Bedford family stranded in Poland after adoption process goes wrong

Bedford family stranded in Poland after adoption process goes wrong

by Valencia Jones & Ashley AnnSunday, January 29th 2017

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BEDFORD, Va. (WSET) -- An adoption process gone bad has left a Bedford family stranded in Poland.

Justin and Kathy Hansen, along with their twin adopted daughters, traveled there in December to bring their new sons to the United States. They arrived only to find themselves in a major bind and what many would consider a nightmare.

"We knew something was off, they weren't organized, they were just sporadic," recalled Kathy.

Two weeks later, the boys' adoption agency, European Adoption Consultants, was shut down for illegal activity. "We didn't even find out through the agency, we found out through Facebook," she said.

Now, the Hansens remain stranded overseas with all five children.

"When it first happened, they said, 'Oh, it's just going to be a little bit longer. This will be seamless. No problem. It's going to get taken care of.' So we thought, 'We'll still be out of here in the time we had planned. Money will be fine,'" explained Justin.

Instead, the money ran out, the bills have piled up, and now they must wait until the adoption is finalized before they can all come home. They are surviving with help from family, friends and donations.

"One of the things that we talked about before we got married was adoption," Justin said, adding they were unable to have children of their own after two years of trying.

"So that's when we started to pursue our daughters, and that was a three-year process, from beginning to end, and adopted our daughters from Bulgaria," he said.

Justin convinced his wife to consider the three Polish brothers a year later.

"We still thought we were completely crazy, but we felt like the doors were open, and that these kids needed a home," Kathy said. "So, we said we should just keep pursuing them until it just didn't work anymore, and it worked."

But now the work continues, as social workers and others try to compete the complicated process, and as the Hansens count the days until their arrival back in Bedford.

The adoption process varies in different countries, so while the Hansens were granted custody of the boys in Poland, it could take weeks to legalize the adoption there.

If you would like to learn how to help the Hansens, you can click here.

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