Second chance

From Romania to Tikorangi with love

By Avalon Willing

Monday, June 10th, 1991

Three words in the birth notice announcing the arrival of Rachel and Brett Vickery say it all. Chosen with love.
And that choice took two Tikorangi dairy farmers to Romania.

Sue and Derek Vickery had been trying to adopt a child in New Zealand for the last couple of years but television pictures showing the plight of Romania's babies gave them food for thought. By February they were determined they would like to offer a home to one of these babies.

"It's so hard to adopt here and when you see all those pictures of what it's like over there with all those children desperate for a home we decided to go for it," said Mrs Vickery.

Unsure of what the procedure was for adopting a baby in Romania, the couple spent the next two and a half months getting all the necessary paperwork together so they would have everything in order. Everything right down to finest detail had to be considered even as far as getting a report from the New Zealand police acknowledging they had no criminal record. And all the documents had to be notarised, she said. 

"We'd talked to a friend who had adopted a Romanian baby and she had contacts so we were pretty lucky. She knew of an interpreter whom we went through when we got there. "

The couple left New Zealand on April 22 little knowing that their new baby son had been born three days earlier.

"He'd gone home from the maternity hospital with his mother and she'd already spoken to an interpreter about having him adopted.

"We just happened to arrive at the right time. If we'd been a day or even an hour later we would have missed out on him," said Mrs Vickery.

Baby Brett was the sixth child born to a family which lived in a one bedroom apartment. His father had just lost his job.

"Financially, they just couldn't being him up. They were giving him with love."

From there it was a matter of going through the legal channels to formally adopt him. A home study was done by a social worker to find out the parents reasons for having their child adopted and then the case went to court where a declaration was signed by the concerned parties.

While the red tape was being sorted out the couple was able to care for the baby.

"We saw him at five days old and were able to take him home when he was nine days," said Mrs Vickery.

However, aware that the climate within Romania was changing as to the availability of children for adoption the Vickerys decided to try for a second child.

"We felt they would be good company for each other and if they desired they could one day travel back to Romania together."

Mrs Vickery said eight month old Rachel's mother had been unable to care for her and she had spent most of her life in what the interpreter had called a house of children. In reality it was more like a private orphanage.

The couple cannot believe the progress their little daughter has made in the five weeks they have had her.

Both children were given a clean bill of health before leaving Romania. Although Rachel was the weight of a four or five month old, she was the right height and was blooming on a diet of solids and milk. In Romania she was fed only milk.

"You used to be able to see bald patches on the side of her head where she used to roll over and over in her cot at the orphanage, She's just come so far ahead. Like she never used to make any baby noises. It was just a constant drone."

The couple had considered two other children for adoption before they met Rachel. However, in both cases the parents had doubts about the idea and the Vickery's therefore backed away.

"For our own peace of mind we wanted the parents to be happy about it. We want to say to the children in years to come that there wasn't really any chance of a normal life for them in Romania. But we are just so lucky to have them. They are so beautiful."

The Romanian Government suspended all intercountry adoptions of Romanian children on June 1st. Internal Affairs Minister Graeme Lee said all adoptions of Romanian children had been halted while changes to the adoption laws were debated in the Romanian parliament and a census of children was taken. All adoptions in Romania would now be handled through a Central Adoption Committee. About 150 children had already been adopted by 100 New Zealand couples since August. At least 35 couples were currently preparing to adopt from Romania, said Mr Lee.