I can’t bring my adopted baby home to Ireland ...even on a visit
Couple caught in a legal nightmare
A COUPLE who adopted their baby daughter in Morocco have told the Irish Daily Mail of their devastation after they were refused permission to bring her home to Ireland.
Cavan man Barry Hand and his Moroccan wife Laila were thrilled when they were asked to adopt a 19-hour-old baby whose birth mother wanted to place her in an orphanage two years ago.
After going through the legal process in Morocco, the child was legally placed in their care over there. However, unknown to Barry, 48, and Laila, 45, at the time, they were not permitted to bring little Joudiya to Ireland because her legal status is not recognised here.
Now, two years on, Barry is living in Cavan while his wife lives in Morocco. Their daughter is no longer even eligible for a holiday visa to come here.
During those two years, Barry has been travelling back and forth to the north African country to see his wife and daughter. He admitted to the Mail that they were ‘completely naive’ about the international law on adoptions.
He said: ‘We adopted Joudiya and it was all above board in Morocco. I brought over my paperwork and background checks. We don’t want her to live here [in Ireland], our child was always going to be raised in Morocco but we wanted to bring her here for holidays to see her family.
‘The first time she came over was in the run-up to Christmas last year. At that stage, when we applied for the visa, we ticked the box “holiday visa” and that was fine. But the second time we applied, Laila ticked “joining family” without realising it would stop the trips altogether. We just didn’t know and we were not trying to move her here, we know she can’t live here and that was never the plan.’
Devastated, he added: ‘Joudiya is not allowed to come back here again.’
He said: ‘I can’t even begin to describe how horrific this situation is. If we wanted to do things illegally we could have tried other ways of getting her into the country but we didn’t because that is not what we want.
‘Laila lives with her mother in Morocco and I live here. I have to fly over and back to see them. I’m working here to earn money to go over there. It is horrible.
‘I can’t go and live there, I have a business here and a house here, and Laila can’t come here with our child because we can’t get Joudiya into the country. We are so stuck.’
Barry, from Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, and Laila had always planned to raise their child in Morocco, with Barry working in Ireland for six months of the year.
The couple had struggled during their six-year marriage to conceive a child of their own and underwent two failed fertility treatments. Then Laila met the young mother who gave up her child.
In October last year, after Joudiya’s visa was refused, the couple applied to the Adoption Authority of Ireland to have her legal status recognised here. However, their application was refused on the grounds that Kafala Law in Morocco is a foster care order and not an adoption.
Barry said: ‘The Irish adoption law doesn’t recognise Kafala law which is the only law for adoption over there. We have an affidavit from the mother to say she never wants to see the child again; the father was never around.
‘I just have no idea what to do next. But I’ll never give up on my daughter. Ever. I’m shattered with the whole thing, it’s so hard. It is horrific, it is too much for one person. I’m her father, we believe in God and we have to deal with what’s put in front of us.’
Kafala Law is a type of foster care. There have been complaints of its effects on adoption.
Under the new Adoption Act here, introduced in November 2010, adoptions from countries that are not ratified under the Hague Convention are not recognised. That closed off potential adoptions from several countries including Ethiopia and Russia.
There are several stages to adopting a child under the new Act including Article 15, which calls for a social work report to be sent to a foreign country. If the couple are habitually resident abroad, their adoption can only be recognised if it is equal to an Irish adoption order. This makes it difficult for those with Kafala orders. One avenue that may be explored in this case is the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention which deals with foster care rather than the 1993 Hague Convention.
The couple are in the process of getting legal advice on that.
In a statement the Adoption Authority of Ireland said: ‘Mrs Hand made an application to the AAI for an entry in the Register of Intercountry Adoptions.
‘In support of her application, Mrs Hand produced an Order of Kafala naming Mr & Mrs Hand as the Kafeels (persons ensuring the Kafala) and Mrs Hand only as guardian.
‘The application for an entry was declined on the basis that an Order of Kafala is not an adoption and does not satisfy the definition of “Foreign Adoption” as defined in Section 1 of the Adoption Act 1991.’
‘We never wanted to live over here’ ‘She is not allowed come here again’