US Couple in Kenya: They Took Our 'Son' Without Explanation

Matt and Daisy Mazzoncini were 3-year-old Kiano's legal guardians, until authorities came for him
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2019 9:24 AM CDT
US Couple in Kenya: They Took Our 'Son' Without Explanation
Will the Mazzoncinis get Kiano back?   (Getty Images/eranicle)

For two years, Matt and Daisy Mazzoncini, a Seattle couple living in Nairobi, Kenya, have called little Kiano, now 3, their son and cared for him as his legal guardians. That changed on April 5, when authorities swept into their home and took Kiano from them, which the Mazzoncinis now say was without explanation, and without cause, per CNN. The couple, who can't adopt Kiano due to Kenyan law about foreign adoptions, have been caring for Kiano since Daisy met him at a Kenyan orphanage in 2016. Kiano had been found as an abandoned newborn, along with a twin who eventually died, and was plagued with a slew of medical issues, including a deformity of the chest and atypical febrile seizures, per medical documents. The Mazzoncinis started paying for his medical care and eventually took him in, becoming declared his legal guardians in April 2017.

But the Kenyan police's Directorate of Criminal Investigations, which came for Kiano in April, says the couple planned on leaving Kenya with Kiano to get him medical help in the US; the CEO of the government agency fighting for custody of Kiano has accused the Mazzoncinis of "child trafficking," which they deny. The Mazzoncinis have launched a #BringKianoHome campaign online, and some big names are helping them push their video, including Ed Sheeran and Macklemore, per KING 5. "I just think of him ... being all alone and not understanding ... and that's really hard," Daisy Mazzoncini tells CNN. "We are the only parents he's ever known." She adds to CBN News that "we love Kiano like he is a birth child. He's the child that God gave us." The next hearing in the case is Wednesday. CBN notes that the judge in the case has already failed to show up for hearings at least two other times. (More Kenya stories.)

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