Kristin Holtz of the Shakopee Valley News reports:

SHAKOPEE -- Mike and Kristen Savage were tired, rumpled and exhausted.

More than 50 hours without sleep, the Shakopee couple was sitting in an Orlando airport with dozens of other would-be moms and dads, hearing the laughing voices of their children in the room next door.

The Savages could only wait to hold their 1-year-old infants, playing on the other side of the wall, for the first time.

This was not the homecoming the Shakopee couple expected.

Just weeks ago, the Savages were praying nightly with their 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old twins for the welfare of two Haitian infants who would someday join their family.

The couple, who had begun the process of adopting the orphans 16 months ago, knew it could be years before the paperwork was finalized.

But the 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12 changed everything. In the aftermath of the quake, which killed an estimated 170,000 people and left millions without water, food or shelter, the U.S. State Department granted humanitarian parole to the hundreds of Haitian children awaiting adoption.

Now sitting in terminal B at Orlando Sanford International Airport, the Savages were waiting to take custody of their son and daughter.

FORMING A FAMILY

Married in 2001, Mike and Kristen moved to Shakopee two years later ready to start a family. They adopted their oldest daughter, Sarah, from Guatemala and less than two years later had biological daughters, Chelsea and Lauren.

After the birth of the twins, the Savages wanted to adopt again. While they had no preference from where, Mike, 36, said small signs began popping up — television commercials, mission trips, friends — that seemed to point them toward Haiti.

Working with One World Adoption Services in Atlanta, the couple began the adoption process in September 2008. By the following March, they had received a referral for an infant girl. The adoption agency asked, however, if they’d be interested in a young boy, too. While they had not originally planned to adopt two children, they knew in their hearts it was God’s desire, Kristen, 32, said.

“As soon as we made the decision, we felt at peace about it and were saying it felt like the right decision,” she said.

Matched with Elise and Benjamin, the Savages were ready for the waiting game. While Sarah’s adoption took only six months — two of which Mike and Kristen had custody of her in Guatemala — they expected a much longer wait as Haiti has a reputation for lengthy, difficult international adoptions. The Savages expected bureaucratic red tape to drag out.

“If it wasn’t for the earthquake, it could have taken two to three years to complete,” Mike said.

THE QUAKE

Shortly after 5 p.m. Jan. 12, Mike was driving home from his job as an educational coordinator at Forest Hills Elementary in Eden Prairie when he got a call from Kristen.

The family had just received an e-mail from the One World agency informing them an earthquake had struck. She told him “to just start praying.”

Mike immediately thought the worst. Images of the devastation from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami flooded his mind.

Fortunately, the worry was short lived. Within a minute, the agency sent a second e-mail saying all 133 children at the House of the Children of God Orphanage were OK.

“That they were safe was just unbelievable,” Mike said.

The following days were a mini-roller coaster for the family. There was little contact between the orphanage and anxious parents. The Savages knew the children were safe and had been moved outdoors in case of aftershocks. Occasional e-mails from the adoption agency sent terrifying stories about armed robbers stealing supplies and the lack of food, formula and diapers.

The Savages found refuge from their anxiety in a new mission — trying to persuade government officials to evacuate the children to their adoptive parents stateside. Mike took off work to help Kristen make calls to media and politicians in support of humanitarian parole.

Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was an early supporter of humanitarian parole. Three days after the quake, she sent a letter to the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security asking them to expedite the adoption process so that U.S. families adopting Haiti children could bring them home.

The U.S. government granted humanitarian parole Jan. 18, issuing children temporary visas that will allow them to stay in the United States while families complete the final steps of the adoptions.

WAITING

The logistics of evacuating children from a crumbled country were not so easy.

Port-au-Prince was extremely unsafe during the days that followed the quake. And while the U.S. embassy was only 2 kilometers from the orphanage, officials did not know how they would transport the children over the shambled road and what would happen to them as they waited visa processing. U.S. families did not know which children would receive visas.

Shortly before midnight Wednesday, Jan. 21 — nine days after the quake — the Savages received a call saying children from the orphanage would be transported to Miami Friday via a military flight. The couple flew out the next morning.
The children, however, were not there.

The orphanage had missed the flight and the children would not land until 4:50 p.m. the next day — Saturday — in Orlando. The Savages still did not know whether Ben and Elise were among the roughly 80 children coming.

“Ultimately, we didn’t find out for sure they were on the flight until they landed,” Mike said.

The Savages drove to Orlando Sanford Airport, joining dozens of other parents anxiously awaiting their children’s release.

Immigration processing, however, took much longer than expected.
The Department of Health and Human Services had released about 50 of the 79 children to their adoptive parents by Sunday morning.

Then, the department changed its tune and would not let the rest go since their paperwork was not as far along, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“All these adoptive parents hung out at the airport. No one slept,” Mike recalled.

“We just sat there because we knew at any moment they would allow us to see them,” Kristen added.

But the children never came. Instead, the parents began hearing rumors that the children were to be taken to a refugee camp as the Haitian government raised concerns about children being given to the proper families.

Excitement turned to worry, and parents began contacting government officials hoping to get answers. Florida legislators and other government officials came to the airport to speed the process along.

“It was just crazy. It was just panic,” Kristen said. (Find a link at shakopeenews.com to read more about the wait).

Media outlets provided some comfort. Television crews occasionally were allowed into the children’s room where they recorded the kids playing and sleeping. Bringing the footage back to the waiting families, parents crowded around the camera viewfinders hoping to get a glimpse of their child.

“At that point, some people were just finding out their children were actually here,” Mike said.

At 11 p.m. Sunday, Kristen’s 32nd birthday, the Savages held Ben and Elise for the first time. Two hours later — after 38 hours at the airport — the Savages received the OK to leave.

ADJUSTMENT

While the Savages always expected to become a family of seven, they never thought it would happen so quickly.

“It would be the same, I think, if someone was pregnant and they were two months pregnant and all of a sudden, the baby was coming,” Mike said. “You just have to run around and do the best you can.”

Fortunately, with twins, they already had two of everything — cribs, highchairs, car seats — and little girls’ clothes were in abundance. Kristen picked up boys’ clothes from the clearance rack at Target.

Sarah, Chelsea and Lauren have adjusted well to having a new brother and sister, Mike and Kristen said. The older girls had seen pictures of Ben and Elise and for months the family had prayed together that they would soon bring the infants home.

“They have been part of our family and our hearts since March,” said Kristen, noting they’ve also been in the hearts of their very supportive extended family and friends, too.

Big sister Sarah said her new brother and sister are fun to play with. “When they cry, I give them some toys,” she said, adding she also helps rip up their bread for meals.

For the most part, Ben and Elise are adjusting well, too. Both children were dehydrated and have minor health concerns. The kids ate well and slept through the first two nights at home, Kristen said. They are even recognizing their new names (their Haitian names were Fedna and Mackenson) and mom and dad’s voices.

The adjustment from orphanage to single-family home is to be expected, Kristen said. Both children show signs of attachment issues and break out crying whenever Mike or Kristen leave their eyesight.

Ben, 15 months, is more serious and reluctant, smiling sporadically but is content to play alone. Thirteen-month-old Elise, on the other hand, is a “firecracker” who knows how to get what she wants, likely because she’s used to having multiple caregivers, Kristen said.

For the Savages, having Ben and Elise home is answer to months of prayer. However, it’s bittersweet as the Savages think about the hundreds of other adoptive Haitian children still waiting to come home. According to the Washington Post, more than 800 children living in Haitian orphanages were in the process of being adopted by families in the U.S. at the time of the earthquake. An estimated 380,000 orphans were living in Haiti before the quake.

The Haiti government has since halted all adoptions to ensure children have proper documentation and protect against human trafficking. The Savages hope the delays are just temporary and children who have already been connected to American families will no longer have to endure the fearful wait the Savages lived through last month.

“They need to come home,” Kristen said. “We’re thankful that our children are here, but there’s so many that need to be.”

Kristin Holtz can be reached at (952) 345-6678 or kholtz@swpub.com.