Help the Lawrence's adopted children go to the UK

Adoption story

In 2013 Richard and Tamara went to a jungle village in Guyana, South America, to volunteer as teachers for one year. They fell in love with the people and chose to stay for three years. In 2016, while in the US, transitioning to the Europe for another mission post, they heard of the death of a good friend from the village. They thought of her middle daughter, Layla, who they already had a life not suited for anyone, much more an underdeveloped 10-year-old, so they returned to Guyana to adopt her.

A year later, with many ups and downs in getting a death certificate done and finding funds, they adopted Layla and moved to Europe.

However, Tamara was concerned about Layla’s younger sister who lived with her biological dad and paternal grandmother. She wanted to leave with her younger sister, but Dad wasn’t ready to let her go. Tamara's heart had bled when she had to leave her behind, and she wept for a long time but prayed that one day the father would choose to let them give her something different from what the village had to offer the youth.

A couple of years later, they learnt of the paternal grandmother's death. They spent the next year trying to contact the father because they knew she was getting older and knew what that meant for her. Eventually, he contacted them and shared his excitement at getting his daughter something better. As soon as COVID restrictions were lifted, the Lawrences gave up their mission in Romania, moved to the UK to earn enough for flights, and returned to Guyana to get their daughter. Layla was overjoyed to be reunited with her sister again.

While they were preparing financially to go to Guyana, the father brought her to another family's home in the neighbouring village where he knew she would be safe and looked after until we could come and get her.

During all this preparation and praying, the maternal grandmother was dealing with her other grandchildren who were left with her after her own children were dying one after another. The three youngest had her troubled as she knew she didn't have the finances or the strength to look after them. She called the Lawrences and asked if they could consider adopting them also.

She needed them also to be cared for well, and no amount of money sent to her could do it as she wasn't physically able to care for a 3-, 5-, and 7-year-old. By the time they got there, the 5- and 7-year-olds were taken by their biological father to his village to be cared for by his mother, and the 3-year-old, now 5, was being looked after by the same family who had Shelly. In 2022, at 6 years old, having lived in five homes and had five carer moms, the Lawrences were asked to find her a forever home. It didn't take long before they knew they wanted her forever home to be their home.

Since November 2021, the Lawrence family has been in Guyana getting legal guardianship and sorting through UK immigration to get Shelly, now Lorena, home to the UK. As of May 2023 the children qualified to be brought to the UK to be adopted after Guyana finishes sorting through their adoption woes with the Hague Convention.

This visa costs £1538 per child. When the Lawrences arrive in the UK to settle as a family of five, they will need a home and a little money to get on their feet while they search for jobs.

Richard has not settled in the UK for over thirteen years. He left for Jamaica to marry Tamara, then two years later they began their ministry as volunteers helping to give kids around the world a better future. Now they are ready to settle with their three daughters and make them their full-time mission, offering healing, emotional stability, and education. They already do this to many others they have not legally adopted, but they parent, nonetheless.

I would like them to be able to do that. Please help me support this selfless couple to give these three girls a secure future.