Timely Article on an Untimely Case

The timing for this article in CNN is interesting since it highlights the issue of citizenship just a day after my post on the topic. In this particular case there is an issue of citizenship for a very different and very serious underlying reason than is the norm, but the concerns surrounding US citizenship for children adopted abroad are very real and this case highlights the worst of the "you don't want to know" consequences of not getting things cleared up and finalized quickly.

There are more than a few interesting details beyond the most obvious within this story. The first being that complicated cases take WAAAAYYY too long to resolve. A few extra months in a court process seems unreasonable when a child's life is involved, but fourteen years?! What excuse on earth could possibly justify that amount of time passing? Surely if they are looking for someone, that person either doesn't exist, doesn't want to be found or they have been using some very poor detectives to do the search. You have to figure over a period of fourteen years this case has spent its fair share of time stashed away at the bottom of various stacks of cases on the desks of various judges waiting for that singular human that is willing to say, "enough is enough" and do what is necessary to reach a resolution, whatever that may be.

One of the things I found most touching in the article was the feelings of the girl about her family and her case. The girl herself wishes the same resolution for the case as her family. She doesn't seem concerned about what may or may not have happened to her in the short period after her birth. She is content and happy and everything sounds right with her world except for that little issue of the threat of deportation. I don't think her feelings are surprising or unusual. I just found it very touching and wonderful that she and her family are very happy together. For the sake of everyone even remotely affected by this case, I hope it is soon resolved. I cannot imagine what it must be like for that family going through life with that particular dark cloud overhead.