Tiemans invade Romania with a mission of love
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It’s an invasion of adoptive parents made by American couples who want to give displaced, orphaned or abandoned children new homes in “the land of opportunity.”
Warren countians Marv and Diann Tieman are in the forefront of those invading forces. The couple has adopted three Romanian children in the last 11 years, demonstrating a commitment many families would shy away from in these dicey economic times.
It all started with a TV show, specifically a segment on ABC’s “20/20” that featured children at “Orphanage No. 1” in Bucharest. The Tieman’s first adoption was son Michael in 1991. Michael, now 13, was almost 3 at that time, and was featured in some of the “20/20” footage.
“Remember all the ’20/20′ tapes?” Marv asked. “Michael was on those. They filmed all that in his orphanage. All these kids came from that orphanage. That’s where we first saw them.”
They were so taken with the children they contacted “20/20” and found the producers of the show had actually prepared and would send out a booklet with names of people that could help with adoptions. There were hardships involved in that first adoption process, Marv remembers.
“I lost 17 pounds in six weeks,” he says. “There wasn’t much to eat over there. But now it’s changed a lot. It’s not great, but it’s much better.”
The couple persevered, even though they were discouraged by some who were familiar with that orphanage. But with persistence, they managed to adopt Michael, and brought him back to the states.
“We finally got Michael, and we thought that was it. And six years later, we just couldn’t stand it, we had to go back. We took a bunch of stuff back with us, a bunch of supplies, and we went to the orphanage, and that’s when we saw these two,” Tieman said, indicating 6-year-old Andreea and 8-year-old Rachael.
Although they were initially told at the time they were too old to adopt any more children, Andreea had a cleft lip, and due to this, they were allowed to adopt her.
“They told us we were too old to get any more kids, but since she had a cleft lip, they said she was handicapped, so they could do away with the age requirement,” said Marv.
But even so, they had to go through an adoption agency to get Andreea and suffered some disappointing setbacks in the process, eventually being told another foundation had gotten her, and wouldn’t give her up.
“So we thought, we’ll start in on Rachael, we’ll try to get her. But then they came back and said you can get Andreea, so we finally got Andreea after two years,” said Marv.
But they couldn’t forget Rachael.
“We thought, there’s no way we can leave her over there,” he remembers. “We just couldn’t do that.”
So they kept digging at the red tape, unable to give up on her, and finally, with some luck that bordered on the miraculous, along with a goodly dose of Tieman family persistence, and the prayers of their church, Trinity Lutheran in Tullahoma, Marv and Diann left for Romania on Aug. 4 of this year, and returned to the states Aug. 9 with 8-year-old Rachael in tow.
The Tieman’s biological children, David, 33, a lawyer in Chattanooga, and Kelly, 33, an engineer who lives in Georgia, have been part of the process as well.
“They have been so supportive,” Marv says, “and the kids love them.”
The three children seem well-adjusted considering their long journey. Michael is a typical American teen-ager at 13, and like most his age, enjoys his video games.
Andreea talks a mile a minute and loves to ride her bike, while Rachael is working on her English, as well as her bike riding, determined to succeed at both.
But more than anything else, they all have a bright future ahead of them thanks to a big-hearted American couple who plopped down in front of the TV one Friday night near Christmas in 1991 and got a mission.
It was a mission to invade a small central European country and adopt a child. Now it’s mission accomplished — and then some.