The journey home

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, April 22nd.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: an orphan’s dilemma.

Two weeks ago, we introduced you to a family hoping to adopt seven siblings from Ukraine.

Today, the oldest of those siblings shares her gripping story—a dramatic escape from a war zone. WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson has the story.

DAISY: We sleep in the third floor. If you hear the sirens, you need really fast, pick up and go to down from three floors . .

KIM HENDERSON: That’s Daisy Cirlot. She was 17 when Russians invaded the Ukrainian city where she lived in an orphanage. People were dying right outside her building.

Daisy had been separated from her six siblings a few years before the war began. They were living in a different orphanage. They escaped to Poland. But it took Daisy’s orphanage director a full month after the war started to secure a bus.

DAISY: Drive like two hours, and you hear the bombs falling down from the sky.

After the bus ride, the orphans boarded a train. For two days and two nights, they inched their way toward Italy.

DAISY: Our train stops every second like because they can see the light, and the Russians can see the light. You never turn the lights on when it's war, because they see where you are. They're gonna do it, bombs.

They made it to Italy. Three teachers and hundreds of refugee orphans, including Daisy.

DAISY: It's just beautiful, beautiful place. Have lots of big mountains.

But Daisy still didn’t feel safe.

DAISY: I don't feel safe because you never feel safe everywhere, because everywhere has bad people.

She speaks from experience. Her parents were abusive alcoholics who left Daisy and her sisters and brother for months at a time. Townspeople intervened. The kids went to live in an orphanage.

DAISY: Kateryna, Mykola, Liza, Masha, Nastya, Varya.

Daisy, as the oldest, had to fight for their survival. She remembers crying out to God.

DAISY: I feel like praying to Him is hopeless, like He doesn't hear me.

But it wasn’t hopeless. Some of the siblings came to America through a hosting program in 2021. Daisy was not a part of that trip. A Baptist pastor, Bryan Cirlot, and his wife, Anna, decided to adopt the whole set of siblings. Even Daisy, who they hadn’t met.

ANNA: They kept telling us, “She is so good. She has taken care of us, and we love her, and we need her home. We will come to America and live with you, but we have to bring our sister.”

That’s Anna Cirlot. Their adoption process was rolling until the war shut it down. But they managed to stay in contact with the kids. The Cirlots went to visit Daisy in Italy, and the others at the refugee orphanage in Poland.

But something seemed off with Daisy. She and 12 other orphans were living in a regular home with a man who was paying Daisy special attention.

DAISY: When my birthday was, he got me a really expensive restaurant, and we go there. And he buy [ANNA: an expensive dress?] Yeah, he buy flowers, yeah.

The Cirlots suspected abuse.

ANNA: I was actually hysterical when I left Italy. To leave your child in an abusive situation and know that you have no way to get them out of it. There's nothing to describe that level of despair and desperation.

The Cirlots got busy contacting their congressman, their senators, anybody who would listen.

ANNA: I just knew that God and His goodness had not brought us into the situation to leave her in despair and to leave us helpless. Somehow, there had to be a way to rescue her out of that. So we started fighting for her and fighting to find a way to bring her home.

But behind the scenes, the Italian man was trying to take guardianship of Daisy. The Cirlots hired a Christian attorney in Ukraine. It took time, but one morning he arrived in Italy to lawfully remove Daisy from the man’s home.

DAISY: I just scream, like, “Praise the Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” And what I remember he speak, “Pack your pack your suitcase. You go with me.” And it's just so nice, so smooth, and everything was so happy.

The Cirlots worked to bring Daisy home as a refugee through the United for Ukraine program. She flew into the New Orleans airport on a cold November night in 2022.

The next step was keeping Daisy here permanently. She was 18 now, too old for adoption. Or maybe not.

ANNA: In Mississippi, when a child is up to 21 years old, it gives you more leeway in the legal system than a lot of the other states in our country. So we didn't know we were living in the perfect state to do something that was very unconventional, but we were…

The Cirlots got legal custody, and Daisy has a path towards citizenship in the future.

But it’s been a tough adjustment. When Daisy arrived, she was malnourished. Inflammation racked her body. Her teeth were rotten and broken.

She also needed counseling, and time to heal.

ANNA: She had regressed a lot in her mental age, where she was very much like a small girl. We were just told it was from the trauma.

Anna (left) and Daisy Cirlot in 2024 Photo by Anna Cirlot

Two years passed. Daisy is sitting in her new home with her new family, the Cirlots and their three biological kids. Daisy looks vibrant, happy. She’s holding a Holland Lop therapy bunny.

DAISY: I don't know if he needs more therapy than I… (crowd laughs)

She loves her church. And inviting people to church.

AUDIO: [Sound of family singing hymn]

She loves singing with her new siblings . . .

AUDIO: [Sound of family singing hymn]

. . . while her dad plays the guitar.

But it’s been five years now since she saw her Ukrainian sisters and brother. They do get to Facetime.

DAISY: “Every time they call, “Let me see the fridge, and they see everything the same. Wow.”

But it’s not just the refrigerator full of food. It’s the family they long to join.

DAISY: They wait so long, and they have faith, and they’re never upset at me that they're not home. I'm home. “I'm glad you're home, and I'm glad you're safe.”

Anna Cirlot admits it’s been a tough journey. The long wait for the other six children. Daisy’s difficult rescue. Sometimes it’s hard to talk about it. But they do.

ANNA: There's power when we share our story, when people unite against things that are wrong and stop pretending like they don't exist. We see God move.

AUDIO: [Sound of family singing hymn]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Gautier, Mississippi.

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