Red Tape Unwrapped for Adopted Romanian Baby

JOANNA M. MILLER and CAROL WATSON | TIMES STAFF WRITERS

A Camarillo couple's two-month struggle to bring a newly adopted Romanian baby to the United States ended Wednesday after White House intervention made it possible for the infant and mother to come home together.

Shirley Suffern, a Ventura County high school teacher, and 7-month-old Alyssa Lynette arrived at Los Angeles International Airport after the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest bowed to pressure from White House Chief of Staff John Sununu and allowed them to enter the United States.

Suffern and her husband, George, had decided to adopt a Romanian baby in March after seeing a story on the ABC news program "20/20" that showed sick and abandoned babies in state hospitals and orphanages.

But after the couple completed the adoption through Romanian courts, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service refused to issue a visa after another network news program aired a program revealing that Romanian babies were being sold by parents and institutions.

Shirley Suffern, who thought she could complete the adoption and return home with her baby over a two-week Easter break, wound up spending nearly eight weeks in Romania. Only after Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) called Sununu did the red tape peel away.

Wednesday afternoon, the ordeal was over and an exhausted Suffern carried Alyssa to the waiting arms of her new father, who had been forced to leave his wife and daughter in Bucharest two weeks ago to return to work as an engineer.

"We're home," the smiling mother said to her daughter as they left the airport terminal. "You're an American."

George Suffern hugged his wife and new baby as friends and family gathered around. The Sufferns, who say they did not "buy" Alyssa, were among about 60 couples stranded with their legally adopted infants in Bucharest when CBS aired the baby-selling story on "60 Minutes."

The program prompted the INS to crack down on the immigration of infants whose natural parents are still alive, Gallegy said. But an INS spokesman said Wednesday that its policies have been enforced for years. Gallegly said that he is trying to assist other parents and that he expects about 45 couples to receive visas soon.

Alyssa, the seventh child of a poor family, had been abandoned to the care of a state hospital, Gallegly said. She and hundreds of other infants were kept tightly wrapped in blankets with their hands strapped at their sides to minimize the amount of care they would require, the new mother said.

After completing the adoption procedures in Romanian courts and following INS directions for immigration, Shirley Suffern said she went with the baby's natural mother to take Alyssa from the hospital.

"She cried and cried when she saw how the babies were kept," Suffern said of the natural mother. "Alyssa was sick and weighed 11 pounds. Her little legs and arms were so skinny and weak. But after just a few days of being with me and having enough to eat, she started to respond. She'll be just as normal as any other child now."

Alyssa has already gained one pound and is able to hold her head up and make eye contact, Shirley Suffern said Wednesday. As the mother spoke, her baby played with plastic keys and laughed. She kicked her legs, which had atrophied from disuse.

Last month, when the Sufferns tried to pick up immigration papers for Alyssa, a U.S. Embassy official told them that INS policy does not allow a baby with living parents to be taken to the United States after adoption.

The official suggested she leave Alyssa behind and go home, Suffern said.

George Suffren returned to the United States while his wife and Alyssa remained behind in a cold and tiny apartment. Both fell ill; Shirley Suffern's weight dropped from 110 pounds to 95. She said there was little food available in the Romanian capital and no formula available for the baby, who slept in a suitcase.

When the Sufferns, also parents of two nearly grown adopted children, reached home Wednesday, the house was full of flowers and the phone rang repeatedly with congratulations. The family was relieved but still thinking of other American parents in Bucharest.

"I feel that as long as I know people are still locked there, I can't go to bed and feel comfortable," Shirley Suffern said.