Elaine DePrince

Elaine DePrince (née DiGiacomo, August 6, 1947 – September 11, 2024) was an American author, hemophilia activist, teacher, and advocate of adoptive parenting. The mother of eleven children, she was best known as the adoptive mother of ballet dancer Michaela DePrince and the co-author of her memoir, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina. She was interviewed in the 2011 documentary First Position, discussing the racism they encountered as Michaela pursued training in classical ballet. She was also the author of Cry Bloody Murder: A Tale of Tainted Blood (1997), which tells the story of her family's ordeal after their three hemophiliac sons were infected with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. she attended Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She was a graduate of Rutgers University.

She was inspired to adopt in fifth grade, when she read The Family Nobody Wanted by Helen Doss. The book tells the true story of a family with twelve children, including children who had been considered "unadoptable" because they were non-white or had special needs. They had two biological sons, Adam and Erik.

Adoption of sons Since childhood, DePrince had numerous health problems. Given their family experience with bleeding disorders, Elaine and Charles felt equipped to care for him.

In May 1988, the DePrinces learned that their three adopted sons were HIV-positive. Teddy battled the virus with the help of new protease inhibitor drugs, which initially reduced his viral load below detectable levels, but two years later the HIV infection returned; he died in 2004 at age 24. She decided to investigate how the tainted blood products had ended up being given to hemophiliacs, and to seek justice for them and their families. Elaine DePrince emerged as one of the leading advocates for hemophiliacs and their families, repeatedly sharing the story of Cubby and Michael and her anger that their deaths were preventable.

In July 1997, DePrince joined other hemophilia activists in lobbying senators in Washington, D.C., to pass federal legislation awarding funds to AIDS-infected hemophiliacs or their survivors because the infected products had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). DePrince argued that the quest for profit and collusion between government agencies and industry caused manufacturers to delay making their blood products safer. The DePrinces initially planned to adopt one girl named Mabinty, who was then renamed Mia Mabinty DePrince. When the adoption agency told Elaine that there was another girl named Mabinty, who had been refused by twelve other families due to a skin pigmentation condition called vitiligo, she knew immediately that she wanted to adopt her as well. They lived for many years in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In one scene, the camera follows Elaine DePrince as she paints the elastic straps and undergarments of Michaela's tutus with brown dye to match her skin tone.

An illustrated children's book, Ballerina Dreams: From Orphan to Dancer, was published by Random House in 2014. Co-authored by Michaela and Elaine DePrince, it is targeted at children in first to third grade, and tells the story of how Michaela was sent to an orphanage after her parents died, was adopted by an American family, and became a professional ballerina after years of hard work, determination, and training.

The full-length memoir, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina, was also published by Random House in 2014. Kirkus Reviews said that, "Readers will find her life story gripping whether or not they are dance fans. The dialogue is fictionalized, but the heart of the journey resonates in this mother/daughter collaboration."

Elaine DePrince died of complications from a routine pre-surgical procedure on September 11, 2024, at the age of 77.