Bolivian boy has found a family, at last (Canada, not finalised)

Jheyson Schlitt seems oblivious to the turmoil brewing around him.

“I just cry and cry,” said his guardian, Lisa Schlitt who along with her husband Patrick, is desperately trying to adopt the 11 year old, although there is no adoption agreement between Canada and his home country of Bolivia.

Lisa knew from the outset the process would be difficult, battling policies of a country with deep national pride and a disjointed court system. She did find one loophole which allowed the Schlitt’s to get Jheyson into Canada, and they gave him their last name to make the boy feel loved, feel at home. Patrick said “he’s never had a family.”

Jheyson had been in Bolivian orphanages since 10 months old having no idea that a world away was a woman who would sacrifice everything to be the boy’s mother.

In Sept. 2006, the Kitchener woman and her mother Carol Dolezsar, of Cambridge, decided to volunteer as well as raise money for an orphanage in Bolivia, a country where Lisa had a friend.

Searching the internet, they found several possibilities though only one responded to the offer, a children’s mission near the city of Cochabamba in central Bolivia.

With her family’s help, Lisa raised $7,000 in donations before leaving for Bolivia where she set out to prove that individuals can make a difference. What she found was unexpected.

The Record featured Lisa in March 2008, after a poem she created about Jheyson was published in Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul.

“There was no expression in his face, he just stood by himself,” she recalled. “I hugged him.”

Jheyson’s face was expressionless; his body slumped as if he’d simply given up.

“He had been picked on, labeled having a learning disability,” she said. “For two weeks, I took him everywhere with me, we ate popsicles, went to the park, went to the market. He was seven years old. While we were there, the difference was huge. He was smiling.” Jheyson also started calling her Mom but only too soon, it was time for Lisa to come home, leaving a tearful Jheyson behind with a promise she would bring him to Canada.

“I called him several times a week,” she said. “I left him, but I had other contacts, they kept an eye on him.” She also contacted a lawyer in Bolivia to start adoption proceedings. “They wanted money up front with zero guarantees,” she said.

Jheyson, who knew rudimentary English, worked at mastering the language while Lisa worked at bringing him to Canada though Bolivia’s bureaucratic wheels grind slowly and often backwards. His birth certificate was lost, important documents were misplaced, lawyers moved on, judges were reassigned, one problem lead to the next.

Then, disaster struck. Jheyson’s orphanage came under government investigation and many of the children were moved to other facilities. She called her friends in Bolivia.

“I panicked, and called them and asked them to take him,” she said. “There are 80 orphanages in that city. It would be impossible to find him again.”

Fortunately, Jheyson did not get caught in the shuffle. Lisa boarded a plane for Bolivia and while there, applied for a Visa for Jheyson. “He came three weeks later,” she said, escorted by the wife of the orphanage’s former director. The Bolivian courts agreed to give Lisa, a personal support worker and Patrick, a funeral director, legal guardianship while the boy was in a Canadian school.

The Schlitts had prepared a room for him, wrapped Christmas presents in December then purchased a Halloween costume the following October. When he finally arrived, Nov. 7, 2008 they celebrated.

“Because he has a learning disability, he can come to Canada to go to school,” she explained. The couple was taken aback to learn the Waterloo Region District School Board charges $14,200 per year for an international student but luckily, they discovered the 38-student Carmel New Church School, an independent Christian facility in Kitchener charged $3,520 a year. “They’re phenomenal,” said Lisa, noting Jheyson no longer exhibits learning disabilities.

Jheyson is part of their family, but the story hasn’t ended. “We have custody from the courts in Bolivia and Canada recognizes that, but they won’t give him permanent residency,” she said. Without it, Jheyson does not qualify for citizenship, health care or education. Every cent must come from the Schlitt’s pocketbook and with four biological children at home ranging from 12 to 18, it’s a heavy financial burden.

Patrick estimates that between lawyers and consultants it’s cost them around $30,000, but it’s not about the money. “We don’t mind paying for him,” he said. “It would be nice to see an end point. You’re shooting in the dark.”

“Lisa has gone through so much,” said Kitchener immigration consultant, Douglas Dunnington, who has witnessed the level of care and love Jheyson has received with the Schlitts. “This little guy warrants facility (in Canada).”

Jheyson entered the country on a visa, and received visitor’s status which ran out after six months. Dunnington successfully applied for an extension which is about to run out Dec. 31. He’s applying for a second extension, trying to keep the boy in Canada while Lisa and Patrick run the gauntlet of adoption proceedings.

“What are we going to do, send him back?” questioned Dunnington. “Let’s hope some common sense applies.”