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Families’ struggle to bring adopted Congolese children to Canada finally ends

WATCH: It's a moment one BC family has been waiting for, for three agonizing years. They are finally welcoming their adopted son Pedro home from the Congo. He was stuck there because of some legal red tape, but as Nadia Stewart reports, that situation has now been resolved – Mar 10, 2016

After years of delays, 11 Congolese children are finally arriving in Canada today to live with their adopted families.

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Several Canadian families have waited more than three years for the government to issue their children a travel visa. Fred and Shelley Muntau are one of 11 families that adopted a child from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and have been caught in bureaucratic limbo.

READ MORE: Local families struggle to bring adopted children to Canada

It’s a process that, in some cases, has taken years and cost the families tens of thousands of dollars. Last July, the Muntaus found themselves caught in a Catch-22: the Congolese government said it couldn’t issue an exit letter for Pedro until the Canadian government issued him a visa. However, officials here said they couldn’t do that without the exit letter.

RAW VIDEO: Father finally brings son to Vancouver to start new life 

But since the election of the Liberal government and with repeated pressure from the families, the kids received their approved paperwork and arrived in Montreal on Wednesday.

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Fred Muntau was there to meet his son, Pedro, for the first time.

“My wife has a broken leg and just had surgery on Thursday and couldn’t come. So I had to go,” an emotional Fred Muntau told Global News.

RAW VIDEO: Couple finally brings son to Vancouver to start new life 

In December the Muntaus said they were running out of time and money, and had already taken out a second mortgage on their home. So Pedro’s arrival couldn’t have come at a better time.

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For the Siebert family, who are heading home to Edmonton with their adopted Congolese children 8-year-old Ruth and 5-year-old Jonathan, things still seem a little surreal.

“I don’t think it quite feels real yet that they’re actually here,” Faith Siebert said.

“When you’re watching your kids grow up through pictures and you know you can’t be with them, it’s hard.”

Fred Muntau and Pedro will arrive home in Vancouver on Wednesday night, where his wife Shelley, with her broken leg and all, will meet them.

WATCH: Randene Neill reports on Fred and Shelley Muntau’s lengthy fight to bring Pedro home 
Immigration consultant Andrea Bastin couldn’t say if all of this was a direct result of the new Liberal government but did say that in the past three years, their calls were never returned. She admits “there were partisan issues but as soon as the new election [happened], there were Conservative MPs coming out of the woodwork saying ‘I want to work with you’…  and the partisan issue disappeared.”
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Partisan issues may be put aside but the bad news is there are still five adopted children in the Congo waiting to head home to Canada, including Pedro’s best friend, whom he calls his sister.

It’s hoped their paperwork can be approved in the next couple of weeks.

– with files from Randene Neill and Nadia Stewart

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