Barbara Walters, Others Tell Personal Adoption Stories

May 10 -- Barbara Walters used to find it painful to walk through a toy store.

More than 30 years ago, she and her husband, Lee Guber, wanted desperately to have children.

After Walters had three miscarriages, the couple decided to adopt a baby girl they named Jackie. Having a child, says Walters, "made her life complete."

Over the years, Walters discovered there were many others inside the ABC community who have made the decision to adopt, including weekend anchor Carole Simpson and former ABCNEWS correspondent Connie Chung, as well as talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell.

These parents and some of their children speak out about adoption and how it has changed their lives in an ABCNEWS special called Born in My Heart: A Love Story.

Though she has been generally private about her family, Walters, who co-produced the special, says she thinks the personal stories will resonate with the millions of people who have been touched by adoption. "Sharing our stories might make a difference in someone else's life," she says.

Connie Chung and Maury Povich

Though Chung and her talk-show host husband, Maury Povich, are almost as famous for their attempts to have a child as they are for their careers in television, they rarely talk publicly about their adopted son, Matthew.

When they adopted him, remembers Chung, "he was less than 24 hours old, and he was so beautiful. Maury let me hold him first … It was so unbelievable."

Among the issues they tackle with Walters is the prospect that their son may one day seek out his biological parents. Both Chung and Povich agree they would support such efforts, but Povich reveals it would bring him "mixed emotions."

"If he loves us as much as we love him," says Povich, "why would he want to do that?"

"He should, he should," interrupts Chung. "He deserves to do that if he wants do it."

'To Make a Difference'

Walters and Chung both chose to adopt because they were unable to bear children themselves. For others in the ABC special, the decision to adopt had more to do with saving a baby in need.