance to a Chinese version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." "Her soul is Chinese," she says, "butreally she′ s growing up American."

Hidden Valley and a handful of other "culture camps" serving families with children fromoverseas reflect the huge rise in the number of foreign adoptions, from 7,093 in 1990 to 15,774 lastyear. Most children come from Russia (4,491 last year) and China (4,206) but there are alsothousands of others adopted annually from South America, Asia and Eastern Europe. After cuttingthrough what can be miles of red tape, parents often come home to find a new predicament. "At firstyou think, ′I need a child′," says Sandy Lachter of Washington, D.C., who with her husband, Steve,adopted Amelia,5, from China in 1995. "Then you think, ′What does the child need′"

The culture camps give families a place to find answers to those kinds of questions. Most grewout of local support groups; Hidden Valley was started last year by the Boston chapter of Familieswith Children from China, which includes 650 families, while parents address weighty issues likehow to raise kids in a mixed-race family, their children just have fun riding horses, singing Chinesesongs or making scallion pancakes. "My philosophy of camping is that they could be doing anything,as long as they see other Chinese kids with white parents," says the director, Peter Kassen, whoseadopted daughters Hope and Lily are 6 and 4.

The camp is a continuation of language and dance classes many of the kids attend during the year.

"When we rented out a theater for′Mulan,′ it was packed," sa

• A.It helps the adopted kids form a correct attitude to their complex heritage
• B.It helps the Chinese children have fun with their American parents
• C.It helps the Americans increase the adoption from Russia and China
• D.It helps the American parents adopt children from other countries