An orphan from Colombia whose adoption story went viral has finally been reunited with his adopted family and officially become part of the family. Sebastian, 11, spent the summer with JoBen and Amanda Barkey and their children Asher, Judah, Mishayla and Jameis from California, USA, as part of a hosting program organized by Kidsave.org. Secretly, the couple hoped to adopt Sebastian, but under Colombian hosting/adopting rules, they weren’t allowed to tell him - rules they followed explicitly. After an emotional ‘goodbye’ at the airport, when Sebastian had to return to Colombia, a few weeks later they surprised him on video chat to ask if he wanted to be part of the family. And three months later, after U.S. authorities approved their application to Sponsor Sebastian’s immigration through adoption, the family traveled to Colombia on Dec 4 to be reunited. Two days later, on Dec 6, they were finally back with Sebastian and on Dec 13 finalized the adoption and he became Sebastian Barkey. The jubilant family, whose adoption story went viral and was viewed by millions of people across social media, will now be able to spend Christmas together.
