An American couple, stranded in Brazil, have faced a bureaucratic nightmare as they fight the court’s bizarre refusal to issue a passport for their newborn baby after he was born three months premature while on vacation.
Cheri and Chris Phillips of Cambridge, Minnesota, took a two-week trip to Brazil in February when Cheri was six months pregnant, with doctors’ approval.
Her due date wasn’t until early June; However, two days before her scheduled return home, Cheri was hospitalized for pregnancy complications, resulting in an unexpected cesarean section.
“I thought it hurt,” Cheri Phillips told CBS. “But in the middle of the night I started bleeding, I told Chris, yeah, I have to go to the hospital.”
“Over time it became obvious that (our son) was going to be born,” Chris Phillips said. “He was in the operating room with her and it was terrifying.”
Cheri and Chris Phillips of Cambridge, Minnesota (pictured) took a two-week trip to Brazil in February when Cheri was six months pregnant, with doctors’ approval.
Their son, Greyson, (pictured) was born on March 12, weighing just over two pounds after an unexpected C-section. After a harrowing 51-day stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, Greyson was finally medically cleared to leave the hospital.
“It was scary, like, my God,” Cheri Phillips told the outlet. ‘I don’t speak the language (in Brazil), I have no idea what’s going on half the time. It’s scary.’
Their son, Greyson, was born on March 12 and weighed just over two pounds. After a harrowing 51-day stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, Greyson was finally medically cleared to leave the hospital.
But the family’s return trip to the United States hit a roadblock as they faced a series of challenges in obtaining a passport for their newborn, leaving them stranded in Brazil.
“It’s just this huge list of things, it’s terrifying and overwhelming, to be honest,” Chris Phillips told CBS. “We’re basically stuck in bureaucratic limbo.”
But the family’s return trip to the United States hit a roadblock as they face a series of challenges in obtaining a passport for their newborn, leaving them stranded in Brazil.
Her due date wasn’t until early June; However, two days before her scheduled return home, Cheri was hospitalized for pregnancy complications, resulting in an unexpected cesarean section.
The Brazilian court refused to issue Greyson’s birth certificate because of a requirement for the parents’ names on their U.S. passports.
The Brazilian court refused to issue Greyson’s birth certificate because of a requirement regarding the parents’ names on their U.S. passports.
And the Phillipses needed Greyson’s birth certificate to obtain American documents, which they had to obtain at the U.S. consulate or embassy in Brasilia.
“The main obstacle has been the local registry office, called cartorio, which refuses to issue Greyson’s birth certificate simply because (our) US passports do not have the names of (our) parents,” Phillips wrote in a request for aid. to family and friends.
‘Four weeks ago, we hired a lawyer to help obtain Greyson’s Brazilian paperwork but, after almost a month, it has gotten nowhere and they have no way of knowing when the judge will take over his case or how long. will take once. he does. ‘
The Phillipses also tried to get help from Senator Tina Smith’s office, who tried to expedite the passport process.
The Brazilian court refused to issue Greyson’s birth certificate because of a requirement for the parents’ names on their U.S. passports.
A statement to WCCO on Tuesday said Smith has been in contact with the embassy and is working to eliminate the need to travel to obtain a passport.
Regardless, the family still needs a birth certificate from the Brazilian government.
‘You need one person to make the call. One person to make the right decision,” Chris Phillips said Tuesday. ‘We can’t be here forever. We’ve been down here for almost three months.
“To be home, in our house, with help, people to do the dishes and hug him, it would mean the world,” Cheri Phillips said.
“When we get home, when we finally walk into our house in Cambridge, it will be a time to celebrate,” Chris Phillips said.