Tonight on Sunday ` a story of faith and hope. I can't imagine anyone lucky enough to be able to have her, really. Baby Jane ` I love my baby too much. ...and a young, troubled mum. Not many people would see the gorgeous bits. But who will raise the baby? This story haunts me. And the selfless, inspirational grandma angel. I think they know how much I love them. Linda Shum, saving the forgotten orphans. This is my calling. This is where I should be. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013 Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. Tonight ` a girl called Faith ` a young mum with a traumatic past. But with Faith came hope. She adored her daughter. She touched all our hearts. But then something went very wrong. We've followed Faith on Sunday before as she made a choice between two roads ` one for better, one for worse. And the road she chose to save her baby, the one we'll call Baby Jane. Janet McIntyre reports on a journey of love that comes with a cruel twist. WISTFUL MUSIC Who will take care of this baby? She's the most delicious child. I can't imagine anyone lucky enough to be able to have her, really. Yeah. She's amazing. Now cutting teeth on her mother's pounamu, baby Jane started life in the womb on her mother's P habit. She's just got this resilience and happy, just happy disposition, I guess. WISTFUL MUSIC CONTINUES And leading up to her first birthday just one month ago, Jane was again exposed to the toxic effects of methamphetamine. Banging her head, dropping herself to the floor, um, not sleeping. Um, and really wanting to be carried everywhere, was quite` seemed quite frightened. SOMBRE MUSIC Cheryl Yusaf rescued the baby. She was kind of jerky with her limbs, um, and definitely not sleeping, so we had her for 15 hours and she slept for three. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC Hello, beautiful. Over six months we filmed with Jane and her mother, Faith, at Holly House in Christchurch ` Start at stage one ` first foods. ...a kind of boot camp for young, troubled mothers to help them get parenting skills. < Your history is pretty staggering, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. There's violence and prostitution. Drugs and alcohol, and` You told me you were pretty functional taking P. I thought I was, yeah. People disagree. At Holly House, mothers shape up or they ship out,... (SOBS) ...losing their baby for good, as 19-year-old Hannah did. (CONTINUES SOBBING) But Faith was determined she would not be one of those mothers. I love my baby too much. And the boss of the House, Cheryl Yusaf, backed Faith all the way. She's pretty dark at times, um, but, yeah, a really gorgeous girl. And not many people would see the gorgeous bits. Yeah. What are the gorgeous bits? What are the gorgeous bits? She just oozes love for her baby. Faith promised us her drug-taking past was well and truly past. What's gonna stop you being tempted? My baby. Like, I know I could lose her... within 24 hours if I even thought about it. So you'll never do P again? Nah. You're on the record saying that now. That's fine; that's good. We need that. (CHUCKLES) Together, like a family. Got ya. We are really privileged to have had you here and to have known you. Um, I found it a real honour working with you. You are` You are an incredible girl. Catch you later. In April Faith and her baby moved into a flat furnished with goods donated by people who'd seen Faith's story on Sunday. It's all ready. It's all ready. Oh my God, thank you so much. It's all ready. Oh my God, thank you so much. No problem. OK, enjoy. OK, bye-bye. She started school. She was being watched by CYF. But Faith stumbled, apparently grieving for her own mum who died last November. I've never seen Faith like that, like, down all the time, like crying and just wanting to get wasted to take the pain away, but it doesn't. It makes it worse. Last month Leana, a friend from Holly House, moved in with Faith. She's had her own three babies taken into care. OMINOUS MUSIC And the young mums got back into smoking P ` baby Jane in the same house. < You were doing P and drinking full on for that three weeks? < So does that mean you were smoking P all the time? Yeah. Like, every day. Constant? No sleep? Constant? No sleep? Nah. Didn't even eat either. < What? For three weeks? < What? For three weeks? Yeah. How was the baby reacting to what was going on in that house? She was pretty unsettled. How? How? Like, she was just crying most of the time. Was she being fed? Was she being fed? Yeah. Was she being fed? Yeah. Regularly? Yeah, kinda. Sometimes. What did baby Jane endure in that house for three weeks? We'll probably never know the complete story. How could a mother, Faith, put a drug habit in front of the one-year-old baby daughter she adored? The man you're about to meet didn't know Faith, but he has some of the answers. Sam McLeod used and dealt in methamphetamine for 10 years. He may well have sold P to someone like Faith. What sort of people would you sell to? A big range of people, from businessmen to other drug dealers to criminals to people that work 9-to-5 jobs. Meth doesn't pick and choose, eh? It just, yeah... Sam says it chose him, a lawyer's son. His 1g-a-day addiction cost him up to $4000 each week. It was my best friend. I mean, it was with me most days. And if I didn't have it, then I couldn't really get out of bed. So, yeah. Did you fear not having it? Did you fear not having it? Always, yep. Mm. So can you explain how a young mum might choose P over her own baby? I know for me that drugs came first, drugs came over everything. Sam got busted last year for dealing and possessing a Class A drug. But he also got the chance to turn his life around, committing to rehab and avoiding a possible jail sentence of 4� years. Sam's been clean for nine months. And he now has feelings. Just normal feelings, you know, like sad, angry, tired, lonely, um, hungry. Yeah. You didn't have those feelings when you were on P? You didn't have those feelings when you were on P? Nah. What did you have? What did you have? I guess you're numb. Yeah. You're really numb. What's so good about feeling numb? Wow. I dunno. So what do you feel now about the damage you did to other people's lives? Um, not very good. Yeah. Yeah, uncomfortable. SORROWFUL MUSIC Faith was given chance after chance, but turned her back on rehab. Ultimately, she was overcome by the power of P. She knew how far she'd go, and I knew how far she would go to be self-destructive. Three weeks ago, on the way back from the West Coast in a van, Faith, Leana and four others had been partying hard on P, on the booze. LEANA: I was in the back on a mattress. With no seatbelts. With no seatbelts. Nah. I was drunk. I didn't really care. And up in Arthur's Pass the van left the road and dropped 70m on to train tracks. Do you remember the accident? Do you remember the accident? Nah. I just remember waking up on the train tracks. Leana's pelvis shattered. And I was just screaming out for Faith. But she wouldn't answer. SOMBRE MUSIC Faith was dead. Her mates all escaped with their lives. So what's your biggest regret? So what's your biggest regret? Losing Faith; being in that van. I just want her back. And where was Jane? The tiny baby who'd just turned 1 in a cloud of P smoke. Jane was not in the van. Just four days before the crash, Faith had called Cheryl in Christchurch desperate for help ` unwittingly, Faith's last act of love for her baby. When I walked in the door and said, you know, 'We can't leave her here. I have to take her.' She understood that immediately. As much as she loved her, she still protected her and knew when enough was enough, and called for help. And in doing that, she` > And in doing that, she` > Saved her life, really. Yeah. SOMBRE MUSIC CHERYL: Faith was not tough like many thought. She was damaged, vulnerable and hurting. I've got a text that arrived last week, and it read, 'I know it's 1am. I'm not wasted.' Cos I would have growled at her. READS: I just can't sleep. I <BLEEP>ing love that kid. I can't really think of much. 'I don't want her to be a CYFs kid. It's horrible. 'I don't know why I'm going downhill. I want to turn to my mum, my boyfriend, or my mates, 'but I can't do that. I turn to what always makes me happy.' SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES This is the absolute worst thing in the world to go near. It's not just the drug; it's all the things that go with it ` the vulnerability that you're left in, the silly decisions you make, the people that are involved in dealing with that` that drug. There's nothing good` nothing good about it at all. Was this inevitable? Well, she was either going to shine or she was going to die. And, um, she chose the latter, really. So, the question is` the all-important question is who will raise the baby? Well, Jane's biological father isn't in the picture. Cheryl hopes a suitable family member will adopt the baby. Otherwise Jane will be placed in CYF care. Meantime, police are still investigating the crash. Well, when we come back ` Grandma Angel, dispensing oodles of love to the orphans of China's one-child policy. There was a little baby with spina bifida. And we called him Moses because he came in a basket. And even if he dies, he's better off to die in my arms than to die alone without any love. Hi again. Linda Shum's got nine grandchildren, and another 61 in China. Yep, over there she's an angel ` a no-nonsense, rough-and-ready, 'let's get the job done' type of angel. Here's Alex Cullen. MUSIC BUILDS I love summer. UPLIFTING DANCE MUSIC Linda Shum is one very cool grandma. An Australian angel saving China's forgotten orphans. She's the reason why Fu Yang is living the American dream. It was 1999 when a chance meeting in a rundown orphanage changed both their lives. Fu Yang, when he was a little fellow, he was in a circus, and they used him as the monkey because he had a deformed face. And he came into the orphanage because the circus no longer wanted him because he got too big. And I met him when he was about 10 years old. A mother of three, Linda and her husband, Greg, were on their first trip to China when, at this rundown orphanage, they came face-to-face with the reality of China's one child policy. He was a delightful little boy. He has Down syndrome. He's about four. Children abandoned by their parents because they were either born a girl or born disabled. What were you confronted with when you first saw a state-run orphanage? Poverty. Abject poverty. Degradation, filth, sadness. Children rocking for self-stimulation. Blind children sitting by the wall. My heart just melted. What sticks in your memory about that first time you came to China? There was a little baby with spina bifida, and we called him Moses because he came in a basket. He was very severe. There was no chance for him to live, but I remember holding him, and my heart broke. And I thought 'This is my calling. This is where I should be.' And even if he dies, he's better off to die in my arms than to die alone without any love. POP MUSIC Introduced in 1979, China's one-child policy is the government's way of maintaining a low birth rate in a country bursting with people. If that one child is born disabled, parents are known to abandon them. Linda is a mother of three, grandmother of nine. She and Greg married in 1970 and settled in Gympie in Queensland. She was a primary school teacher; he was a principal who was looking forward to retirement until Linda told him their life's work had only just begun. ...in the piece of paper. ...in the piece of paper. Mm-hm. That's very good, yeah. He became my greatest fan, my greatest support, my greatest advocate. They raised enough money and used most of their savings to build their first home for Chinese orphans. But two weeks before it was due to open, Greg suffered a stroke and died. When Greg died, he left an insurance policy that I didn't know we had and it was for $50,000. Linda used the money to buy two more apartments to house more children. She now runs eight homes, cares for 61 children, most of them disabled and discarded. (READS IN MANDARIN) And the starting point for all this was that day 14 years ago when Linda met an orphaned boy called Fu Yang which, in Chinese, means 'lucky lamb'. In fact, he used to climb over the wall after dark, of the orphanage, and go out to the market and nick stuff and bring it in and by morning, everybody'd have enough to eat. Fu Yang was born deaf and without cheekbones. Linda had yet to open one of her homes. So for the next four years, she paid for his care, food, and education. Then, Lucky Lamb got very lucky ` an American charity offered life-changing surgery in the States. Linda was thrilled. Meanwhile, in Texas, Dinah DeLuca had just told her photographer husband that they'd been asked to visit their local hospital and cheer up a lonely little boy. And I'm like... (SIGHS) 'OK', you know, and kind of begrudgingly went. Over the next year, Fu had four operations to rebuild his face. Louis and Dinah rarely left his bedside. He has plenty of reasons to feel sorry for himself, but I've never seen him be that way. Only once did Dinah and Louis ever see this brave boy cry. It was after his last operation and sitting on their staircase, he was inconsolable because he knew his time had come to return to an orphanage in China. And I'm like, 'All I know is... I don't know what we're supposed to do, 'but that little boy cannot go back to China.' And so that was what started it. So they adopted him. Got the OK from her. Got the OK from her. (LAUGHS) Fu became a mischievous young American boy. He started school. He learned to ride a bike. He graduated high school and made lifelong friends. How much do you want to see him again? > How much do you want to see him again? > Oh, it's immeasurable, you know. He's just a very special boy. Look at you! Look at you! Oh! Well, in a moment Linda takes us to a state-run orphanage with the disabled and disowned. Over 200 children live here, including this healthy baby boy, born without a left hand. I wonder where you're gonna end up. We're back with Grandma Angel. The disabled and disowned orphans of China are Linda Shum's calling. That is where she's meant to be. And it's that commitment to the kids ` that love and personal contact that sets her apart. Alex Cullen again. So here we are. So here we are. This is our school. Ha, look at this. And these are some of the kids Linda has saved. This is Jigang. Technically, she is the legal guardian or mother to 61 children and rising. I think they know how much I love them. It's that love that these children miss out on in the state-run orphanages, like this one in downtown Jiaozhou. Over 200 children live here, including this healthy baby boy, born without a left hand. I wonder where you're gonna end up. So, today, Linda is to the rescue. On her trusty three-wheeler, she is on her way to collect two boys from the local state orphanage. One is three and the other two years old with a cleft palate. The director of the orphanage asked for Linda's help. It's all good. Yay, we're very excited. We're gonna go home. Yes, we're happy. We're going home. You hold that baby and, instantly, you love that child. It doesn't matter if they have spina bifida or cerebral palsy, disability is not a difficulty for Linda. All are welcome in her homes. LOUIS: We are inspired by Linda. What better could you do with your life than to leave a legacy of kids who would not be where they are if it wasn't for you setting part of your life aside to help them? I mean, what a wonderful legacy. Back in Texas, carving his own legacy is Fu. He's now 21,... Let's see what you've got. ...and like his adoptive dad, he's a photographer,... Oh yeah. That's good. Nice. ...and he is impressing everyone with his talent,... That's a good one. ...especially the ladies. # ...eye of the tiger, a fighter, # dancing through the fire. # Cos I am a champion. Here are a few more of his shots. # And you're gonna hear me roar. LOUIS: The story is miraculous, and when there's a miraculous story, there's always a good ending. # Hear me roar. # And what better ending than this? 10 years since Fu left China, we have brought Linda to Dallas. And guess who's waiting? GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC Look at you! Look at you! Oh! My big boy. My big boy. Thank you. Aw, do you know how much I love you? Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. Good. (CHUCKLES) Oh, you're so handsome. GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES But that wasn't all. We've got one more little surprise for you, Linda. We've got one more little surprise for you, Linda. You do? Yes, we do. Also here, three more orphans Linda help find new families for in America ` Oh, Greg. ...one of them named after her late husband. Everybody smiling. It looks like a big, happy family. What do you think? Mm? Mm? What do you think? SPEAKS SLOWLY: I love her. What would you be doing if you weren't doing this? > I don't know, but I think some people go fishing and play golf and do those things, but I've never wanted to do that. And so this is what I want to do. Yeah, you save abandoned children in China. > Yeah, just, it's my hobby. Yeah, just, it's my hobby. BOTH LAUGH (SINGS IN MANDARIN) (GIGGLES) (GIGGLES) (CONTINUES SINGING) Aw, how adorable. What an amazing woman. That's our show for tonight. Thanks for joining us. Do have a wonderful week.