Abbotsford couple ‘heartbroken’ as African adoption stalls once again
WATCH: Another delay for Abbotsford couple adopting son from Ghana
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There has been another setback for an Abbotsford couple trying to bring their adopted son to Canada from Ghana.
Kimberlee Moran and her husband Clark have been working to bring the boy to B.C. for more than three years — a process that has stalled in recent months.
On Friday, they got a letter from the Canadian government dashing their hopes once again.
READ MORE: B.C. mother stuck in Africa with newly adopted son because of Canadian red tape is hospitalized
“I immediately felt heartbroken … We were just hoping and believing that we were going to get good news [Friday] and the government was going to come through and we were all going to be able to be together for Christmas,” Moran said.
“But we basically got the opposite of that news.”
Kimberlee is in Abbotsford, while her husband and adopted son remain in Accra, Ghana.
WATCH: ‘We just want to be home’: B.C mom and newly adopted son stranded in West Africa
She told Global News the government has given the couple 60 days to provide supporting documents for the adoption process, but that “the reasons that they give why they are not granting citizenship right now seem kind of crazy and a little bit irrational.”
A government official with knowledge of the case told Global News that Canada can not proceed with authorizing the adoption until it satisfies several concerns that have been raised.
The official said no evidence has been provided to Canadian immigration officials to show that any effort was made to find the child’s biological parents, and that no police report describing Ayo’s abandonment was filed with Immigration Canada.
READ MORE: B.C. mother forced to leave Ghana without adopted son due to declining health
They said Ayo was also moved quickly away from the area he was found, a common tactic with human traffickers.
Additionally, the official said that Nigerian officials have raised concerns about Kimberlee’s health status. She has MS, but Nigerian law requires both adoptive parents to be healthy.
Finally, immigration officials are looking into an unverified third-party allegation that the child was taken from a home, not an orphanage.
The official was emphatic that the government is in no way alleging that the Morans were a party to any wrongdoing, and that some of the issues involved may have been unknown to the family.
But Kimberlee says the government has it wrong, and that the family has already done everything it’s been asked.
“We have given them all of that information which all supports that he is in fact available for adoption and he has been approved for international adoption,” she told Global News.
WATCH: B.C. mother’s declining health forces her to leave Africa without adopted son
She told Global News she was upfront about her health status from the very beginning, including information about her condition along with a doctor’s assurance she was suitable to be a parent.
She also flat out rejected the allegation Ayo didn’t come from a legitimate orphanage.
“I’m not sure where that testimony came from, but that’s not what happened at all,” she said.
The situation is the latest snag in a now-three-year-long process for the couple.
READ MORE: Canadian government ‘red tape’ holding up B.C. family’s adoption of Nigerian toddler
The pair first met Ayo in August, but ran into complications with Immigration Canada, which at the time cited a backlog of files and the need to ensure the child`s best interest.
Clark returned to Canada while Kimberlee remained in Accra — until the stress of the process triggered her MS, leaving her temporarily in a wheelchair and forcing her to return to Canada without Ayo.
She says she’s now working with her lawyer on next steps, and trying to answer Immigration Canada’s questions, hopeful the ordeal will be over soon — but nervous nonetheless.
“He’s our son. So, I actually don’t know what happens next if they tell us we can’t bring him back to Canada,” she said.
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