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Her parents and older sisters have missed the birth and baby Leah’s first smile.
They are desperate to hold her before she takes her first steps, but it could be months before the family comes together.
Andre Soutzidellis and Dean Urquhart’s third daughter was born in May through a surrogate in South Africa after two years of failed IVF attempts and miscarriages. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the family has not been able to get a flight to South Africa to be with Leah.
CHRIS SKELTON / Things
Andre Soutzidellis and Dean Urquhart and their daughters Mila and Jia can only communicate with their daughter and sister Leah through video calls.
The dads, who moved to Christchurch from South Africa six years ago with their daughters Jia, 10, and Mila, 9, used the same surrogate mother who gave birth to Mila.
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Leah is being cared for by Soutzidellis’s mother who lives in South Africa. The parents have not been able to obtain a passport for the baby because the country stopped receiving applications when it went into lockdown, they said.
They are now trying to get a New Zealand passport for her, but it will be a long and complicated process, and they are wasting valuable bonding time.
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Leah’s grandmother, Marietjie Jansen Van Nieuwenhuizen, cares for her while her parents try to drive her home to Christchurch.
“I would like his first word to be ‘papa’ or ‘papa’ or the names of his sisters. We are very jealous that our family can hug Leah when her own sisters can’t, ”Soutzidellis said.
“We try to smile and be nice about it, but it’s getting to us and it’s extremely difficult.”
Soutzidellis and Urquhart, both permanent residents of New Zealand and eligible for citizenship, completed adoption procedures in South Africa prior to Leah’s conception.
They are named as parents on your birth certificate. Despite this, they will have to go through the adoption process here to be legally recognized as their parents.
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The family has missed Leah’s first smiles and giggles.
Then once they are granted citizenship, they can apply for a Kiwi passport for it.
The family court examined the simplification of this process a couple of weeks ago after it learned of several surrogate babies trapped abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At almost four months, Leah laughs, can almost sit up, and begins to eat porridge. The family sees her daily through video calls. Some days, they felt so sad to be away from her that it was difficult to call, Soutzidellis said.
CHRIS SKELTON / Things
Andre Soutzidellis says the family tries to stay positive, but the more time he goes without baby Leah, the harder it is for everyone.
Everything is ready for her: the nursery, the stroller, the crib in the parents’ bedroom. The family has had to give away clothes and teats because they no longer fit.
Under New Zealand law, surrogate babies are legally the children of the surrogate mother and her partner.
The commissioned parents have no legal rights to the child, even if there is a biological link, and even if the father is listed on the foreign birth certificate. They need to go through the adoption process through family court to be recognized as parents here.
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Some days the family feels so sad that it is difficult to call Leah.
Paula Attrill, Oranga Tamariki’s general manager of care, said it was “a very complex process” but there was a way and “New Zealand has a good reputation for doing the right thing for the baby and its parents.”
About two weeks ago, the Family Court expedited the adoption application process for surrogate babies trapped abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Usually, a passport abroad is issued for a baby in the country where they are born, and after DNA testing, a New Zealand visitor visa is issued by the immigration minister. When the baby arrives here, the parents apply for adoption in Family Court and, if successful, a New Zealand passport is issued, which could take six to nine months.
The process was streamlined to ensure that parents can complete the adoption process while the child is abroad and can then obtain a passport to take the child home without first obtaining a visitor visa.
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Her parents and sisters have wasted precious time bonding with Leah as a newborn.
Since the new protocol was implemented, three surrogate baby passports have been issued abroad.
Soutzidellis and Urquhart, who applied for citizenship in June, got an appointment for this in August and were told it would take six to eight months to process their application. After Stuff They made inquiries this week, told that they would be granted citizenship in a week.
Now they need to start the adoption process, which could take several weeks.
Attrill said that if South Africa was not yet issuing passports when they had completed the initial formalities, they could access the new streamlined process to obtain a Kiwi passport.
The South African High Commission in Wellington declined to comment. South Africa’s internal affairs office did not respond to questions before the deadline.
