(WSVN) - A Miami couple is in a race against time to adopt their twin nieces after tragedy struck their family.
7’s Heather Walker investigates this complicated and expensive fight for the family.
Joanne and Rafael Alvarez knew they wanted children. But it has been a struggle.
Joanne Alvarez: “I’ve gone for, like, multiple surgeries. We’ve put on medication, just various things, you know, and it’s just not working right now.”
They also tried adopting, but eventually decided to give up on their dream of having a family, until they got a late night phone call from Joanne’s home country of South Africa.
Joanne Alvarez: “In February, and it was around like 3 a.m., so I picked up and she’s like, ‘Oh, your brother, his wife just died. My sister-in-law. And, she left behind two baby girls, and they’re twins’. And I was like, ‘What?'”
Joanne discovered she had two-week-old twin nieces, Geraldine and Bianca. They were in foster care because her brother was not able to care for them.
But Joanne and Rafael knew they could.
Rafael Alvarez: “I’ve always wanted to be a father to girls. That’s always been my dream to have a little girl.”
Joanne and Rafael decided to file for custody of the twins. But they discovered getting the babies to South Florida would be difficult.
Joanne Alvarez: “So now, what makes it challenging is that we’re fighting this other family to keep my nieces and my family.”
Joanne tells 7Investigates her brother surrendered the girls into foster care after his wife died. Now that the babies are living with a foster family, he can’t sign over custody to her.
Joanne Alvarez: “So unfortunately, we have to go through the exact same process for an international adoption.”
And that process is not easy or cheap.
Joanne Alvarez: “It can range anywhere between 40 and $60,000.
Holt international adoption agency agreed to help the Alvarez’s. But the family court in South Africa set a tight deadline.
Joanne Alvarez: “They told us like, ‘Well, you have until May to get all your ducks in a row,’ so that’s when panic set in.”
At the custody hearing, the court will rule whether the twins can come to South Florida to live, or permanently stay with their foster family.
Joanne Alvarez: “It’s a sad situation. But we just gotta keep going at this point,. But at the end of the day, this is my family and I don’t want my family to be just ripped apart.”
Joanne hopes the judge will let her have the girls so they can be raised by family.
Heather Walker, 7 News.
Joanne and Rafael have set up a Gofundme to help raise the money for the adoption. If you’d like to donate, click here.
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