Adoption Update

So the day finally came , Bob and I received a phone call about Mishel. Only it wasn't the phone call we where expecting. Instead of hearing that Mishel was going to be ours we where told that we would not be able to be his parents. After many tears and a couple of days we decided to see if there was anything that we could do. We called everyone that we could think of and we want to thank all of you that did what you could. People wrote letters, made phone calls and prayed. We where overwhelmed with all the offers to help.

Bethany had the director of operations in Albania go to the group home and speak with the director. He ended up speaking with the man that is the President of the company that funds Mishel's group home. He had even more pieces to the puzzle. When we first received Mishel's assessment there was information that the only contact of a parent was through an older man, an attorney that would show up and say that Mishel's mother was in Italy and wanted to parent him. Well after four years of this and no actual contact from any family the courts declared him abandoned. He was then placed to Bethany and than us. It seems that this man found out about the adoption of Mishel and has threaten to go to the papers and say that the group home, the AAC and Bethany are trafficking children to Americans. This is something that happens and of course nobody wants that kind of press. Bethany and the AAC have decided to stop any adoption of Mishel.

So Bob and I have decided to have Bethany continue to look for a child that we can adopt. We are going to sponsor Mishel and try on our own to find out if we can work with this attorney to adopt Mishel. But as for now we don't have any idea why this man wants to block the adoption of Mishel, all we can do is try.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers,

Bob and Melissa