Adoptive dad: 'I just want for them to come home ...'

It was supposed to be a special Christmas for Andrew and Michelle Ransavage.

For two years, they had negotiated all the hurdles to adopt a girl from China, including home studies and evaluations by social workers.

They were finally approved, and Michelle obtained legal custody of Mia, now about 2, on Nov. 6.

But before Michelle and Mia could return to Hopkins, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) did a routine fingerprint check that showed Andrew had been cited on a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving last January.

Even though he had disclosed the arrest to the adoption agency and was still approved, the CIS denied the toddler's visa.

So his wife is stranded in China with a child who is legally their daughter.

The couple's lawyer, who specializes in international adoptions, says it's a unique case that has unfairly separated a family.

"It's a mess," said the attorney, Irene Steffas. "It was an isolated incident, an indiscretion."

David Pilgrim, vice president for adoption services for the agency, Children's Home Society, confirmed that the agency knew about the charge and reevaluated the family before deciding it was fit to adopt. Being overruled by CIS "was a new one on us," he said.

The immigration official who signed the denial letter said she could not comment.

Former Children's Home Society Executive Director Roger Toogood, an expert in international adoptions, did not know about the Ransavages' experience but said, "I've never heard of such a case in 27 years."

When the Ransavages first sought an international adoption, they filled out the requisite forms and underwent extensive background checks by Children's Home Society, including being fingerprinted. Andrew works for an architecture firm, Michelle works for Medica.

Andrew Ransavage was put on probation for the incident. He completed classes and had a chemical dependency evaluation. On his own, he had a psychologist conduct personality tests, too. Neither evaluation showed him to be chemically dependent.

The fact that Michelle could go to China and pick up Mia, who has special needs, shows the family had been approved by both U.S. and Chinese adoption officials, Andrew said.

But CIS updates fingerprints every 15 months. When it found the charge and probation, it denied the visa. He hired an attorney, who got the official probation revoked. But the judge still wants Andrew Ransavage to check in informally on occasion. The fact that he was still being monitored apparently concerned CIS, he said.

"The argument we are trying to make is that CIS has to, by law, defer to professionals who are much more able to judge me than they are," he said.

Said Steffas: "The CIS concern is a good concern and we're not saying it should be eliminated. But I think Children's Home Society, which has an outstanding reputation, is in a better position to judge a fit parent."

But unless the CIS decision is overturned, Michelle and Mia are stranded at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China, their only contact a nightly Web chat.

The adoption agency is picking up the tab for the hotel stay, Andrew Ransavage said, but he said he has run up about $10,000 in legal fees in his battle with CIS.

"We thought everything would be OK," he said. "But this has been a nightmare. We spent Thanksgiving apart, and now Christmas. I just want for them to come home."