Packed and ready to board a plane to China to meet their children, nine adoptive families working with Lifeline Children’s Services found their plans turned upside down when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted international travel.
The families were scrambling to figure out what to do next, recalled Jenny Riddle, communications coordinator for the Christian adoption agency based in Birmingham.
“Families in Lifeline’s China program have been navigating COVID-19 and its challenges since late January,” she recently wrote on the agency’s website. “Lifeline’s China team immediately began working fiercely, looking for solutions daily for the now approximately 40 families who have seen their process paused at travel.
Need for families
“International travel has not yet resumed for families in the process of adopting from China,” she noted, “but the program remains open, is processing, and the need for families to adopt waiting children from China remains.”
International adoption has been particularly challenging in the wake of the pandemic, said Hanna Pearson, administrative coordinator at Lifeline. Domestic adoption, for the most part, has continued forward.
“Our domestic team is still able to facilitate foster care classes and support birth mothers even in the midst of the medical crisis,” said Pearson, noting they have two classes in process. “Domestic adoptions and placements are still taking place and we have been encouraged to see missional families continue to pursue orphan care.”
‘No small feat’
Back on the international adoption front, Riddle said she’s seen miracles along the way. She shared how she saw the “Lord work through the immigration process in the U.S., foreign governments and a lot of paperwork, to see a young girl adopted before her 14th birthday — when she would no longer be eligible for adoption in China.
“This was no small feat during a pandemic,” she added, “and we are so grateful that this precious girl will eventually have a family traveling to bring her home.”
Sharing updates on Colombia, Taiwan and other countries in Asia and Latin America, Riddle noted that each country has unique challenges but “processes are progressing, and borders are continuing to open.
“We are praising the Lord for His continued providence for children and families in our international adoption programs in the middle of this pandemic,” Riddle said. “Although travel has slowed significantly for everyone, we have seen God at work in bringing children home.”
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