Exclusive confession of the mother of the arrested Croatian woman: 'My Azra's world stopped when she hugged her daughter'

17 April 2023

They went through a series of artificial insemination procedures • They started adoption • When they hugged their adopted daughter for the first time, everything fell into place. Now they are waiting for the trial to start and hope to return home with the little girl

After five years of relationship, Azra and Zoki decided that they needed help in having a child, and then started artificial insemination. After two operations and seven embryo transfers, great disappointments and emotional and physical exhaustion, they decided to give up. It was a very difficult period for them, their whole life revolved only around that, hormones had a strong effect on Azra's physical and mental state, it was impossible for her not to feel guilty whenever the pregnancy test came out negative, even though she rationally knew that the fault is not theirs. While they were still in the process of medically assisted fertilization, they started talking about how adoption might be a better option. They really wanted to start a family, they were thinking all the time about how they would raise the child, where they would take him, how they would enjoy together. At that time, all of Azra's closest friends had children, with whom she and Zoki spent a lot of time. I will never forget the moment when they definitely decided - they were sitting by the sea and Zoki said to Azra: 'If we adopt a child, little feet could be running around here already next summer', exclusively in 24 hours she began the story of her daughter and son-in-law's difficult journey to child Ivana, mother of Azra Imamovi? Suboši?, who together with her husband Zoran and three other couples were arrested in Zambia on suspicion of child trafficking.

'They were ready to adopt a child with health problems'

Her daughter and son-in-law are not allowed to appear in the media, but she wanted the public to know what they went through in order to have a child and how they were looking forward to the little girl they adopted from the DR Congo, whom Ivana has been calling her granddaughter for a long time, and how much it is difficult for her because of her daughter and son-in-law, she also suffers so much for her granddaughter, who is somewhere in Zambia, about whom she knows nothing.

He continues the story by saying how Azra and Zoki decided to adopt a child after returning from the sea.

- Preparations for adoptive parents have begun. They reported to the Center for Social Welfare, had psychological tests, interviews, the CZSS visited them at home to see what kind of conditions we live in, they enrolled in education in Sisak because the waiting lists in Zagreb were too long, and they traveled there every week to education. It's hard for people who haven't been through it to understand, but you already love that child. They imagined what their child would be like, what he would love, what would make him happy. In conversations with social workers, they found out that it will be difficult to have a child, even though gender is not important to them, they were ready to adopt a child with certain health problems - Azra's mother tells us.

At that moment, after talking with the social worker, Azra and Zoki, she tells us, start thinking about adopting from Africa.

- They conclude that in Croatia a child who meets the conditions for adoption already has a list of adopters waiting for him, and at the same time they watch documentaries about orphanages in Africa where children, if not adopted, have no chance of survival. At the same time, they watch reports in the Croatian media about people who were adopted from the Congo and who have been living happily in Croatia for years. As soon as they started talking about it, they realized that most people know such a family - says Ivana.

'My Azra finally felt complete'

- They reach contacts, talk to people and collect information about the entire procedure. As soon as they received a positive opinion from CZSS and entry into the Register of potential adopters, they contacted the orphanage in Congo and contacted them. After that comes a period of anticipation, jumping at every sound of a message, they didn't leave their mobile phone until they saw their future daughter on the screen. That feeling was incredible for them. In an instant, they were overwhelmed with love for that little smiling being. My Azra told me that then she finally felt complete - Ivana tells us.

Then, as he says, they were contacted by a lawyer in the DR Congo who was leading the adoption process for people from Croatia, the USA, and Poland.

.