VALDOSTA – Kayden may be the first Nigerian child adopted in Georgia, but to Josh and Molly Gervacio, he is their son.

In recent weeks, 2-year-old Kayden joined the Gervacio family in South Georgia. His adoption came after several months of paperwork, negotiations, $40,000 in fundraising and a daring trip to Nigeria without visas.

With only three American couples adopting Nigerian children before them, and meeting other American families whose efforts have been long delayed, the Gervacios had moments of doubt.

But they said they were sustained by faith.

“There were always things going on in the back scenes,” Molly Gervacio said. “Something in the back scenes where God’s at work.”

Faith has always been a part of their lives.

They met and started dating while students at Open Bible Christian School. Josh, the son of Emil and Judibeth Gervacio, graduated in 2007. Molly, the daughter of Robert and Barbara Christian, graduated in 2008.

They attended and graduated Valdosta State University. They married. In 2012, they traveled to Louisville, Ky., where he attended gradate school to become a pastor. They had son Isaac, now 2 years old.   

After four years in Kentucky, they returned to Valdosta where Josh took a job as associate pastor at Covenant Baptist Church.

But before they returned to South Georgia, the Gervacios began the process to increase the size of their small family.

They said they wanted to adopt a child.

Molly knew from experience how positively an international adoption can affect a family. How adoption can change and positively affect the life of a child. Her parents adopted brother Micah from Guatemala. Molly was 16 when her family adopted Micah. Micah is now 12 years old.

Josh and Molly weighed the possibilities of adopting locally or internationally. They said God moved them to seek an international adoption.

In November 2016, the Gervacios began the process through Nightlight Christian Adoptions. 

They learned of a child named Joseph, called JoJo. The child who would become Kayden Joseph Gervacio. A child who will go by Kayden, even though his parents still call him Jo-Jo.

He was found March 19, 2016. He had been abandoned in an abandoned Nigerian warehouse, the Gervacios said. The small baby may have been born that day, or he may have been a day old.

Learning of his story, discovering the date he was found, the couple wanted him even more. Their son, Isaac, was born March 18, 2016. 

But even a want of love takes work and patience. The process involved lots of paperwork, background checks, etc. When the Gervacios moved from Louisville to Valdosta, portions of the process had to be repeated. 

Covenant Baptist Church supported their efforts to adopt a Nigerian child. The church sponsored a yard sale and agreed to give Josh the time off to visit Nigeria.

But the journey could have ended before it started.

Nigeria denied the couple’s visas. Nigerian officials gave no reason for the denial, the couple said.

Even in the best circumstances, the U.S. state department warns Americans to reconsider travel to Nigeria due to violent crime, according to the state department Bureau of Consular Affairs.

They could have waited for their visas to be approved – a wait that could have lasted months with no guarantee of eventual success. Or they could take a leap of faith and travel to Nigeria without visas.

The Gervacios opted to go to Nigeria without visas. If they were admitted to the country, they knew the process to adopt Kayden would be several weeks. They took Isaac with them. 

“Isaac was the glue that held us all together,” Josh said.

They arrived in early May with a letter regarding the adoption. They were admitted to the country.

They stayed with the English-speaking Nigerian family of their adoption advocate with the Morgan Hill Children Foundation. 

And they met Kayden in the orphanage.

A 2-year-old child who had only seen black faces, he did not know what to make of the Gervacios, Josh said.

“Here we are, white mom, Asian dad, he screamed for three weeks,” Josh said.

After three weeks, he became accustomed to their faces. They could take him out of the orphanage. And they waited several more weeks for state department approval to bring him home, the couple said.

One may think the state department rubber-stamps international adoptions by Americans. It does not. The state department reviews and often denies or delays international adoption when it’s possible a blood relative may want the adopted child returned to the native country.

The abandonment of Kayden, with no known birth family, led to the state department approving him for travel to the United States.

Josh, Molly, Isaac and Kayden Gervacio arrived in the States, July 3 – the day before the Fourth of July.

“We definitely celebrated the Fourth of July being back home, being back in America,” Josh said.

Kayden became the first Nigerian child adopted in Georgia, since the nation opened for adoptions in recent years, the Gervacios said.

He and Isaac play in the family’s home. Kayden welcomes people to their house. He offers to play ball and plays with several toys during the interview.

Josh and Molly are busy with two rambunctious 2-year-olds but they say they plan to have more children and may adopt again in the future. Though the next adoption may be closer to home.

“We definitely want to be advocates for the adoption of children still in Nigeria,” Molly said. 

“We may adopt locally through the foster system,” Josh said, “but we felt the Lord called us now to adopt internationally.”