NZ woman given hope in Romanian adoption case

Iani Lingurar, 6, may be allowed back to New Zealand.

Romanian boy Iani Lingurar and his foster mother, Alana Cleland, may be back home in New Plymouth in time for Christmas.

An ecstatic Ms Cleland said yesterday that Romanian authorities had signalled she could gain Romanian residency in a matter of months - clearing the way for her to legally adopt 6-year-old Iani.

Ms Cleland's residency application would be treated as a special case and instead of waiting five to eight years in Romania to get residency, she would be eligible within months.

Ms Cleland and her foster son of four years returned to Iani's homeland last month after Romanian authorities demanded his return.

Years of trying to adopt Iani had proved fruitless for Ms Cleland.

But under Romanian law, legal residents could adopt Romanian children, bypassing another law that bans all inter-country adoptions, she said. All going to plan, the pair could then return to New Zealand, possibly by the end of the year.

"I couldn't believe it. I was thinking, 'Oh, my goodness'. I'm kind of stunned really," Ms Cleland said.

The paediatric nurse learned the good news during a second meeting with the president of the Romanian Office for Adoption, Teodora Bertzi, in Bucharest.

Ms Cleland had managed to get a three-hour meeting with Mrs Bertzi this week, after just turning up at the Bucharest parliamentary offices.

Although she can speak some Romanian, she took an interpreter with her.

At the second meeting, Mrs Bertzi told Ms Cleland that she was unable to make exceptions with the adoption laws, but a special case was possible using the residential law.

"If it is done as a national adoption, we are free to leave the country," Ms Cleland said.

Mrs Bertzi would not say how long the process would take.

"She's not promising anything, but she did say a matter of months, rather than years."

Iani is to start kindergarten in his hometown of Timisoara on Monday.

In New Plymouth, Ms Cleland's mother, Beryl Cleland, said she was delighted with the news. "I am elated with the progress and very emotional that things seem to be finally happening."

- NZPA