Our country is ruled by heartless paper pushers

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StarTribune.com
Adoptive dad: 'I just want for them to come home ...'

By JON TEVLIN, Star Tribune

Last update: December 25, 2007

It was supposed to be a special Christmas for Andrew and Michelle Ransavage. For two years, they had negotiated all the hurdles to adopt a girl from China, including home studies and evaluations by social workers. They were finally approved, and Michelle obtained legal custody of Mia, now about 2, on Nov. 6.

But before Michelle and Mia could return to Hopkins, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) did a routine fingerprint check that showed Andrew had been cited on a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving last January. Even though he had disclosed the arrest to the adoption agency and was still approved, the CIS denied the toddler's visa. So his wife is stranded in China with a child who is legally their daughter.

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David Pilgrim, vice president for adoption services for the agency, Children's Home Society, confirmed that the agency knew about the charge and reevaluated the family before deciding it was fit to adopt. Being overruled by CIS "was a new one on us," he said. The immigration official who signed the denial letter said she could not comment. Former Children's Home Society Executive Director Roger Toogood, an expert in international adoptions, did not know about the Ransavages' experience but said, "I've never heard of such a case in 27 years."

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Last January, he was charged with fourth-degree misdemeanor drunken driving. Afraid it could jeopardize his adoption, he notified the adoption agency, he said. He was unaware he had to notify CIS for a misdemeanor, according to his lawyer. Andrew Ransavage was put on probation for the incident. He completed classes and had a chemical dependency evaluation. On his own, he had a psychologist conduct personality tests, too. Neither evaluation showed him to be chemically dependent. The fact that Michelle could go to China and pick up Mia, who has special needs, shows the family had been approved by both U.S. and Chinese adoption officials, Andrew said.

But CIS updates fingerprints every 15 months. When it found the charge and probation, it denied the visa. He hired an attorney, who got the official probation revoked. But the judge still wants Andrew Ransavage to check in informally on occasion. The fact that he was still being monitored apparently concerned CIS, he said.

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