Wednesday, November 19, 2003
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Wednesday, November 19, 2003 |
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Local family completes adoption of girl from China By MICHAEL BOYLAN Fayetteville residents Gail and Kirby Daras wanted another child and, due to fertility issues, decided to look into international adoption. They began the process in March of 2002 and successfully completed the adoption a month ago. Though there were a number of complications, involving red tape, good old fashioned bureaucracy and other hoops to jump through, the Daras family is very happy with their newest member, Lily Jean. Gail Daras saw an ad in the paper about an international adoption seminar and told her husband, who was in Kuwait with the U.S. Army at the time, that she was thinking about attending the meeting and getting some more information. He agreed and she began the process, doing lots of research and starting the mountains of paperwork that would be necessary. “People told me that I would never be able to do this, especially with my husband overseas,” said Daras. “I told them just watch me.” That determination would come in handy over the next 19 months, as the Daras’ faced some glitches that would have stalled other people out. At the seminar, Daras was linked up with Lutheran Ministries International, a non-profit agency that had connections in China. Each country’s adoption process is different, especially when it comes to price. For China, a $3,000 donation to their orphanage/agency is expected and the money goes towards taking care of both children and the elderly. As for the mountain of paperwork, the first step was a physical, followed by fingerprints taken at the police department, which were sent to the GBI, more paperwork and fingerprints with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which halfway through the process became the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, and money to pay for the paperwork and fingerprint processing. One snag with the fingerprints is that they are only good for a window of 15 months and the Daras’ hit another snag when Kirby’s fingerprints had to be redone on more than one occasion, thereby closing the window and both sets having to be redone. Remember, all of this was happening while he was still deployed overseas. Things were slowing down and the Daras’s were getting a bit discouraged. They sought help with the BCIS from local representatives and finally got it from Congressman Mac Collins and his Congressional constituent representative Jean Studdard. They set up an appointment for Gail and Kirby, who got a two week leave to return stateside and get everything in order. He had to get the fingerprints taken again, get a document from the Atlanta Sheriff’s office stating that he had no criminal background and that he swore to tell the truth when questioned. They got the piece of paperwork necessary and the process sped up. Another thing that sped up the process was their decision to adopt a special needs child. The definition of special needs in China is different from the American definition, in that any child with a birth defect in China is labeled special needs. Lily was born with encephalomengicocle, which is a sac on her skull and may require an operation in the future. They made the decision to adopt a special needs child in January of 2003, submitted their dossier, which was a collection of all of their paperwork, which had been notarized (and there was a small snag with that as well) on June 25 and were approved on Aug. 22. They weren’t notified of the approval until Sept. 3 but by Oct. 3 they were on their way to China to adopt their daughter. “It was an amazing experience,” said Daras. She and her husband flew into Beijing and had a day to tour the sites before flying to the Xiajiang province the next day. Lily had been living with a foster family since the age of three months. She was nearing her third birthday when the Daras family arrived and it was a tough first night in the hotel, after her foster mother left. The tears stopped soon when Lily attempted to put on her new father’s sneakers, which caused the new family to giggle and smile. There was still more to be done in China with more paperwork to be filled out, a medical exam for Lily, several sets of pictures to be taken and a promise before the U.S. Consulate to be good parents. The family flew back to Beijing and then to Chicago, where once they landed, Lily Jean Daras was a U.S. citizen, after some more paperwork of course. Lily is adjusting well to life in America. She is in a Montessori school, learning more and more each day. She has been to her brother, Ryan’s soccer practice and a wedding and was recently invited to a birthday party. She will also have a sibling soon as the Daras’ began another adoption before Lily’s adoption was complete. This time the child will come from Kazakhstan, which is 500 miles from Lily’ s former home in China. “If you are not organized, you’ll never make it,” said Daras, when asked what the most important piece of advice to prospective adoptive parents would be. She also stated that while the paperwork was not easy, now she is dealing with a preschooler, which is challenging in itself.
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