[adoptperu]

On November 18th, we traveled to Peru to adopt Jennifer. Ten days later we returned home without her. It is a crushing, tragic turn of events, one in which we can not seem to find a solution. And so we are appealing to everyone to whom we can think to appeal, to see if there is someone out there who might be able to guide us.

We were in Trujillo for about two days when I was struck with severe vertigo. At this point we were still in what Peru calls the empathy stage. It is a three day meet-n-greet schedule in which we spend time with Jennifer but she continues living at the orphanage. We were initially told the empathy could be extended if needed. My vertigo was severe enough to render me bed-ridden and so we began to appeal to our attorney’s to slow the adoption process down. I needed several days of bed rest and taking care of two very excited children (we brought our daughter with us) was beyond my abilities with such severe vertigo.

Attorneys told us the process would move forward unless we opted to stop the adoption all together. We continued to stress that I was not okay, but the next thing we knew, we were signing custody papers for Jennifer. It was thanksgiving weekend. We could not get our doctor at home on the phone, nor could we raise the adoption agency on the phone. We didn’t know what to do because I was extremely ill.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, the adoption agency began working with attorneys on a plan which would have given the attorneys power of attorney for Jennifer’s custody, effectively keeping the adoption alive while I sought medical attention. The plan was submitted to Lima and swiftly rejected. Jennifer was ordered returned to the orphanage and we were told to go home.

Since that time, Lima has refused all communication from our attorneys. We have been told by sources in Trujillo that no one from Trujillo is to communicate with us, and we’ve been told that Jennifer is being assigned to another family. However, Lima remains completely silent on the status of our case.

We are looking for any suggestions, leads or help that anyone might have to offer. Our attorneys keep saying their hands are tied and our adoption agency is saying it has never encountered a situation like this and it quite simply does not know what to do. In the meantime, we are getting reports that Jennifer has become despondent, wondering why we have not returned for her.

Please, please put some thought to our situation. For over a month now, our daughter Caelan and Jennifer have believed that they are sisters, and while we finally broke down and told Caelan the truth about what has happened, Jennifer sits in an orphanage wondering where we are.