♪ Gentle piano ♪ Over 4.5million children in the U.S.

are adopted.

While stigma persists.

Many adopted teens are refusing to stay silent.

Next on: Our Time... Abandoned in Ethiopia with a congenital brain condition, Filmmaker Dulcinea Harrison traces her origin story from Addis Ababa to Colorado Springs.

And then, left at birth... Filmmaker Hannah Duran now searches for her biological mother with hard questions and unexpected answers.

Adoption and Gen Z. Next on Our Time.

♪ upbeat music ♪ Why don't people understand me?

I'm tired of running so fast.

I want to be heard.

Why are people afraid?

I'm ready for change.

♪ I hear you.

I see you.

- My time... - My time... Our time is now.

Major funding for this program is provided by: The Lindsay-Brisbin Family Fund, The Russell Grinnell Memorial Trust, Steve and Mary Ann Waldorf, Betsy and Warren Dean, And the H. Chase Stone Charitable Trust.

Additional funding is provided by: Diverses Health, Arts in Society, Think 360 Arts for Learning.

The Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation, the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, and the CALM Foundation.

[sounds of baby] [blowing raspberries] I think it was kindergarten, yeah.

That we decided we were going to do, um, family trees.

I remember thinking, I don't have any biological parents - Your mother and I aren█t biologically related, We chose to be family with each other.

And chose to travel halfway around the world to get you.

- People would be saying like, “Why would you adopt a child...” “...who's just going to die?” Even if for just one day, she deserves to have love and she deserves to have parents.

- We talked to Children's Hospital... And, they said, “Go get this girl.” “We'll take care of her.” And we're like, okay, I was born in Ethiopia, Africa, which is 23 hours away from here Almost an entire day of flying.

If you can picture that in your mind.

I was left, by my bio-parents on a church step, and I was found by the police and taken to an orphanage.

- We had made the decision we weren't going to have any more biological children.

But we both felt a pull to have at least one more child.

We wanted to have a daughter.

That's when, for some reason, I looked at the Waiting Child list.

♪ Gentle piano ♪ - They just took one look in those big brown eyes of mine, and then they said, “That's our daughter.” - We didn't know anything about your parents.

They could have put you in an alley, but instead they gave you to a place that was safe.

Two other families had turned you down They didn't think they can handle it.

We found out you had hydrocephalus.

For you, specifically, you don't have a third ventricle in your brain.

Every doctor we went to to talk about your hydrocephalus over on the western slope said, “Absolutely not.” “She's probably going to die.” - so we went to Children's Hospital in Denver and we talked to their neurosurgery team.

[airplane radio chatter] And they were like, “Eh, we█ll fix her.” And all we knew was we had to get you home and you needed surgery.

- That's the “Oh my gosh, this is happening,” moment.

Is she even going to like us?

And then we walked in and they handed you to us and you looked at us and we looked at you and way we went!

[upbeat guitar] We always knew that we were going to have more children.

I don't think we ever realized we were going to end up with 67.

Over the course of ten years, wasn't it?

- Mhmm.

- Yeah.

That's crazy.

You were the inspiration for that.

Well, I mean, I knew I was an inspiration, but [laughter] - Uh-oh, stuck on the carpet.

With foster care children are meant to be reunified with their family of origin.

And so you might have them for an hour, You might have them for several months... Thank you.

You're welcome.

- Go!

-And they're landing in our home on the worst day of their lives.

[rock music in background] - I mean, when our family goes out, we get some stares, don't we?

We've got two kiddos that are obviously black.

We've got, two kiddos that are usually in a wheelchair.

We've got a baby that likes to sing “Let it Go” at the top of her lungs.

Everywhere we go.

We're a sight to see when we go out.

Do you remember, like, any of the experiences like, walking around with me?

Could you like, talk about that?

You want the Walmart story, don't you?

- Yeah!

- Oh, gosh.

And of course, these things always happen at Walmart.

So you're sitting in the cart, just chillin.

This lady comes up she says, “Where are your parents?” And I said, oh, I'm right here.

“Well, where's her mom?” And she looks at both of us and she's like... “Well how did that happen?” And I couldn't help it.

And I said, “Well...” “...when two people love each other very much...” And... And she just kinda stormed off.

I've had to deal with my fair share of being cursed at, too, in school.

As much as I hated it, I still went through that.

I always thought when I was in school and being bullied that being black in a white family was a bad thing.

The kids, they pick at my body, my facial features, my skin color.

Um... And then it got to this point where the entire class had turned against me.

If somebody came in contact with me or touched me they'd have 30 seconds to wash their hand or they█d have the “Dulcie Touch”.

And it was awful.

I just, felt insecure wanting to cover myself up in long sleeve clothes and just not being my normal self.

It like it was this constant nagging at me being like, this is a flaw, this is this is something that I should be ashamed of.

Did you think that you were the flaw, or did you think that we were the flaw?

- That I was the flaw, like, that I was causing you pain to be walking around with.

You█ve never caused me a moment of pain in my entire life, young lady.

Not one.

I get sad, and I get angry when I hear about how you've been bullied.

You're not a flaw.

Your very existence It makes you amazing and a tremendous gift to us.

That makes me feel a lot better.

[optimistic guitar] So have you been assigned a partner for doubles for Special Olympics?

- No.

They said they would choose it for me.

See ya.

- See ya.

Our family knows judgment because we have experienced it before.

- I think through the judgment you've gained like a piece of armor.

I kind of envy that about you.

Really?

- Mhmm.

I am so stinkin proud of you.

Just so you know.

The world is yours.

You get to decide on what you do with it.

After high school I can like take film film classes so I can become a, world famous director.

When I'm on the stage, at the Oscars, thanking— Thanking all the people in my life... you'll definitely be one of the— - I'm not expecting that, but.

Ah, no, no, no, it will... It will happen, I assure you.

All right.

You need to go.

Go!

Go!

- Go practice.

Dell...?

- Dulcie.

- Dulcie, I got it!

Dulcie, you█re over here.

Get up a little closer to the line.

You don█t have to — You just don█t want to gove over it.

Okay.

- I can█t say enough How tenacious you are.

You succeed at everything, and keep meeting every challange that█s put in front of you.

That was the objective.

Get them as close to the flag as you can.

And I think I aced it.

- From the moment we saw you, you never let your disabilities define you.

I love your willingness to help, no matter what.

Even if you don't know what you're doing.

And you just jump right in.

But you know what?

The thing that I love most about you is the fact that you're my daughter, period.

You're my daughter.

I chose you.

Right?

Remember?

I chose you.

I choose you.

The Youth Documentary Academy empowers young filmmakers to identify and craft their own stories through intensive training and mentorship in the art of documentary film.

Hannah!

We're getting ready to go to church.

And she's going to be dedicated to the Lord.

- Lord, thank you for this... Adoptive mom and dad.

That loves here and has adopted her as their very own.

I thank you lord for what you... [pensive piano] - When I learned that my mother abandoned me, I felt like other people too.

I didn't want to get close to somebody, And then all of a sudden, they leave.

I was very shy.

I didn't want anything to do with people.

I feel like it█s a wall that I put up.

I'm safer in my room where nobody can truly hurt me.

But I know that at some point, I have to break out of that wall.

[upbeat music] [birds singing] She's a year old here.

I was looking at me on a Clydesdale From, like, when I was younger.

Yeah, Hannah drew this horse picture for me.

What's the date on it?

I have always been told I was adopted.

Ever since I was a very, very young child.

I didn't feel like I knew who I was.

I noticed that my family wasn't like other families.

My brother was African American.

My sister is a little bit of Mexican, and my mother is German and my father is Eskimo.

My mother, who adopted me, took really good care of me.

She always loved and provided for me.

And although we may not get along, sometimes, we still do love each other.

- Because you didn't give it to me.

I was at the hospital when she was born.

So I watched her birth and she was so tiny.

She was wearing preemie clothes, and, she was a really, really good baby.

And, we just loved her.

You may not have grown in my belly, but you grew in my heart.

Every since you where little You loved people.

You have no fear of any animal, including snakes and stuff.

And it's like, oh, but you were very sensitive.

Especially if somebody would, uh, leave... You would wonder why.

- So my mother told me that my biological mom didn't have the means to take care of me.

[thunder clap] At first, I was really angry.

I held a lot of hate for her.

I became withdrawn.

My grades dropped, and I became very depressed.

[thunder] I argued with my mom a lot, and I've made her cry more than once.

It would make me feel better to argue with someone.

[thunder] Well, I was concerned because I was afraid that you might hurt yourself because you talk that way sometimes.

And, it didn't make me happy.

I was pretty sad and concerned.

And I can see that it█s hurting your right now.

[car drives on dirt road] [wind chimes] [birds chirping] - Sending you that first message I was pretty scared.

I wasn't sure how it was going to be received.

When you agreed to meet up, I was on the defense.

It wasn't because I didn't want to hug you, but I was terrified to hug you, so I kind of, like, stood there like, “Do I touch this girl?” What do I do?

- When I first saw her, I was very nervous.

I didn't know if I could trust her.

When, When you gave birth to me, did you...?

Did you, want to not give me up?

I didn't think I was strong enough to be a mom, to not just 1 or 2, but to 3.

I stayed in a relationship that was so abusive.

And I'm sorry for that.

Nurse came in and asked if there was somebody that they needed to call.

I sat on that bed praying for an answer so I can keep you.

- If you could go back and change it Would you?

In a heartbeat.

It actually didn't hurt.

- That█s because you did, like, a reverse scorpian.

[laughing] - Yeah, I told you.

I said be careful.

Make sure that you take it slow and... Yeah, you ain█t listening.

You were like, nope, I█m gonna do it my way.

- I wan to get on a horse.

So I got on a horse.

- The relationships that you can create with a horse is what actually kind of help me through a lot of this.

The clinic that we've created is for soldiers and first responders and for people who are suffering through depression, PTSD.

It's a way of bonding again to the people that they've lost that bond with.

Let them smell it first.

- That's their way of understanding Hey, it's not something that's going to freak me out.

- Now kinda touch him on his withers with it.

When I found out you had the same love for horses that I do.

It just... It seemed right.

Hannah.

- Mhmm?

Hegan, you have to have the reins pretty close to his face.

Really?

He's more of a rein-toucher.

- Whoa!

- Good stick, good stick.

That was awesome.

That was a good stick.

- What?

- You had no fear.

It was wonderful to see the absolute joy in your eyes when you saw the horses.

And when you got up on him, you looked more like you were at home.

Keep him going that way.

That is your call.

- What is that?

It's a hoof-pick.

- Like who named me in the hospital?

That would be all.

Ingrid.

You were not.

I was not going to name you Hannah.

That is not my favorite name.

I still love you, but I don't like your name.

So what were you going to name me?

Your name was supposed to be Ireland Rose.

I know, kind of hippie-ish, but— - Do you have any emotions that you prefer not to have?

Yeah, I do, because I have fear.

I have fear of losing you.

- Why do you think you're going to lose me?

Just... Just the way you... You talk to me sometimes about her and that you know that you're going to move out and that you're going to live with them.

And then I just have that fear that, when you do move out, which I don't have a problem with that at all, that, that you won't come, come back.

- Do you resent my mom?

You still respect her, right?

Yes.

She did something that she didn't have to do.

She raised a beautiful girl.

She made you into an amazing young lady.

I can't take credit for that.

But it's okay.

I'm just grateful that you are who you are.

[acoustic guitar strumming] [sniffling] I wanted to make sure that there is some...an outlet where I could tell my story.

And I think it's so vitally important that maybe people who are brought up in different backgrounds have this space to tell their story.

I was also worried about what other people might think of my family, or think of me, maybe think that I'm too self-centered or whatever.

But that wasn't the case.

Everyone really liked my story and loved us.

And so now I get to share it with everybody.

Before I made this film, I was feeling very depressed.

I was very anxious.

I didn't know how to approach this situation.

When I was directing that film, it felt like it was my life that I'm showing the world.

and I can just be myself.

I can discover who I am without having this burden.

That's been on my life for 19 years.

- My favorite part of the filmmaking process was holding the boom mic.

I liked how it made me feel like I was strong.

- You got biceps!

- I do!

- Let█s see your biceps!

Show me your biceps!

- Both of my families were in the room when the film 1st aired They both were worried, “Oh my gosh,” “Is she going to portray me as the evil person?” “Am I going to be the evil queen in this, story?” And when they saw it, they realized that they were the mother looking for their princess.

So many adults have come up to me and told me how brave I was for telling my story.

I am more comfortable talking to kids than I am with adults.

So it was like, oh my gosh, I think that if you were to interview fifth grade, Dulcie about all the things that she was talking about she wouldn't have told you anything.

She would've been so silent.

But now, as a sophomore, reflecting back on it, I think that's healed both of us.

Major funding for this program is provided by: The Lindsay-Brisbin Family Fund The Russell Grinnell Memorial Trust Steve and Mary Anne Walldorf Betsy and Warren Dean and the H. Chase Stone Charitable Trust.

Additional funding is provided by: Diversus Health Arts in Society Think 360 Arts for Learning The Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation The Bee Vradenburg Foundation and the CALM Foundation.

For more information, addtiional recsources, or to watch Our Time films, please visit: www.youthdocumentary.org