Keeping Adam's children together
Donation protected
It is utterly devastating to lose a family member. As parents you do not expect to have to say goodbye to your child and there is just no way to comprehend how world shattering it must be when children as young as 10 and 13 lose their Father.
Adam, just 43 had a passion for boats and exploring carving himself a wonderful career as a marine engineer on sailing yachts around the world before making a home for himself and his beautiful wife of 16 years in Thailand. Together they had a beautiful daughter, Laura, now 13 years old and 2 years later adopted a baby boy, John, who is now 10 years old. Adam was diagnosed with Cancer in September 2017 and the family made a decision to expedite future plans to live back in the UK so he could be near Grandparents, his Sister and Brother-in law (myself) to help him through this terrible disease. After a short time it was confirmed his illness was terminal, but with his strong will Adam would not give in and hoped for a few more years with his family. Sadly the illness took over and he passed away on the 12th June 2018 running out of time to complete the all official paperworks which would allow both his children to be properly established together back in the UK. Many complications have come with not having official documents in place now that Adam is no longer here. It was Adams wish that John and Laura remain together as brother and sister, go to school together and be looked after by his Sister and Myself with support from the Grandparents who live nearby.
Due to complex Thai processes adopting children Adam's wife was the only registered adoptive parent of John and not Adam. This leaves John without natural entitlement to live in the UK without a lot of paperwork and financial backing to go through the lengthy UK legal process to have John’s UK status formally recognised. Adam’s daughter Laura, who by birth has dual nationality, has already settled in to school here and is coming on in leaps and bounds considering the circumstances. Adam's wish was that Laura and her brother remain together here in the UK under our care, their Uncle and Aunty so that they may grow up and go to school together.
Adam's widow Zip has another, older child (17) from a previous relationship who resides in Thailand and she has had to return to her country to support her and to find work.
As you can imagine this is not a straightforward or inexpensive process as it will involve Solicitors and a lot of legal process. We also need to arrange special guardianship measures to ensure we (Uncle and Aunty) can be formally recognised as their carers.
Our Solicitors have told us this will be a very long and complicated process due to the complexities around the young boy's adoption status but we are committed to whatever it takes to keep him together here with his sister. They have been through so much in their short little lives already we cannot bear adding to their distress by having them split up.
We have had estimations from our Solicitors that this whole process will cost upwards of £25,000 and we are going to need all the help we can get. Asking for donations in this way does not sit well with us but we can see no other way that does not leave us in a financially distressing situation.
I am pleased to say that we have got John a place in school with his sister while we embark on this long journey to have his status recognised by the government such that he can continue to live here with us and his sister as was the wish of their father and our dear, dear brother Adam.
Adam, just 43 had a passion for boats and exploring carving himself a wonderful career as a marine engineer on sailing yachts around the world before making a home for himself and his beautiful wife of 16 years in Thailand. Together they had a beautiful daughter, Laura, now 13 years old and 2 years later adopted a baby boy, John, who is now 10 years old. Adam was diagnosed with Cancer in September 2017 and the family made a decision to expedite future plans to live back in the UK so he could be near Grandparents, his Sister and Brother-in law (myself) to help him through this terrible disease. After a short time it was confirmed his illness was terminal, but with his strong will Adam would not give in and hoped for a few more years with his family. Sadly the illness took over and he passed away on the 12th June 2018 running out of time to complete the all official paperworks which would allow both his children to be properly established together back in the UK. Many complications have come with not having official documents in place now that Adam is no longer here. It was Adams wish that John and Laura remain together as brother and sister, go to school together and be looked after by his Sister and Myself with support from the Grandparents who live nearby.
Due to complex Thai processes adopting children Adam's wife was the only registered adoptive parent of John and not Adam. This leaves John without natural entitlement to live in the UK without a lot of paperwork and financial backing to go through the lengthy UK legal process to have John’s UK status formally recognised. Adam’s daughter Laura, who by birth has dual nationality, has already settled in to school here and is coming on in leaps and bounds considering the circumstances. Adam's wish was that Laura and her brother remain together here in the UK under our care, their Uncle and Aunty so that they may grow up and go to school together.
Adam's widow Zip has another, older child (17) from a previous relationship who resides in Thailand and she has had to return to her country to support her and to find work.
As you can imagine this is not a straightforward or inexpensive process as it will involve Solicitors and a lot of legal process. We also need to arrange special guardianship measures to ensure we (Uncle and Aunty) can be formally recognised as their carers.
Our Solicitors have told us this will be a very long and complicated process due to the complexities around the young boy's adoption status but we are committed to whatever it takes to keep him together here with his sister. They have been through so much in their short little lives already we cannot bear adding to their distress by having them split up.
We have had estimations from our Solicitors that this whole process will cost upwards of £25,000 and we are going to need all the help we can get. Asking for donations in this way does not sit well with us but we can see no other way that does not leave us in a financially distressing situation.
I am pleased to say that we have got John a place in school with his sister while we embark on this long journey to have his status recognised by the government such that he can continue to live here with us and his sister as was the wish of their father and our dear, dear brother Adam.
Organizer
Stuart Rutherford
Organizer
England