Family caught up in 'surreal complexities' of bringing adopted daughter to Australia

A Perth couple says it was “insane” to make them live apart for months for them to be able to bring their adopted daughter to Australia. They say the separation has caused them extreme stress and their children are suffering while they wait to know the fate of their daughter.

Vineet Sharma’s GP says the debilitating back pain the Perth father is suffering from is due to psychosomatic symptoms because of stress. Mr Sharma’s wife, Madhvi Bhatnagar’s health has also deteriorated because of the extreme stress and anxiety resulting from the fact that Ms Bhatnagar had to live in India for many months, away from her husband and son, to meet a visa requirement.

Mr Sharma and Ms Bhatnagar were trying to get their adopted daughter Dhruvita to Australia. One of the preconditions for the visa is that one of the adoptive parents has to live out of Australia for 12 months before the visa application is lodged.

Six-year-old Dhruvita was the biological daughter of Ms Bhatnagar’s sister who passed away when Dhruvita was just one. The couple adopted her as per Indian law in order to raise her in their family in Australia.

When the couple applied for their adopted daughter’s visa, that’s when they say they experienced the “surreal complexities” of Australia’s adoption visas.

“We went by what the immigration website says as we couldn’t find any migration agent who had experience in adoption visas. But our application was refused, saying my wife had spent only nine months in India with our daughter, whereas she lived there for 15 months,” Mr Sharma told SBS Punjabi.

“My wife had to defer her studies and quit her job in Perth in order to go back to India. And don’t forget we have a four-year-old son who had to live without his mother for so many months,” he said.

Mr Sharma says his wife returned to Australia in January 2019 to help prepare the visa application and it was lodged in March.

“It took us time to gather documents and evidence before we could submit the application. But looks like, there’s no provision for time for preparing the application,” he said.

The Department determined that Ms Bhatnagar had spent a “significant period” in Australia in the 12 months before application and therefore did not meet the requirement for the visa.

While the Department of Home Affairs said it doesn’t comment on individual cases, it said the requirement exists to ensure people don’t circumvent the rules.

“The 12-month residence requirement aims to prevent individuals temporarily moving offshore to adopt a child and avoiding the stringent requirements, including suitability assessment, cost and processing times, involved in adopting through an intercountry adoption process,” a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs told SBS Punjabi.

Sunny Chandra, a migration agent in Melbourne says the primary purpose of this prerequisite is to ensure that the parents trying to bring their adopted child to Australia understand their adopted child’s cultural and emotional needs.

“In this case, the requirement becomes irrelevant as the adoptive parents and the adopted child are not only from the same culture but were actually closely related even before the adoption,” Mr Chandra told SBS Punjabi.

“There are precedents where this requirement has been waived off in cases it was deemed unnecessary, and I see no reason why this family should have to live apart like this,” he said.

Mr Sharma says not being able to bring his adopted daughter to Australia has forced his family to live in “bits and pieces”.

“We have been married for six years but half the time we are living separately as we have a responsibility towards our adopted daughter as well.

“Our family is divided in parts. I don’t remember a day when all family members are together on festive days, birthdays etc. We just make do with talking on the phone hoping next time we’ll be together.”

While Ms Bhatnagar is back in Australia, Dhruvita is currently being cared for by her maternal grandmother in India.

“When we adopted Dhruvita after her after mother’s death, she began calling my wife mum. Now that my wife is back here because our son also needs both of us, Dhruvita misses her in India and constantly asks about her,” he says.

While the Department of Home Affairs is having a re-look at the application under a different visa subclass, Mr Sharma says his family’s in a “very fragile” state.

“We can’t wait and afford any more time as our married life is getting affected big time with this never-ending process. Our kids are losing their childhood and many more things which are easily available for other children,” he says. “I think it’s insane to push my family apart like this.”

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