A life on hold - a documentary by Kate Wiley

Adoption is not for the faint of heart, and international adoption takes a special kind of courage. There are costs you don't expect, political crises that come out of nowhere, and a never-ending labyrinth of paperwork. And that's when everything goes as scheduled. Which nothing has, for eleven Canadian families in the process of adopting from the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For years, the children have been stuck in limbo in the DRC. The families are waiting for an exit letter from the Congo, which cannot be issued without a visa from Canada. And Immigration Canada won't issue a visa without an exit letter. 

It's a mess. A red tape nightmare. 

Made worse by the fact that governments and families in other countries  - in exactly the same predicament -  have managed to break the logjam and bring those Congolese children to new homes.

Shelley and Fred Muntau of Vancouver have one daughter and always wanted another child. They became the legal parents of an orphan named Pedro more than two years ago. Since then the little boy has been living in an adoption agency care home in Kinshasa, run by William Muangala.

The Muntaus have never met Pedro in person, never held him. The only direct contact they have with their adopted child, is a weekly Skype call - when it works.

Of course, by now they're used to waiting. Hoping. Waiting. Making plans and breaking them. Renovating, organizing, writing letters, lobbying.

Hoping and waiting.

Kate Wiley produced our documentary A life on hold.

To see a timeline of Shelley and Fred Muntau's frustrating adoption process, click here