Adoptee spotlight: Liba Mott

Fuzhou, China --> Chicago, Illinois

Hello! My name is Liba Mott. I don’t know much about where I come from, besides being born in Fuzhou, China. I was adopted when I was a few months old (I don’t know the precise date), and I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago as a Jewish Chinese adoptee. 

"I was struggling to balance Judaism, being Asian, and being an adoptee at the same time."

Growing up, it was hard to figure out who I was. I was struggling to balance Judaism, being Asian, and being an adoptee at the same time. I attended a Jewish private school most of my life, where I was always the odd one out. It was hard for me to make friends and accept my ethnicity because of my surroundings. I struggled with accepting my identity to the point where I started to wish I weren’t Asian. 

In the Jewish world, it is typically customary to take a year off in Israel and then attend a Jewish college. As soon as I hit high school, I decided to go straight to a public college to connect with Asian people like me and figure out who I was.

I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for two years, but did not think it was the right choice for me. I then switched to Oakton Community College and am happy with the decision I made. I currently attend Oakton, where I'm studying Fine and Applied Arts to earn a bachelor's in Art Education. 

Although I felt like I didn’t fit in at my Jewish school and UIUC, I was still able to make friends and accept who I am. It might have taken me a while, but I am very blessed with the friends and family I have now. I am supported, understood, and loved. I hope one day I can visit China and explore my roots. I also hope to dig up more about where I come from and start the search for who my birth parents might be. I understand that it is a long and emotional process, but I have my friends and family to guide me along the way.