Manitoba mother heartbroken 'inordinate delays' mean 3rd Christmas without adopted son, 7, still in Nigeria
An empty bedroom set aside in Charlene Berkven‐ s's home for her son is a painful reminder that they will spend the holidays an ocean apart for the third Christmas in a row, with no sign of when they'll be re‐ united.
Two years ago this month, Berkvens, who lives just north of Winnipeg, legally adopted her now seven-year-old son in Lagos, Nigeria.
She has been waiting in limbo for his arrival since, with few details from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on when it will complete its part of the pro‐ cess, what's taking so long or when she may be able to bring him home.
"It's exhausting and it's heartbreaking," said Berkvens.
"It's crazy to think about all the things we've missed to‐ gether: birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, just spending time together."
Before the adoption, Berkvens went through three years of home visits from social workers, parental training programs, police record checks, reviews and approval from the Manitoba government, all while working with adoption agencies.
The Nigerian government legally certified the adoption in December 2021 dur‐ ing a months-long visit she made to Lagos.
IRCC completes the final step in such adoptions — in‐ cluding issuing a passport to the adopted child — but that hasn't happened.
Berkvens has reached out to IRCC and its office in Accra, Ghana — which is involved in the immigration process — about the delay on numerous occasions, but has received no firm answers.
She's written to Canada's federal immigration minister and asked her member of Parliament, James Bezan, to help.
After his office inquired, IR‐ CC confirmed earlier this year the second and final part of the immigration and citizen‐ ship application had been re‐ ceived, and said it is "in the queue for review by an [immi‐ gration] officer."
"The long delays in pro‐ cessing immigration files, par‐ ticularly dealing with adop‐ tions, is unacceptable," said Bezan, who represents the Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman rid‐ ing.
"The problem seems to have gotten worse."
It's a familiar problem for Alberta-based Canadian immigration lawyer Alicia Backman-Beharry.
She's represented several families adopting from Nigeria who have encountered what she calls "inexcusable" delays and "systematic" failures in the immigration and citizen‐ ship process.
Berkvens's wait of more than two years post-adop‐ tion is even longer than her clients have had to wait, said Backman-Beharry.
Adoptions from Nigeria require 'close examina‐ tion': IRCC
As a signatory to the Hague Convention — intended to protect children from illegal adoptions abroad and pre‐ vent human trafficking — Canada must ensure peo‐ ple here aren't removing kids from their country of origin without authorization.
Nigeria isn't a signatory to the Hague Convention, so "these cases require close examination by officers to en‐ sure the safety of children and to limit illicit practices," an IRCC spokesperson said.
The process is meant to safeguard the interests of the child, said Backman-Beharry.
"But in practice, it really seems like the Canadian gov‐ ernment is reluctant to ap‐ prove adoptions through La‐ gos, and it really feels, from talking to four different sets of parents, the Canadian gov‐ ernment is searching for evi‐ dence of fraud without having any upfront evidence of it," she said.
For parents who "have been through every single step," she said, "it is unjust to have that adoption finalized, to have that child legally be recognized as the child of a Canadian citizen … and then for the Canadian government to say, 'Well, we're not going to process your Part 2 appli‐ cation for months and mon‐ ths or years.'"
Berkvens said the adop‐ tion agencies she engaged at the outset told her to expect it would take two to three years for the adoption itself to be finalized.
She said she heard the sec‐ ond stage, concerning immi‐ gration and citizenship, was taking some families adopting from Nigeria a year to com‐ plete pre-pandemic. Hers has now exceeded two years, and counting.
IRCC would not provide an update on the status of Berkvens's application, but said in a statement it's "not unusual for the process to last for two years or even longer," particularly for "nonHague Convention signatory countries."
CBC News asked the de‐ partment what typical time‐ lines are for completing appli‐ cations involving adoptions from Nigeria specifically, what accounts for perceived de‐ lays and what was being done to remedy the issue.
IRCC did not answer those questions.
'Inordinate delay'
Berkvens said she has in‐ quired about any issues with the forms she has filed with IRCC, but hasn't had any indi‐ cation of problems.
Meanwhile, she continues to pay an orphanage in La‐ gos for her son's care.
Backman-Beharry said the government "has to make a decision on this application, and they have to show that they have actually taken a material step, not just 'it's in the queue.'"
If that doesn't happen, "it's ripe for a federal court judge to say, 'Yes, I'm going to make an order … to say you must make a decision on this file — it is inordinate delay.'"
Berkvens and her son video chat weekly. She said it's important for her to en‐ sure her son retains cultural connections, and they visit Nigeria as he grows up so that he has a good understanding of where he comes from.
But she looks forward to "finally get him here … and goodness, [find out] what he thinks of snow."
As they wait to be re‐ united, she says her son is growing up without her.
"It's just heartbreaking to think that IRCC administrative delays have led to us losing two years."