wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

After the earthquake in Haiti, the U.S. and Haitian governments vowed to fast-track adoptions that were already in progress. But in the chaos of the aftermath, some of the children who were evacuated turned out not to have prospective parents -- or not even to be orphans. With so many records destroyed, it's been difficult for authorities to sort out which children should be allowed to leave. WNYC’s Marianne McCune has been following the progress of one New York woman's struggle to bring a child home to Queens.

Every year on her birthday, Yves-Merry Telemaque says she re-evaluates her life. She was born in Haiti, but grew up in Queens. She’s 46, but looks 30. She’s a successful divorce attorney who represents Haitian artists on the side; she speaks five languages. And two years ago, she was feeling pretty good: "I feel as though I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do since the time I was 21. So I was like, ok what’s next?:

She wanted to start a family. Telemaque dates, but she’s not married. She decided to adopt a Haitian child. She settled on an agency based in Colorado and, last September, they introduced her to a one-and-a-half-year-old girl.

"They sent me her picture and I saw her eyes, oh my God, they were -– it just touched my heart, it really did," she says. "And I sent the picture to my sister and she said, that picture says I need a mommy. You have to go get her. And I’m like, oh my God."

She went to Haiti -- and fell in love. She says the child was underweight, anemic, and had tapeworms, so she arranged for a nanny to help take care of her at the orphanage while she waited for the adoption process to go forward. It can take three years to adopt a Haitian child. But after January’s earthquake, both governments promised to expedite things. That’s why, only four months after Telemaque met her daughter for the first time, they are suddenly here together in New York City.

Just days after her arrival in New York, she’s waiting with her new mom in the Queens family court house. Telemaque could not get out of a court appearance for a client who’s divorcing his wife, so her 87-year-old neighbor Hattie-Ray Grund is here to help.

"I knew she has to come to court so I volunteered," Grund says.

"The whole process moved so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to arrange childcare. So until that is set in motion, I’ll have to take her where I go. I really don’t see dropping her off at anyone. You know, I don’t think it’s fair to her," Telemaque says.

Telemaque is calling her Addison, because it means gift from God. She is in her stroller in a purple snowsuit she did not want to put on. She’s playing with a purple bunny Grund brought from home.

"Look she’s just lying there amusing herself," Grund says.

After a few minutes, Telemaque is called into court, and Addison waits quietly.

To get Addison from her orphanage in Haiti to her new home in Queens, Yves-Merry Telemaque went on a one-woman rescue mission. Soon after the earthquake hit, she says the adoption agency told her the children are fine, but nothing more specific.

"The more I was watching the news on CNN, oh my God, I was completely mortified," she says. "Because yes, they survived the earthquake, but then if they didn’t have food and water, they would die from something else. And every day on the news you see orphanages being evacuated and the children were coming home."

At first, officials were issuing travel papers for Haitian orphans with great speed. But some of the children who were evacuated turned out not to have prospective parents, or not be orphans at all. So just as Telemaque’s agency told her to pack her bags and head to Fort Lauderdale to wait for her daughter-to-be, U.S. and Haitian officials were putting on the brakes. Telemaque flew to Florida on a Friday and proceeded to wait. After three days, she spoke to WNYC on the phone. "I left my job, and everything I had to do, my responsibilities in New York to come to Florida, only to come home disappointed, and empty-handed and without any answers," she said.

Then Telemaque learned that the U.S. needed proof of the birth mother’s renunciation of parental rights. So she cleared her work schedule, told the orphanage she was coming down, and got herself a seat on a humanitarian flight to Port au Prince.

Here is the plane Telemaque took to Haiti with doctors who were going on a mission.

"I arrived there Tuesday evening, and it was pitch black," she says. "All the children were outdoors, because apparently they’d been sleeping in the driveway. The nanny was holding Addison. All the other children were playing, but Addison is one of the smallest children there, so the nanny was actually holding her in her arms. And she goes, 'Here’s your baby.' And I said thank you. And she said, 'It was time. I’m so glad you were able to come.'"

Addison looks at Hattie Ray Grund, who is taking care of her while her mother appears with a client in court.

From there, she went to the U.S. Embassy, where Addison received what’s called Humanitarian Parole, which she needed to travel to the U.S. But now the Haitian Prime Minister needed to sign off on each child’s departure –- so Telemaque and Addison waited three days and nights in the U.S. Embassy’s air-conditioning.

"I didn’t realize there were families staying there until, I was just texting back and forth with my family and slowly I saw mattresses coming out. No blanket, I had no sweater. Fortunately I had a jacket for Addison but I didn’t know I was going to be cold in Haiti."

Telemaque and Addison slept on a twin mattress for three nights at the U.S Embassy.

And when they were finally allowed to fly to the U.S., she says they spent seven hours in customs and Addison had to spend a night in a refugee resettlement home while the Department of Homeland Security completed a background check, a home study, and a review of Telemaque’s financials. On Saturday, one week after she’d first flown to Florida to pick Addison up, the two were finally allowed to fly back to New York together. Addison’s temporary babysitter in the Queens Family Courthouse calls it a miracle.

"Look at her watching, she is sharp this kid," says Hattie-Ray Grund.

Grund says her new title is Grandma.

"Are you studying me again?" she says, looking at Addison. "How traumatic it must be to be moved from an orphanage to a private home."

Telemaque returns: "So she didn’t give you a hard time, huh, Hattie? She wants to come out, that’s it." Addison cries a little.

When Addison sees her new mommy come back from the court appearance, she struggles out of the stroller to cuddle. She lays her head down on Telemaque’s lap, but keeps her eyes on the strangers all around.

"I’ve seen two-year olds talking a mile a minute. But her, she’d rather observe. But she understands everything," Telemaque says. "Everything."

Telemaque says she’s mindful of the difficulties Addison will have adjusting to her new life in New York. But because she’s Haitian herself and has a lot of family here, she’s not as worried as she might be about continuity. She’s been working on a book designed for some of the white adoptive families she’s met -– about how to incorporate Haitian culture into their lives. There are chapters on Haitian heroes and Haitian comfort food. Right now, Addison seems happy with a new pink and purple plastic purse –- it’s got a flip up mirror inside.

"Ahhhh!" Grund says, "That’s the first smile I’ve seen on her!"

"That’s the first smile you’ve seen?" Telemaque asks.

She puts the purse on her shoulder.

"This happened really quickly, so you only have a very short period of time to adjust to being a mommy," Telemaque says. "I don’t want to be a mom who’s working 12 hours a day and I’m not home with her. These are critical times. And I’d like us to spend as much time together as we can."

Addison and Telemaque are sleeping at her sister’s house these first few weeks –- so that Addison’s new aunts, uncles, and cousins can pitch in when Telemaque has to work. They live in a big house in suburban Long Island, where one night last week, Addison fell asleep draped across her cousin’s lap. Telemaque lifts her up and carries her to the bed she and Addison are sharing upstairs.

"Shhhhhh," she says. "Are you going to go back to sleep? Va dormir, Cherie."

She lays her down, and pulls a blanket over her shoulders.

Telemaque whispers, "Ok, that was painless!"

Addison already has 12 pairs of shoes waiting for her on the dresser next to the bed. And Telemaque’s sister -– the mother with experience –- has given Telemaque her to-do list for this week: announcements, a baby registry...

On Telemaque’s longer term to-do list: She’s starting a foundation in Addison’s name to help tens of thousands of Haitian orphans who are or will be stuck in Haiti’s orphanages in the years to come.

Soupe Jouroumou (squash soup)

Here is a recipe for Soupe Jouroumou (squash soup) from Telemaque's book: "Bridging the Gap: Bonding, Caring and Maintaining the Identity of the Haitian Child(An Adoption Handbook)."

1 pound of pork neck bones

1 cup of extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of Lawry's seasoned salt

1 tablespoon of garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon of thyme

2 tablespoons of vinegar

1 hot pepper (optional)

1 cup of scallions, chopped

1 cup of carrots, diced

1 cup of celery, diced

4 cups of chopped cabbage (optional)

3 medium red potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 cups butternut squash (3 12oz packages of Bird's Eye)

Marinate pork neck bones in a half cup of olive oil, salt, thyme, rosemary, vinegar and garlic (Epis*). Let the meat sit overnight or for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator.

Brown the meat in a shallow sauté pan with the remaining olive oil (5 minutes each side). Add in scallions and simmer in a cup of water over medium heat until cooked (about 45 minutes). Once the meat is fully cooked, remove and place it in a large stock pot and add in carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, 2 cups of water and stir. Add a whole hot pepper and salt to taste. Let the mixture cook for 15-20 minutes until vegetables are tender. Then add in the squash and stir. Let simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Remove hot pepper. Serves 8-10.

Ingredients:

*Epis (Customary Haitian Seasoning)

Garlic

Scallions

Thyme

Rosemary

Hot Pepper

Freshly squeezed lime juice

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

Vinegar