A WORCESTERSHIRE primary school teacher has spoken out about her journey to adopt a baby boy from Uganda after caring for him during a volunteering trip.

Emilie Larter, now 29, first met her son Adam in 2014 when she was given the task of caring for him after he lost his mother at just five days old.

Ms Larter said it was love at first sight and although the then 22 year old admits caring for the newborn was daunting - she extended her two month trip to seven months so she could stay with him and in 2016 moved to Uganda permanently so she could adopt him.

Emilie and Adam, now six, appeared on ITV’s This Morning on Friday after finally returning to their Leigh Sinton home.

It wasn’t long before viewers fell in love with Adam who was seen hiding behind a pillow and saying the best thing about his mummy was ‘going to sleep with her’.

However, adopting Adam was not an easy process.

Emilie said: “Everyone has a very different experience out there - mine was particularly unlucky. I moved out to adopt him just before he turned two.

“You have to foster for a year before you can apply to adopt, but for us, something went wrong constantly - whether it was paper work went missing, court dates were cancelled, paper work had names misspelt - it was just one thing after another.

“The adoption process in Uganda ended up taking three years and then we were there four-and-a-half years in total before we came back.”

She continued: ‘The whole thing was difficult and then Covid hit. The day we had his appointment to get his passport there was a lockdown and everything closed. So that just added more delays.’

Emilie recalled the moment she and Adam landed in Birmingham airport and her parents - who Adam had been chatting to for years but had never met in person - came to pick them up.

“It was emotional. I’d been imagining it for so many years, but it was weird for it to actually be happening. He gets on really well with them.”

The process isn’t over for Emilie and Adam as despite the adoption being accepted in Uganda - Emilie still has to officially adopt him in the UK.

She said: “Even though he’s here on a Visa, he’s got a Visa to stay here, he can go to school, use health care, everything, I’m not legally recognised as his mum in this country.

“I’ve got to go through the whole adoption process again. I’ve got social workers on it and things and we’re doing a court application. I’m not as worried though because he’s here with me.”