Adoption ordeal taking toll on North Bay Olympian

Six weeks have come and gone and North Bay Olympian Alison Herst doesn’t appear to be any closer to bringing her adopted daughter Zoe home.

Herst has been in Port-au-Prince, Haiti since Oct. 18, trying to complete an adoption process that began over a year ago.

But, says her father Paul, she’s been frustrated in her attempts to secure a passport for Zoe—the only thing left to do before she can leave—by a Haitian bureaucracy that doesn’t seem to care, “and isn’t accountable to anyone.”

“We talked to her today and her dossier is still stalled at the Ministry of the Interior,”
said Herst, who spent a month in Haiti with Alison before returning to North Bay.

Worried about the toll
All this has been a strain on his daughter whose mood these days is “very low,” Herst said, adding routine life in Haiti seems almost impossible for Alison because of the powder keg atmosphere of the volatile country.

“She has a problem getting to the grocery store to buy diapers and baby food. Zoe is in good spirits but I’m worried about the toll this is taking on Alison,” Herst said.

“What if she gets sick and has to go into the hospital. Who will care for the baby?”

As well Alison can't take Zoe out of the guarded guesthouse compound she’s living in.

“There would be real danger for a white woman to be seen with a black baby since she doesn’t have proof Zoe is hers yet,” Herst said.

“And there’s the danger she could be swarmed, with people saying the baby is theirs, and that’s happened before.”

The only bright spot is that Alison’s boyfriend Stacy Jackson, an American Hockey League linesman living in Corpus Christi, TX is on his way to Haiti for several days.

Telling us lies
Alison has hired a Haitian lawyer, Herst said, “but he seems unable to move the dossier along.”

As well officials he has to see are either not in their office when they’re supposed to be, or uncooperative when they are.

“We have contacts trying to plead our case but nothing seems to work, no changes are made,” Herst said.

“Some of the people we’re dealing with are telling us lies.”

Then there’s the red tape, which seems to be sticking to everything, Herst said.

“We thought we were at last stage and the dossier was sent back flawed because some paper was missing, so Alison and the lawyer have hardly made any progress.”

Stir the pot
Herst has been trying to get the Canadian government to help, asking Nipissing MP Bob Wood to make some phone calls on the family’s behalf, which he did.

The Canadian embassy in Haiti has been helpful too, Herst said, but only to a point.

“They want to help but don’t want to go in and stir the pot or make waves with the Haitian government."

Foreign Affairs Canada hasn’t exactly been a ball of fire either, Herst said.

“My wife called them and wasn’t too impressed.”

Expenses starting to mount
Alison’s friends have stepped up to the plate and planned a fundraising event Friday night at the Elk’s Club.

Expenses, Herst said, are starting to mount “and Alison has car payments and rent to pay here in North Bay.”

International adoptions are not cheap by any means, Herst said, although the process was supposed to cost less if a Haitian child was involved.

So far Alison has spent $30,000 on the adoption, she told baytoday.ca prior to leaving.

Most of that money came in the form of a low-interest adoption loan from the National Bank of Canada, Alison said.

“But when you factor in what this is doing to her,” Herst said, “the cost is far far higher.”