Status
I Will Be On Anderson Cooper 360 Feb 4th As The Lead Story!
We will be discussing the Laura Silsby event in Haiti. She tried to pick up our kids AFTER MY WIFE EXPLICITLY TOLD HER 3 TIMES WE DIDN’T NEED HER HELP AND TO NOT MESS WITH OUR CHILDREN. Legally we are the parents of our three adopted children and for her to go against our explicit instructions to try to take our children shows her intent to abduct.
Tune in at 10 EST / 9 CST. If you miss the show I will be posting the link here!
I’m Back From Haiti With Our 3 Children! Woooo Hoooo!
I returned on Feb 2nd @ midnight to Nashville with our 3 children. While in Haiti I stayed at a refugee camp with 1,500 refugees and visited a number of churches and orphanages. I also drove through the epicenter. Within the next few days I will be releasing the diary of my trip (20 pages and counting) as well as 1900+ photos. Stay tuned for the download and photo album(s)!
Thanks for all your prayers THEY WORKED!
Just Released: Download the Adoption Info Pack
This is the first release. I’ve tried to put all the basic info you’ll need for your adoption in it. There will be updates. As you continue to send in your questions I’ll be updating it. If you see anything that is wrong or it is missing – don’t hesitate to contact me – you’ll be helping all future adoptions. Thanks!
I’m In Haiti
I look to return on Jan 27th or so with our children! I apologize for any delay in getting back to you, as you can imagine the last few days (make that week and a half) have been very hectic and I am doing my best to keep up with my inbox. If you haven’t heard from me on Saturday, please be patient, I’ll reply to you as soon as I’m back in the States and have the kids settled in.
Thanks for all your prayers and your patient understanding!
Can You Get A Visa For Your Adoption?
This is just in from JCICS:
At this time families who have a full and final adoption decree are being asked to send any and all documentation on their adoption to askci@state.gov. Particularly of important are adoption decrees and any of the following:
- DS-230
- Visa Medical Exam
- Paid the fee at the U.S. Embassy
- Approved I-600 (not I-600A)
- Valid approved Fingerprint clearance
- Affidavit of Support – I-864
Families should also send pictures of themselves with the children they are adopting.
Want To Adopt?
We’ve started a thread on adopting on our forum, please read and post your questions there: New Adoptions
Let an Orphan Feel Your Love
Our children are coming home. We’ve spent over $30,000 USD to see this dream finally come true. We are currently arranging a flight to take our children to the States – We have several options but are looking for as many ways as possible in case our plans don’t work out.
In the mean time, the orphans that are being left behind desperately need your help. They sleep under the trees at night. Robbers steal their food and money at night, they have to sleep out under the trees and they have no where to go.
You can make a difference. We’re being flooded with requests by people who are looking to either support an orphan or foster/adopt. In any case, to get your love and support over to Haiti and the orphans who so desperately need it, use our Support page and select the type of support you would like to do, whether it’s one-time, or ongoing, and even if you’re interested in adopting.
Click Here To Support an Orphan 
Our Kids Are Coming Home!!!!!!!
On my last trip to Haiti I met with someone really high in the DHS office (who approves visas). He is intimately familiar with our case. His office was expecting me when I arrived in Haiti. I wrote him today and asked if we could get a waiver for the kids visas or a refugee visa. This was his reply:
I will be very happy to approve your cases for travel immediately, but I would not advise you to travel to Haiti at this time. The solution could be to have the kids documents ready and let them be accompanied to the US by citizens who are evacuating. Give me over the weekend to pull your files out and put the paperwork together. You should see your kids in the US very soon.
So then I wrote back and asked what type of paperwork the kids would need to provide – they don’t have passports. This was his response:
They will not need passports. We will issue visas on official forms. It will be the same visas that they would have received if you had gone through the entire process.
Now we’re just trying to work out the flight arrangements.
Thanks for all your prayers!!!
The Orphanage is Not Safe
The Walkers (our friends who drove into Port-au-Prince to “extract” our children) said the area is deteriorating rapidly. Not only is the building not structurally safe, they are out of money and looters are starting to roam the area. We’re happy for our children being taken to a safe place, but I’m very worried about the children that are being left there. We’re looking for supporters – we have a safe place to move them to, we just need the finances put together to feed and care for them where they get moved to. If you’re interested in helping, please use the contact us form to get started. (And Thanks!)
Praise God Daniela Is Safe!
All of our children are safe. Daniela was at school when the earthquake hit. She goes to school from noon until 6pm. As you know, the quake hit at 5.
The first person who reported to us about our children said Daniela was not at the orphanage when they visited. This was a big concern for us. It took us 2 days of waiting and praying (and a lot of crying) until we heard from a friend that all the children in the orphanage were safe, including our daughter.
Tomorrow (Friday) our friends Gary and Carolyn Walker, missionaries in St. Marc, are going to visit the kids and take them to an Internet cafe so they can call us.
People Magazine
I’ve been interviewed several times in the past few days for a profile article to appear in the next issue. Tomorrow when our friends (the Walkers) take our kids to an Internet cafe they will also be interviewed for the story in People. The story has to go up for review with the Editors, but we have a pretty good shot. Please pray! If our story runs it will open such a great door for us to raise money to help the 30 – 50 orphanages and 300+ churches we are associated with in Haiti.
Applying For “Refugee” Visas
We’ve heard that the US State Department “may” be issuing a special waiver (?) for those of us who are completely through our adoptions (Justice of the Peace, IBESR, Court, I-600a approval). If you even think you may qualify, follow these instructions:
U.S. citizens with pending adoption cases in Haiti are requested to contact the Department of State at AskCI@state.gov for information about their adoption case. In your inquiry, please include: full name and contact information of parents, full name(s) of child(ren), date(s) of birth of child(ren) [if known], and the name and contact information of orphanage.