wfn.org | Pastors bring adoptive baby home from Vietnam

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Note #7057 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

15-February-2002
02068

Pastors bring adoptive baby home from Vietnam

by John Filiatreau

After a nerve-wracking two-month delay, two Presbyterian pastors in New York state have been permitted to bring their newly adopted baby home from Vietnam.

The Rev. J. Wayne Hanrattie, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Pleasant Valley, NY, and the Rev. Sharon Williams, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Wappingers Falls, NY, both near Poughkeepsie, were reunited on Feb. 5 when Williams and four-month-old Kaelin Rose Tuyet Hanrattie landed in Newark, NJ, after a 24-hour journey from Vietnam.

Hanrattie and Williams adopted Kaelin early in December, but were unable to bring her home immediately because U.S. immigration officials refused to issue a visa for the child. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials said they were looking into allegations that the Hanratties' adoption case, and those involving seven other American families, had not been conducted in accordance with Vietnamese law.

Hanrattie returned to the United States around New Year's Day. Williams and about a dozen other adoptive parents were forced to stay for more than two months in a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City while awaiting the issuance of visas for the children. Hanrattie employed lawyers in Washington and Vietnam and organized a media campaign to marshal public support for his family and the others in the same situation.

Hanrattie, 61, and Williams, 39, were married in 1999 and started the adoption process in the fall of 2000. They were represented by a New York City adoption agency, Spence-Chapin, which works with International Mission of Hope (IMH), a facilitator of international adoptions in Vietnam and elsewhere. IMH has been accused of involvement in "baby trafficking" in Southeast Asia and has denied the charges.

Williams said yesterday that she's been through "a pretty crazy week" since her arrival home, what with jet lag, a weeklong media frenzy and her return to work after an absence of more than two months. "It's wonderful to be home," she said, "but it has been a whirlwind."
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