Posted on October 13, 2009

Meet Babytalk Cover Contest Winner Rowan Spracklen!

Kate McCarthy, ABC News, October 12, 2009

Babytalk magazine named Rowan Spracklen the winner of its 10th annual cover contest on “Good Morning America” today.

“Good Morning America” viewers from across the country logged on in record-setting numbers to cast 16,000 votes for the 14-month-old baby from Erie, Pa.

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Rowan had a “personality like no other kid we saw,” Connery [Babytalk editor-in-chief Ana Connery] said.

November is National Adoption Month, something that has a special meaning for the Spracklen family, who adopted Rowan from Ethiopia in January when he was 6 months old.

Baby Rowan was abandoned at a police station and sent to an orphanage. Although the orphanage took care of him as well as they could, his parents said he was malnourished and sick.

Despite this, Rowan has adjusted well to his new surroundings. His family calls him a miracle and a survivor.

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Rowan’s mother decided to enter the contest because, she says, whenever they are in public, people always stop to admire him.

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The contest was launched in March, and Rowan was one of eight semi-finalists chosen from more than 50,000 entries.

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[Editor’s Note: To see that Rowan Spracklen’s adoptive parents are white, see the video here.]