The latest information we can get from our orphanage is that
our documents are falsified.
In the past two weeks since we received our passports, we’ve
been impatiently waiting for our documentation to be fully prepared to submit
to the embassy. We had previously been told many times that our files were
“embassy ready”, but we’ve come to find that several original documents are now
missing. Djedly’s original birth certificate is missing. Djedly’s birth
certificate extract is considered to be falsified. Parker’s birth
certificate/Judgement is missing. Both of the boys’ adoption Acts, which are
the proof that we have legally adopted them, are missing.
We have gotten several stories on where our docs apparently
reside. There is a great deal of confusion and I yearn for the truth. The
orphanage missionary has been really helpful and has literally looked through
every single file and stack of paperwork to try to find the missing documents.
But she has come up empty. She is just as confused as I am. She gave me
permission one night this week to, “flip my shit”. It took a few rhum punches
consumed at 4:30 that afternoon, but I ultimately found myself in the fetal
position at the top of my stairs screaming silently into my hands in anguish.
At this point, I do not believe that these documents are
just lost. I do not believe that Djedly’s document is a fake. There are two people who could
potentially be responsible for these documents missing. One is a woman who does
the certifications with the archives office to have the documents signed by
various government offices. The other is the crèche lawyer. He is reportedly a
liar. The woman claims the lawyer has the docs, the lawyer claims the woman has
the birth certificates. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I truly think that the lawyer is a
corrupt lawyer. I think that he is trying to extort money from the orphanage. I
also think that there is more to this story than we are being told because we
keep receiving conflicting stories. The lawyer has been described to me as a
liar, and multiple agencies have confirmed that our orphanage has been trying
to “phase him out” but that the orphanage is worried that he will “destroy
documents” if they work too aggressively to get rid of him. SERIOUSLY?!!! Why
does this man have anything to do with the delicate nature of the process to
get these children home? If they know he is unethical and that he lies, he
should never have been given more work to do. He reportedly has several files,
including potentially, v’s file that was supposed to be given to IBESR. This
lawyer is not the IBESR representative for our agency, and should never have
been given files for our agency’s kids. I would like to get more clarification
on all of this, but the director of our orphanage left to attend a pastor’s
conference in the U.S. and has been gone for the past eleven days. He is
supposed to return tomorrow. I am hopeful that he can get a handle on this
situation, and somehow get the lawyer to come to the orphanage and hand over
all the files he has. It would be interesting to know if he is owed money. At
this point, I would do what ever I could to get my files from him and make sure
that he never has anything to do with the process of bringing my children home
ever again.
All I know at this point is that our agency received
verification in July that Djedly’s birth certificate extract was “embassy
ready” and would be in his file. It is gone. Without his birth certificate, we
will have a harder time trying to get another extract for him. To get a new
extract, we will have to go to the town he was born in, St. Raphael, and apply
for a new birth certificate. This is the same process we went through for our
son Parker to receive a Judgment, or replacement birth certificate. Then the
same process for receiving the extract and certifications on the extract will
have to be followed.
I’m highly suspicious of everything I’m told at this point.
One thing that is very unclear to me is how it is possible that Djedly’s birth
certificate extract is fake when the Immigration office uses two measures to
determine the validity of a document prior to printing a passport. They scan a
hologram sticker, and they use an infrared light to view an invisible ink on
the document. Without these two things, passports are not obtained. We have
passports. What is the truth? What is this lawyer really doing? What has he
done? What has he not done? What does he have? What is lost? What is real? What
is not real?
Friday at 5:00 I helped turn the office of the orphanage
into a happy hour zone. We needed it. Cinnamon rhum is fantastic with apple
nectar. It’s almost as fantastic as South African Cocopine juice with
Barbancourt. And luckily, in a pinch, there is a ridiculous but rather special “man”
wine that is available at the bodega across the street from the orphanage. To
my homestudy rep and my adoption counselors who are reading this, yes, I’ve
upped my alcohol intake. And if
anything I just listed sounds good to you, shoot me an email and I’ll bring
some home for you. UNLESS you are with Children of All Nations. I’m not
bringing you anything, because you suck.
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