Birmingham couple quarantining in Colombia waiting to adopt son

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (WBMA) — While the pandemic has put a strain on families looking to adopt children internationally, some countries are now allowing the process to move forward.

One Birmingham couple is currently quarantining in Columbia, before they can see their son and bring him home.

“For us we knew his face, we knew his name, we had seen videos and that kind of stuff and I think waiting is one of the hardest parts,” Megan Sims said.

Monday is day nine of a 14 day quarantine for the Sims. Cliff and Megan are days away from being first time parents.

“We’re super, super excited to become parents but it’s also a little bit nerve wrecking to step into the unknown,” Megan said.

The Sims were matched with their son in April. After delays due to the pandemic. They were finally able to travel to columbia to adopt their son, but they have to quarantine for 14 days first.

“We’re just grateful to be here and have the opportunity to move forward with our process,” Megan said.

Once cleared they’ll meet him for the first time.

“When you envision this moment in your mind you‘re envisioning the child like runs to you in slow motion and you pick them up and it’s like this beautiful moment,” Cliff Sims said, “but in reality you have to be cognizance of the fact that for him it’s a traumatic experience. so there’s some nerves i think around that and not knowing what that’s goIng to be like.”

“There’s a bottleneck of families right now that are waiting to travel,” Lifeline Children’s Services Executive Director Herbie Newell said, “Some of the hiccups have been actually getting some of our embassy personnel back in place.”

Lifeline children’s services in Birmingham matches families with children. Newell says some countries are now letting families in to continue the adoption process.

“We’re seeing that these latin American governments are saying hey families come were going to take some precautionary measures but we need to get these children in their forever families as soon as possible because they know that there’s a determent there for these children just to wait longer than necessary,” he said.

For the Sims, they’re days away from their forever family.

“We’re just filled with a lot of graditude when we think about our son and his birthmom choosing life for him and that we get the opportunity to be his parents,”

Megan said.

Newell says the pandemic has affected a lot of countries economically and because of that more children are being abandoned and need to be adopted.

Original article can be found at ABC 3340 News