WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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(slow piano music)

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- I had thought about adopting
since I was a teenager,

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and I remember thinking no
child should ever grow up

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in an orphanage.

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The difference between
growing up with a family

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versus growing up without
a family changes the course

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of a human beings life.

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(slow piano music)

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- To become adoptive parents
there's a major process

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of interviews, of background checks,

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of making sure your home
is safe for your children.

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(slow piano music)

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- I remember a social worker saying to me,

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"Look, we want these
kids to have families,

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"and we're trying to opt
you in, not opt you out."

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It's not that they're looking
for people with perfect lives.

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They're looking for
people who are committed

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to helping a child.

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(soft acoustic music)

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- The first thing we did
when we went down there was

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essentially see if this would
be the sort of place we would

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want to adopt from.

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As we got to know the director,

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she introduced us to this
little boy named Kembe,

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and said "I think I know
who you guys need to meet."

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I distinctly remember it was nap time,

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and so we walked around the
corner into his bedroom,

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and he was laying in his crib,

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and he's laying on his back wide awake,

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this little guy, huge smile on his face,

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I kid you not, just this
beaming smile on his face,

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and just kind of quiet,
and looking up at us.

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Just beaming this sense of baby joy.

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We're like, "What kid exudes
this kind of positive energy?"

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She like, "This is your little guy."

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We're like, "Oh my God,
you're right, this is.

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"This is our son."

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- When you birth a child,
you meet the child that day,

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and it's this beautiful
moment, and then you go home,

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and you have the child with you.

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But in this case we we meet the child,

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and it's beautiful, and we're
excited, and then we go home,

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and he still lives somewhere else.

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That was really difficult, and you know,

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then we go home, and we just
continue submitting paperwork.

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We had to go down for a
visits sometimes just to sign

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things in a courthouse.

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I was really just down
there for a casual visit.

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I was checking on paperwork,

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getting to hang out
with Kembe a little bit,

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and the earthquake happened.

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It was insane.

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It was like being on blanket
that someone was trying

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to shake off.

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We survived, we were all okay.

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Many people in the country
did not fare as well.

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It was a really devastating
day for their country.

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He, and the other orphans
were literally sleeping

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on the ground of a driveway
was the most difficult

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aspect of that adoption.

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We weren't really sure what
was gonna happen to him.

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We weren't really sure what
would happen with the adoption.

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(bright acoustic music)

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I really became dedicated
to trying to get our son,

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and all of the kids that
were in the same situation

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home to their families
because there were hundreds

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of children in the same scenario
who had adoptions approved,

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and were literally just waiting
on a signature to be able to

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come home to their families.

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I started working with some
of our state representatives,

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and advocating with them,

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and with the Haitian
government to figure out a plan

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to grant humanitarian
parole to these kids,

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the ones who were already matched,

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the ones whose paperwork
was just waiting for

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someone to approve it.

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A week later, through a
partnership with the US government,

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and the Haitian government,

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they did grant humanitarian parole,

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and refugee status for those children.

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- It was actually a bill in
congress that was passed called

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Help for Haiti,

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and it granted humanitarian
parole for, I believe,

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800 children who were in
situations like our son.

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- Kembe popped onto a military
jet with the other orphans,

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and flown to the US without us.

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- I was on the airplane to Orlando,

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found out that he was there
at a different airport.

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So, somehow, got over
to the other airport.

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Finally at one in the
morning, two in the morning,

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they start bringing one
or two kids out at a time.

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At this point it's been three
years since I first met Kembe.

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Eventually, somebody sees him coming,

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and says, "Mark, Kembe's coming out!"

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So, I ran over to this little gate area,

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and the officer who carried
him out hands him to me,

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and Kembe just melts in my arms.

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He's exhausted, emotionally
exhausted, physically exhausted.

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I'm physically and emotionally exhausted,

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and I just want to
embrace him, and hold him.

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After all these years,

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and after all this
trauma of the earthquake,

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I was just so thankful that he was there.

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The officer gave me this paper, and said,

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"Hang in there, congratulations."

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It was very affirming, and wonderful,

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and took the visa, and held my son,

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and just didn't want to let him go,

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and just held him for so long.

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- Kembe had three siblings
at home that had been

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waiting for years for him to come home.

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We got balloons, and we got signs,

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and we had lots of family
and friends who had

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been waiting as well.

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Finally, you know, we see
Mark and Kembe coming out,

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and the kids just ran and hugged him,

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and we were all so excited
to finally be together

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as a family.

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(soft acoustic music)