British Mother Pleads for Help: Baby Stranded in Morocco Due to Pandemic

In 2019, Tasneem Suleman had crossed paths with little Idris during her stay in Morocco where she had worked as a volunteer in an orphanage, Mirror reports. At only six days old, the Rita Zniber Foundation was taking care of the young boy. The young woman decided to adopt the child. In February, the adoption was finalized three months after their first meeting.

Tasneem then returns to the United Kingdom for professional reasons. There, she works in Milton Keynes. She initiates the process of obtaining a British visa for the adopted child. In March, she decides to return to Morocco but the kingdom had already declared a state of health emergency and closed its borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a petition on Change.org, she writes that it has been about six months since she has been waiting for the reopening of the Moroccan borders to retrieve her child. "Six months have passed (half of his life) and during this time we have missed his first birthday, Mother’s Day, Ramadan, Eid," she laments. For Tasneem, each day of separation is very difficult. "[...] And signs of developmental delay [in childhood] are starting to appear," she adds.

She says she is dying of worry. "All parents know that a baby’s first months of growth are so important, and I fear he is missing out on important interactions, as well as the individual time and attention my family and I have," she says, before crying out for injustice. "Being separated is unfair to my son and me, especially since the British visa has been granted and air travel is allowed," fumes the adoptive mother.

Faced with this desperate situation, she has launched a petition to call on the Moroccan authorities for help. "I just want to be able to bring my son home as soon as possible (...)," she pleads. On the Moroccan side, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the competent services are working to help her return to Morocco to reunite with her adopted child.