An adoption process that should have taken about a week has left an Abbotsford woman stuck in Ghana, West Africa for the last month, with no answers about when she will be able to bring her two-year-old son home.
Kim Moran and her husband, Clark – co-lead pastors at Abbotsford Pentecostal Assembly – travelled to Nigeria and finalized the adoption of their son, Ayo, on Aug. 20 after a three-year process.
They then submitted the final step in Ayo’s citizenship application, complete with all the required supporting documents.
They had to do this in Accra, Ghana because there is no Canadian immigration office in Nigeria.
Kim says they were told by other families going through the adoption process that this final step should take about one week.
Clark returned home on Sept. 21 to go back to work, believing his wife and son wouldn’t be far behind.
It has now been four weeks since they submitted the paperwork, and they have been told that their file hasn’t even been looked at.
“It’s on a pile somewhere … but nobody has opened it, nobody has looked at it, nobody has processed ti still almost a month later,” Kim said in a video posted on Facebook.
In the meantime, Kim, who has multiple sclerosis, is missing out on mandatory regular monitoring required for treatment she underwent last year.
Kim said the couple used a reputable adoption agency and made sure that all their documentation was authenticated.
She said they have tried to get answers from federal authorities in Canada, but no one has been able to get a clear response from the immigration office in Ghana.
“We are not looking for special treatment or to bypass the necessary application review process. We are simply asking that our file be opened so it can be processed,” Kim said in a Facebook post.
A GoFundMe page has been started to help the couple with the expenses they have incurred during this process and possible further delays. (Search “#bringinghomeayo” at gofundme.com.)
Kim said they don’t know what to do next or how much longer they will be in Ghana.
“We just want to come home,” she said.
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