{"id":3021,"date":"2012-06-03T18:29:49","date_gmt":"2012-06-03T18:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=3021"},"modified":"2012-06-03T18:29:49","modified_gmt":"2012-06-03T18:29:49","slug":"struggle-to-adopt-girl-suddenly-eases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/struggle-to-adopt-girl-suddenly-eases\/","title":{"rendered":"Struggle to adopt girl suddenly eases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/m.newsok.com<\/a>
\nSunday, June 3, 2012
\nBY WAYNE GREENE – Tulsa World<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a miracle. It\u2019s nothing short of a miracle,\u201d said Baney.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t happen this way most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than two years of struggles with the U.S. government that left the Baney family stretched across the globe, Grace was granted a humanitarian parole by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in April.<\/p>\n

The parole allows the girl to travel to the United States for medical treatments for up to two years \u2014 long enough for Baney to adopt Grace and set her on a path toward citizenship.<\/p>\n

For the first time in a long time, Grace\u2019s story seems likely to have a happy ending.<\/p>\n

The story that led Grace to Tulsa is complex.<\/p>\n

She was born June 7, 2009, in Gorja, Pakistan.<\/p>\n

When she was 3 months old, an international adoption agency put her in Baney\u2019s arms for the first time. The child\u2019s Christian birth mother was dead and the birth father was unable to care for a newborn.<\/p>\n

The child faced a dreadful fate in Pakistani institutions, Baney was told.<\/p>\n

Baney\u2019s efforts to adopt the girl went smoothly until Oct. 14, 2009, when U.S. officials discovered that the child\u2019s birth story was falsified.<\/p>\n

The birth certificate and identity documents had been forged by the adoption agency, which hired a Pakistani couple to pose as the child\u2019s birth parents. Four Pakistanis were arrested, but Baney was cleared \u2014 she was the victim of the fraud, not its perpetrator.<\/p>\n

Officials in Pakistan were willing to move ahead with Baney\u2019s adoption, but U.S. officials balked. The situation was further complicated when physicians in Pakistan found that the child had a hydrocephalic condition, a swelling of her brain that could portend dreadful consequences if not treated properly.<\/p>\n

U.S. officials rejected Baney\u2019s application for Grace to immigrate to the U.S. for adoption and seemed determined not to listen to her appeals.<\/p>\n

Baney ended up living in two worlds. She lived for more than 16 months in Islamabad, bonding with Grace and worrying about the child\u2019s need for treatments that weren\u2019t available in that nation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Baney\u2019s son, Nicky, 9, \u2014 also an international adoption \u2014 was growing up in Tulsa under the care of Baney\u2019s cousin and \u201cco-parent\u201d Dalend Baney.<\/p>\n

Skype and prayer held the family together, but Baney said it was an ordeal filled with moments of despair.<\/p>\n

The nadir for Baney came in March, when the Southeast Asia regional office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service rejected Baney\u2019s appeal of Grace\u2019s immigration visa denial.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost as if they hadn\u2019t ever reviewed it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a very, very, very low point.\u201d<\/p>\n

For about three weeks, she said, she felt practically hopeless but didn\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no point that I didn\u2019t think there would be a way \u2014 some way, some how \u2014 we just hadn\u2019t found it yet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Then Baney got a call from the United States in the middle of the night on April 26 \u2014 the federal government had granted Baney\u2019s request for a parole to bring Grace home for medical treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was thirty seconds that changed our entire lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally found someone in the U.S. government … who saw a little girl who needed help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She ran to the room where Grace was sleeping, picked her up and tossed her in the air in joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a surreal moment, but it was one of rejoicing,\u201d Baney said.<\/p>\n

Within days, they were on their way home.<\/p>\n

After 30 hours of travel, including 3\u00bd hours in the Houston airport immigration office, Baney and Grace arrived in Tulsa.<\/p>\n

Her son met his sister for the first time.<\/p>\n

Her mother held her granddaughter for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt 2\u00bd years of waiting was lifted off my shoulders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Testing for the girl\u2019s medical treatment will begin immediately.<\/p>\n

After six months, Baney can apply in Oklahoma court for adoption. A few months later, Grace will be eligible to apply for an immigrant visa, which would begin the process of naturalizing Grace as an American.<\/p>\n

While nothing is guaranteed, Baney said she sees a clear path for completing the adoption and making Grace a permanent part of the Baney family and the American one.<\/p>\n

While that process plays out, mother and child are adjusting to life in the United States.<\/p>\n

Baney has had to readjust to driving on the right side of the road and the mammoth size of American retail centers.<\/p>\n

Grace has had to get acquainted with the things in her new home, including a big, initially scary dog and a child restraint seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is actually doing better than Mama,\u201d Baney said with a smile.<\/p>\n

Grace cries out for more milk in her sippy cup and Nicky goes to the refrigerator to get it for her.<\/p>\n

Baney smiles at the sight and says that she recognizes that the finally united family is an answer to a lot of peoples\u2019 prayers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can honestly tell you, the thought of a three-, four-, five-year process was overwhelming to me. That went through my mind, night after night after night,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I hit the airport here in Tulsa, Grace was in one arm. Nicky was in the other arm. It finally felt real.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/m.newsok.com Sunday, June 3, 2012 BY WAYNE GREENE – Tulsa World \u201cIt\u2019s a miracle. It\u2019s nothing short of a miracle,\u201d said Baney. \u201cIt just doesn\u2019t happen this way most of the time.\u201d After more than two years of struggles with the U.S. government that left the Baney family stretched across the globe, Grace was… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3021"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3023,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions\/3023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}