Last month when the World Health Organization dubbed the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, State Department officials gave Robin Gallite and her husband Alli, both 41, a choice: Return to the U.S. from Lagos, Nigeria, quickly before the country’s airports closed and the health-care system deteriorated, or stay with their 16-month-old daughter, Nike, and risk getting stuck in the country.
After applying for her adoption in 2018, Robin and Alli took home Adenike-Rae—“Nike” for short—in August from Cross River, a Nigerian state bordering Cameroon. The couple planned to stay with Alli’s family in Lagos for several months while they waited for Nike’s adoption to be finalized by local officials and until they received a U.S. visa for their daughter. They had wanted to spend time with Alli’s family before returning home to the U.S. so Robin could introduce Nike to her own mother. The couple had heard from other parents that obtaining a visa for adopted Nigerian children took months, but they were optimistic about being able to fly back to the U.S. with their daughter in the spring of 2020.
That confidence quickly faded.
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