‘Satellite Babies’ Are Raised Abroad, Then Return to the U.S.—And Their Parents

When Misty Ouyang returned to her parents’ home in the United States as a toddler, she’d forgotten who her mom was. Ouyang, now a 21-year-old college student in Boston, spent the first four years of her life with extended family in Fuzhou, China. “I remember when my grandma told me I was going back to the United States, I didn’t understand why and was very scared,” she recalls. “I didn’t want to get on the plane. I just kept crying.”

Her great aunt, who was her primary caregiver in Fuzhou, moved in with her and her parents—who were then working at a restaurant in New York—for a few months to help with the transition. Ouyang started preschool without any knowledge of the English language and constantly felt like she was behind her peers. “On my first day of school, I went to the bathroom and just stayed inside,” she told me. “I remember teachers trying to coax