(slow piano music)
- I had thought about adopting since I was a teenager,
and I remember thinking no child should ever grow up
in an orphanage.
The difference between growing up with a family
versus growing up without a family changes the course
of a human beings life.
(slow piano music)
- To become adoptive parents there's a major process
of interviews, of background checks,
of making sure your home is safe for your children.
(slow piano music)
- I remember a social worker saying to me,
"Look, we want these kids to have families,
"and we're trying to opt you in, not opt you out."
It's not that they're looking for people with perfect lives.
They're looking for people who are committed
to helping a child.
(soft acoustic music)
- The first thing we did when we went down there was
essentially see if this would be the sort of place we would
want to adopt from.
As we got to know the director,
she introduced us to this little boy named Kembe,
and said "I think I know who you guys need to meet."
I distinctly remember it was nap time,
and so we walked around the corner into his bedroom,
and he was laying in his crib,
and he's laying on his back wide awake,
this little guy, huge smile on his face,
I kid you not, just this beaming smile on his face,
and just kind of quiet, and looking up at us.
Just beaming this sense of baby joy.
We're like, "What kid exudes this kind of positive energy?"
She like, "This is your little guy."
We're like, "Oh my God, you're right, this is.
"This is our son."
- When you birth a child, you meet the child that day,
and it's this beautiful moment, and then you go home,
and you have the child with you.
But in this case we we meet the child,
and it's beautiful, and we're excited, and then we go home,
and he still lives somewhere else.
That was really difficult, and you know,
then we go home, and we just continue submitting paperwork.
We had to go down for a visits sometimes just to sign
things in a courthouse.
I was really just down there for a casual visit.
I was checking on paperwork,
getting to hang out with Kembe a little bit,
and the earthquake happened.
It was insane.
It was like being on blanket that someone was trying
to shake off.
We survived, we were all okay.
Many people in the country did not fare as well.
It was a really devastating day for their country.
He, and the other orphans were literally sleeping
on the ground of a driveway was the most difficult
aspect of that adoption.
We weren't really sure what was gonna happen to him.
We weren't really sure what would happen with the adoption.
(bright acoustic music)
I really became dedicated to trying to get our son,
and all of the kids that were in the same situation
home to their families because there were hundreds
of children in the same scenario who had adoptions approved,
and were literally just waiting on a signature to be able to
come home to their families.
I started working with some of our state representatives,
and advocating with them,
and with the Haitian government to figure out a plan
to grant humanitarian parole to these kids,
the ones who were already matched,
the ones whose paperwork was just waiting for
someone to approve it.
A week later, through a partnership with the US government,
and the Haitian government,
they did grant humanitarian parole,
and refugee status for those children.
- It was actually a bill in congress that was passed called
Help for Haiti,
and it granted humanitarian parole for, I believe,
800 children who were in situations like our son.
- Kembe popped onto a military jet with the other orphans,
and flown to the US without us.
- I was on the airplane to Orlando,
found out that he was there at a different airport.
So, somehow, got over to the other airport.
Finally at one in the morning, two in the morning,
they start bringing one or two kids out at a time.
At this point it's been three years since I first met Kembe.
Eventually, somebody sees him coming,
and says, "Mark, Kembe's coming out!"
So, I ran over to this little gate area,
and the officer who carried him out hands him to me,
and Kembe just melts in my arms.
He's exhausted, emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted.
I'm physically and emotionally exhausted,
and I just want to embrace him, and hold him.
After all these years,
and after all this trauma of the earthquake,
I was just so thankful that he was there.
The officer gave me this paper, and said,
"Hang in there, congratulations."
It was very affirming, and wonderful,
and took the visa, and held my son,
and just didn't want to let him go,
and just held him for so long.
- Kembe had three siblings at home that had been
waiting for years for him to come home.
We got balloons, and we got signs,
and we had lots of family and friends who had
been waiting as well.
Finally, you know, we see Mark and Kembe coming out,
and the kids just ran and hugged him,
and we were all so excited to finally be together
as a family.
(soft acoustic music)