[christine1]

Hello there,

my name is Christine, I am 39 years old and according to my passport I am German.
My father is US citizen. In 1966 he was stationed in Germany with the military when he met my German mother. She got pregnant but as she noticed her situation in October '66, my Dad has been called back to the US to be with the Military here around.
When I was born in May 1967 my mother gave my Dad's name and address to the officials and they sent him a letter that he would have to admit his parentage. He couldn'd do so as he was still around with the Military and did not know about such a letter.
As he got home from the Service in 1968, he read about me and wanted to immediately get in contact with my mother, but .... she moved.
And meanwhile she gave me to adoption.
So my Dad has never been able to get any information about me or my mother at all.

I grew up in a family in Germany where I was told by the age of 4 years, that my 'real' Dad is American and that my German parents would not have any further information about him.
Over the years this makes me sick. I've got brain cancer what made a surgery nessesary in 1980. Surgery left behind a bad, bad eye-sight and some other minor irreparables.
As chaos got bigger....I got pregnant by the age of 17 and in 1984 I gave birth to a sweet daughter.
BUT my parents didn't want me to search for my bio-Dad. So years went by and I was caring for my daughter and her education.
In 1994 I finally started my search for my Dad, finding out, that my bio-mother is no help in that case at all.
I tried to find him with help of the Red Cross, the Military Record Office, ...
I really cannot remember anymore who else I consulted to find him.
Then I tried just in a mood the Department of Youth and Social Services in the town I was born and.....here we go!!!
My mother gave his address and name to the officials after I was born. Bingo,
I said...
With nervous fingers I wrote the first letter to my real Dad, not knowing if he still lives in that address given to me.
Some weeks later I held the first hand-written letter from my bio-Dad in hands.
Since then we've had contact by letters, emails, phone calls. My whole American family is so 'familiar' to me, I'd like to stay around them.
But it took me another some years until I was strong enough to tell my German parents that I've found my Dad and i wanna go visit him with my husband and my daughter. That was in 1997.
But the cancer was still there in my brain.
For my entire life, til then, I felt like being in the wrong place.
So when I turned back from my second trip to the US and my Dad with my husband and daughter in '99, I just had one day until they put me to hospital again. Another surgery followed.

So finally I decided to wait until our daughter finishes school then go ahead to live in the US.
My Dad said he will help us to get things done. So here we are....
BUT we are not allowed to stay. We need to go back to Germany and wait until we'll get a Visa....
We're here in Ada, OK, with all our things, there's nothing left for us in Germany /we also brought in our dogs/ and time to settle things is running short.

My husband and I tried so many things to get started: We consulted lawyers for family law and lawyers for immigration law, we've been to the INS, all institutes and associations you might can go.
All they say is: Go back to Germany and look for a Visa. That's not that easy. Not for my person.
I AM AMERICAN and nothing else.
As I do not have my father's name on my birth certificate it's even worse.

Is there any hope for me and my husband and our dogs???
We just wanna be lawful Americans and pay taxes like everybody else. We love the USA and pray to the Lord that we might be soon a part of this one Nation under God.

What would I have to do to get my father on my birth certificate?
What could I do to make us stay in the US?
Do I need to find a lawyer to go to court in that matter?
I'm so bored of getting inadequate info and being bounced around like I was so far....HELLO???!!!
Any information is appreciated. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[turbowray]

I don't have any legal advise, I wish I did! I just wanted to say I am so sorry this all happened to you! Did you show all these people the record from the Department Of Youth And Social Services where he is listed as your father? Can you, now that you are over 18, ask for your adoption papers to be open for the courts to see? I always thought that you were able to get ahold of all the adoption facts, once you are 18, and sometimes before you turn 18, if it is for medical purposes (to save your life). I hope someone who does know what they are talking about comes around!! Good luck to you!!