“I constantly daydream of taking my d
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
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PAOV — Nine months ago, Andrea received official adoption papers for Maya, her 2-year-old daughter. The adoption has been approved by both Nigeria and Canada but Andrea and Maya are stuck in Ghana, waiting for Maya’s citizenship to be processed. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will only say that they have Maya’s citizenship application, but have not provided an update. Maya needs surgery, so Andrea wants to bring her home to Canada as soon as possible so Maya gets the medical attention she needs and they can start their new life together. Sign now to help bring Maya home with Andrea.
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Imagine having adopted overseas and bonded with your very young child and being abroad nearly a year and still waiting to return home to Canada because of needless bureaucratic delays in Canadian immigration. That is the cruel and heart-breaking reality for Maya and her mother, Andrea. Maya is a 2-yr-old girl whose legal adoption has long since been approved by the Nigerian courts and by provincial authorities in Canada.
The family’s plight was recently covered by CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/system-is-broken-says-ontario-mom-waiting-9-months-to-bring-adopted-nigerian-daughter-home-1.6855553
Adoptive parents spend years working with certified adoption agencies, attending training courses, completing home studies, passing medical, police, vulnerable sector, RCMP and Interpol checks, being interviewed and approved by child welfare officers in both Canada and Nigeria, gathering and submitting documents, doing everything to ensure that they are approved as good parents for orphaned children. As an adoptive parent, Andrea has complied with every aspect of Canada’s Citizenship Act for adopted minors.
Like all international adoptive parents, Andrea received what’s known as a Letter of No Objection from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. This letter states that “Ontario legislation recognizes the child as a full member of the adoptive family where the adoption has been legally granted in another jurisdiction prior to the child’s arrival in Ontario. Once the adoption is completed in the child’s country, the child becomes a full member of that family and, as such, should be treated in the same manner as all other children of legally constituted families.”
If Maya is considered legally adopted in both countries, what is the delay for granting citizenship?
Typically, adoptive parents return their children to the orphanage and return home to Canada to wait for Immigration to grant citizenship. Families are waiting a year and longer to reunite with their children because of extreme delays at Immigration. Young children (or any child for that matter), having bonded with a parent, cannot be nurtured, loved, and hugged by Zoom calls, nor can they enjoy the developmental advantages of a family life. For this reason, and due to medical care Maya requires, Andrea elected to stay in Africa pending Maya’s citizenship grant. (Maya was injured in the care of the orphanage and now requires reconstructive surgery to correct her left foot.)
Maya’s pediatrician has provided a letter stating Maya should be in care in Canada as soon as possible. The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is aware of Maya’s case and is willing to see her once she arrives in Canada. Sick Kids’ acknowledgement of Maya’s medical needs was received last September and included with her citizenship application.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) – in violation of its own policies and procedures, Canadian law, and international treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention that require its actions and policies to be consistent with “the best interests of the child” – has yet to complete Maya’s application after nearly 8 months. Adoption cases are noted by IRCC for priority processing. Maya’s file additionally qualified for expedited processing. After waiting a very long 6 months of repeated outreach with no feedback or information, Andrea was advised that Maya’s file was finally moved into processing in April. Still, they wait for approval.
The delay at Immigration has forced Andrea to make major sacrifices that have resulted in long-term separation from their family at home in Canada. Although lucky enough to have the support of family, friends, and her employer to remain overseas with her child since June 2022, the need to remain with her child has tripled her monthly expenses and exhausted her life savings. “The financial burden causes a lot of stress and anxiety, and the isolation exacerbates being homesick,” Andrea says. “I constantly daydream of taking my daughter home to our life in Canada and always cry. I’m desperate for a resolution.”
Andrea moved to Accra with her daughter to be closer to the Canadian High Commission that has her file. With Maya’s Nigerian passport and as her legal parent, Andrea can leave Nigeria and take Maya anywhere, but they have yet to receive permission to enter Canada. In November 2022, “I walked Maya to the High Commission and was refused entry. I have tried five times to visit and gain access to our Canadian High Commission and been refused. I have emailed requesting an appointment without reply.”
“It feels like Canadian immigration blatantly disregards the well-being of adopted children and their families,” Andrea says. “This is the best thing I have ever done in my life and the Canadian government has taken so much joy from this journey that I am afraid to hope for anything. A response never comes, I’m still away from my family, and I have no idea when I will be able to return home. This is not good for anybody! Where is the priority in this adoption processing that is noted on the government website?”
The unnecessary delays of adoption cases place Canada in violation of Article 18 of the Hague convention, which obligates the “Central Authorities of both States shall take all necessary steps to obtain permission for the child to leave the State of origin and to enter and reside permanently in the receiving State.” Under Article 24 of the Hague Convention, Canada has no basis upon which to reject the legal adoption of these children when they have been overseen and confirmed by the Lagos State Court in Nigeria.
The issue of Canada failing to properly complete adoption files in a timely manner is so entrenched that IRCC has a policy guidebook to handle “high profile or contentious cases” by creating an added layer of bureaucracy that involves preparation of case reports for national headquarters to address media questions instead of simply finalizing the applications.
Some parents cannot help but wonder if the delays are due to the fact that their children were orphaned in Nigeria, which is home to over 10 million orphans who face conditions that place the country at 174 out of 180 nations by the World Health Organization’s ranking of performance on child flourishing.
Canada’s anti-racism and engagement strategy states: “Anti-Black racism is deeply entrenched in Canadian institutions, policies and practices, such that anti-Black racism is either functionally normalized or rendered invisible to the larger white society.” https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/anti-racism engagement/anti-racism-strategy.html
The pain of these legally adopted Nigerian children, most of them separated from their parents by bureaucratic lethargy and callous indifference, and the pain of others languishing abroad with a parent who is unable to come home with them, has become “either functionally normalized or rendered invisible to the larger white society.”
Canada insists on processing adoption files overseas when the second stage of the application (a simple process of verifying documents) can, according to IRCC’s own updated policies from July 2020, be made in Sydney, Nova Scotia or Montreal.
Canada must immediately finalize Maya’s file and end the systemic delays that cause such heartbreak for this legally adopted beautiful little girl and her Canadian “mama”.
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