Advocating for V

In an attempt to try to get some progress started for V’s adoption while I’m living in Haiti, our agency asked us to write a letter that would be delivered to IBESR. This letter was to explain our love for our daughter and our hope that we will be re-matched with her, all while not being critical of the office of the IBESR or of the Haitian government. This is the letter we wrote:

To Whom It May Concern:

I first met our daughter Veronika Macillon when she was brought to our orphanage shortly after her birth and her mother’s death in March 2012. We had no plans to adopt a baby from Haiti. I was visiting our two boys here in Haiti at the time and knew immediately that I had a primal need to take care of Veronika. I sat in awe of her as I watched and prayed and encouraged her to fight to live. She struggled to hold on to life for months. She was blind and deaf until she was almost three months old.  My soul ached for her to be my child for months and after multiple hospitalizations, my husband and I decided that even if we lost her, the mighty littler warrior, our sweet little Veronika needed parents. We could not let her die without a loving family.  Due to severe repeated breathing complications, bronchitis and pneumonia Veronika was hospitalized twice and almost died. In August 2012 when we found out about the second hospitalization and that she was on oxygen and feeding tubes, we started the process to adopt her. She was four months old. The day after we started the process to adopt her, after being told honestly that she might not live, she was miraculously removed from her feeding and oxygen tubes and was released from the hospital a day later. She is our miracle and has been on her road to healing ever since. 

In the months after we began the process to expedite her dossier, we were crushed to find that the director of our orphanage was unable to submit our file to IBESR before the closure deadline. Veronika’s mother’s death certificate arrived two days prior to the closure deadline and our file had not yet been legalized. When our file was not submitted by the deadline our orphanage was told that our match with Veronika would be honored, but that our referral was no longer valid and we would not be allowed to have her on our bonding trips to Haiti until after her file had been submitted to IBESR and matched under the new process. We waited for six long months for our file to be accepted under the new guidelines and the quota. Our file was accepted by IBESR on April 1, 2013. Our lawyer submitted our file along with a letter explaining our express intent and desire to adopt Veronika. We were told that our file would be evaluated and once we received approval Veronika would be matched with us once again.  We have not received any further information since our submission April 1, 2013. We greatly desire to be re-matched with our daughter.

 I average a visit about every eight weeks. In the past year I have come to Haiti eight times. I have spent as much time with Veronika as I possibly can while also raising two of our other children in the United States and spending as much time as possible with our two adopted Haitian sons. When I can come to Haiti, I sit on the porch of the orphanage and play with her. Because she has some developmental delays due to her illnesses, I try to encourage her to walk and play with toys. I also try to bond with her as best I can. I long for a time when I can have her with me and spend time properly bonding with her individually. I have been living in Haiti since July 2012 with the hope that we can make some progress with her case and that we will be able to work to bring her home. I try to spend as much time with her as possible while I am here. She knows that I am her mom. We spend as much time in Haiti as a family as possible, as the value of our time bonding is priceless. We have seen as much development as we possibly can and we cherish every moment we can spend together as a family. Veronika knows her siblings and her dad and we are all quite bonded as a family. Our American children have traveled to Haiti four times now and we have all been living with a heavy burden of the fear that we are not currently referred or matched with Veronika any longer. We hope that this dread will pass with news from your office that we will be matched with her again soon. I would sooner lose a limb from my body than leave my daughter behind. Please help us bring her home. She is almost eighteen months old. We desperately want to have our family together to continue to bond and grow.

Our express desire is to enable her to have every resource possible to keep her health sustained and make sure she has every opportunity for a strong and happy future. She is such a joyful and happy child. We were once graciously honored to be given the chance to be her family. We hope to feel that joy once again. We sincerely hope that we can provide the miracles she deserves and continue this process to adopt her. We want nothing more in the world than to unite our family and be given the chance to raise our beautiful and amazing children together. Veronika was a blessed surprise in our lives and we hope that all of this is one day a story we can tell her about the process to bring her home.

                                                                        Veronika’s loving parents,

                                                                                    Jen & JJ