18 May 2018 Adoption
ABANDONED BY HER BIRTH PARENTS, NIKKA WAS ALMOST LEFT BEHIND WHEN USCIS CHALLENGED HER ADOPTIVE PARENT’S ELIGIBILITY TO PETITION HER
Lilia (right) and her husband Peter filed a petition to adopt Nikka (left) when the child was 12 years old. The adoption decree was issued six (6) days before Nikka turned 16 years old, and the certificate of finality came out two (2) months after Nikka’s 16th birthday.
When Lilia and Peter filed an Immediate Relative Petition for Nikka, USCIS challenged their eligibility to adopt Nikka as the adoption was not completed before her 16th birthday. Lilia and Peter were devastated, depressed, and in despair. They almost lost the chance to be reunited with their adopted child – whom they loved and considered as their own. But then, Attorney MICHAEL J. GURFINKEL came to the rescue and secured approval of their adoption petition in a mere two months.