Never underestimate the power of the press.
Chris and Cheri Phillips, of Cambridge, reached out to reporters in the Twin Cities for help last week after becoming stranded in Brazil with their newborn son, who was born three months early on March 12, 2024. Greyson Leo Phillips, who was 2 pounds, 12.6 ounces at birth, spent the first 51 days of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit of Ilha Hospital e Maternidade in Florianopolis.
The Phillipses, U.S. citizens who had not planned to have a child born in Brazil, soon faced “an absolute nightmare,” they said.
Brazilian officials wouldn’t issue Greyson a birth certificate because the Phillipses’ passports, like all U.S. passports, don’t list their parents’ names. Without a birth certificate, U.S. officials in Brazil wouldn’t issue him an American passport. Without a passport, his parents couldn’t take him home to Minnesota.
The Phillipses reached out to family and friends last week and asked if anybody had connections to the local media. Within a day, they were in touch with reporters from WCCO, the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune, all of whom ran stories about their plight.
More media coverage followed, including interviews with KSTP, KARE 11, Fox News, CNN and The Times of London. WCCO’s story was picked up by O Globo, Brazil’s leading daily newspaper, Chris Phillips said.
Officials at the local registry office, called a cartório, took notice. The officials, who had previously refused to issue Greyson’s birth certificate, reconsidered.
“They came to the conclusion that there was a law passed last year that allows for some flexibility with regards to issuing birth certificates to foreigners being born in Brazil,” Chris Phillips said.
On Friday, officials from their local cartório came to the Phillipses’ Airbnb and, using the couple’s U.S. passports and Greyson’s Declaration of Live Birth as documentation, produced Greyson’s birth certificate.
“The power of the press is real,” he said. “Every single reporter who shared our story, every single outlet that gave them those opportunities, and every single person who connected us with them in the first place, they all played a critical role in the chain of events that led to a tiny notary office at the foot of a hill on an island in southern Brazil suddenly changing its tone after 9-plus weeks of inexplicable and unforgivable stubbornness.”
With Greyson’s Brazilian birth certificate in hand, the couple has started the process of applying for his United States documentation — his Consular Report of Birth Abroad and U.S. passport — which they need in order to take him home to Minnesota. In fact, an official from the U.S. Embassy in Brasília is scheduled to fly to Florianopolis on May 29 to interview them in person, a prerequisite toward producing Greyson’s U.S. passport.
“To be clear, we will not begin to feel truly comfortable until we have that passport in hand and get through immigration in Atlanta,” Chris Phillips said. “Our journey isn’t over quite yet, as we still have a long road ahead of us to get Greyson home. But, at long last, at least we can see it.”
Greyson thriving
The couple plan to fly to Sao Paulo on June 23 and then fly to Atlanta the next day. They plan to arrive at MSP International Airport on June 25.
In the meantime, Greyson is thriving. He weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces, at his doctor’s appointment on Friday, and likes to eat every two hours, Cheri Phillips said. “Chris usually takes the middle-of-the-night feedings, so I’ll pump and breastfeed throughout the day, so we have a stash of milk,” she said. “He’s really starting to develop a personality and make it known when he wants something. It’s great having him to ourselves, finally, and seeing him develop outside the NICU.”
Family members have flown in to help at various points, including Cheri Phillips’ mother, Lori Tocholke, of Hinckley, Minn., and Chris Phillips’ mother and stepfather, Lynn Halverson and Doug Lee, of Ellicott City, Md. Cheri Phillips’ sister, Val Kunze, of Pine City, Minn., is planning to help with their trip home.
On Sunday, the couple will appear on “Domingo Espetacular,” which, as far as the couple can tell, is the Brazilian equivalent of “60 Minutes,” as a case study in the inefficiencies of cartórios in Brazil, Chris Phillips said.
“We really did not want all this attention,” he said. “We are intensely private people, but we were desperate and needed help. Now there needs to be accountability, so that others don’t have to suffer what we went through. … More than anything, though, we are happy we are finally going to be able to get our little guy home.”