Adoption!

For some of you this will not be new info…for others, we have some exciting news!! As we mentioned before, baby Lael is staying in our home under what we termed at one time like foster care. Well, things have developed and Ega has asked if we would be willing to adopt Lael and raise her in our family! We had been praying about that and we were ready if Ega ever presented the opportunity. We are thrilled that she’ll be a Vaughn and she’ll be our daughter…our fourth child! Ega is such a man of great faith and love, and I am thankful that we have such a special relationship with Lael’s birth father. Ega is excited too that Lael will not only enjoy life in our home in Benin, but also someday in America, too. He wants the very best for her.

It’s been a couple of weeks since Ega talked to us about it, but we wanted to wait a little bit to officially announce it on the blog. Yesterday and today, we have had good conversations here in the capital of Cotonou (KOE-tuh-new) with folks from the U.S. Embassy as well as a local attorney who will represent us and assist us in filing all the necessary requests before the courts here. Never having used an attorney for much before, much less in Benin, I was excited with my initial visit to our lawyer’s office. He is the chief counselor to the president of the Benin bar association, so that was impressive. He has done extensive work for the U.S. Embassy, and he speaks perfect English (before law school in Paris, he did an MBA in San Francisco at a French-speaking sister school of USF). I appreciated his thoroughness with me and he did not have a snobbish air about him at all. Very casual, but very professional and knowledgeable about the courts here in Benin. He is from Benin, from an area not too far from our home in Aplahoue. He speaks the language of the Mina people, which is very similar to the Aja language in many ways. During the times he will speak directly with Ega, I’m assuming that’ll be a big plus. Ega doesn’t write French, and can understand only a very little spoken to him. Mainly Aja. All the documents and the court proceedings are conducted in French, so I’m excited to know that our attorney should be able to explain things to Ega without too much misunderstanding.

In a nutshell, because we already have children, we first have to apply to the Benin courts for a special authorization to pursue the adoption of a child. In their minds, if we already have children, why would we want to adopt? He also shared with me that because there has been a major crackdown on child trafficking in Benin (after some horror stories though), people in the courts are sensitive to the rights of the children, even to the point of creating a lot of checks and balances in their Code de la Famille (Benin’s guide to the rights and laws pertaining to families and children). So, first thing: apply to be authorized to pursue an adoption.

Assuming that is approved, we would then present ourselves and Ega to the courts to make a request to pursue the adoption of Lael. With Ega willing to give full consent, the attorney (is there a difference in referring to one as an “attorney” versus a “lawyer”…?), anyway, he thought that would help things go well. We have to present all the necessary docs (passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates…all translated into French by an authorized translator).

The attorney said that the process might take 6 months or so. We’re so thrilled to get started. We had the joy of giving Lael her name back just a few weeks after her mother went to be with the Lord. As we ponder things like passports and other official documents, we’ve finally decided on what her full name will be once all the adoption is finalized (name change accompanies the consent of the judge to grant adoption). Lael’s mother’s name was Lokadi (low-kah-DEE). In desiring to link her name to some of her mother’s heritage, we have decided to maintain the latter portion of her mother’s first name. Her name will be:

Kadi Lael Vaughn

Kadi is pronounced in English “kay-dee” and also means “pure”. We love the meaning and the reminder of Ega’s wife and Lael’s mother. A special woman who had a cheerful smile and we were treated like royalty by her wonderful gift of hospitality.

It’ll take us some time to gather all the documents and get them all notarized and translated into French. Once all the documents are ready, our attorney will help us arrange a hearing in front of the judge to hear the request to pursue adoption. Of course we covet all prayers for every single detail of this process.

God is so good!
-Randy