Central Florida parents fight to bring Nigerian daughter to America

ORLANDO, Fla. - Ivy Lord is an 8-year-old child living in a Nigerian orphanage. Her parents, Lisa and Ian Lord, live in Central Florida. 

The Lords flew out to Nigeria two years ago to adopt Ivy. They did all the paperwork and got everything cleared. 

"Had she come from Canada, Europe, maybe China, she would have been home within weeks. Here we are 16 months later with a denial. It's totally unacceptable," Lord says.

Ivy is their daughter now, but they can't get her a visa to join them in the United States. 

"We're going to get her here. I will do everything and I will not stop till she's here," Lisa Lord says.

They recently received a letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) stating that they can't approve the visa because they need to get more paperwork documenting Ivy's arrival at the orphanage. 

"We are hoping to get the denial that USCIS gave us for the visa application overturned," Lord says.

The Lords are working with an immigration attorney on Ivy's case. On Wednesday, Lisa Lord and her family met with a representative from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's office at an Orlando church, where they also held a rally.

"The lady there was very empathetic of the situation we have and assured us it would get to Sen. Rubio," said Rick Smith, Ivy's grandfather. "We're not sure where it will go from there but we're just hoping it will materialize into getting our granddaughter home."

Ivy is the Lords' second adopted child. Until she joins them, Lisa says their family isn't whole.

"I need to do something. I'm not giving up on my daughter. She belongs with me, with her father, with her brother, with our little pet dog, she's never had a pet dog."

Ian Lord, Ivy's adoptive father, also has British citizenship. If they can't get Ivy a visa, Lord says they may relocate to England where they can all be together while the U.S. government works out the visa process.

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