A Brit who adopted a baby while volunteering in Uganda on her gap year says her family is now split between two countries - 4,000 miles apart.

Emilie Larter, 31, lives in Worcestershire, West Midlands, with her adopted son, Adam, now eight.

She "fell in love with" Adam when he came into an orphanage in Jinja district, Uganda, as a newborn - when she was volunteering on a gap year in September 2014."

Emilie became the tot's carer after his mum passed away in a nearby village.

While volunteering, she met her partner, Josh Waiswa, 35, a charity worker, when he was working as a security officer at the local hospital.

The couple decided to take in Josh's three cousins - George, three at the time, Tallie, then two, and a few years later, James, who was just one.

They are in the process of adopting the trio - now aged eight, seven and four.

The family-of-six are now separated by 4,000 miles and Emilie has only been able to see her partner and three other children once since taking Adam back to the UK in January 2021.

Emilie returned to England with Adam to begin the visa process and earn enough money to allow Josh and the three children to join them.

She hopes they can all be reunited again soon - with Josh, George, Tallie and James planning to move to the UK at the end of the year when the adoption should be complete.

Emilie, an online tutor, said: "Starting a family whilst on my gap year wasn't in my plans - I planned to travel."

"But I fell in love with Adam and the idea of adopting him."

"Now we're a split family it's so hard."

"It's hard enough being away from your partner but at least you can speak on the phone but with the kids it's something they don't understand."

"Tallie especially - she finds it hard and when I finally got out there last year, she wouldn't talk to me for a couple of days."

"The fact that these are just such important years in the kids' lives - you don't want them to miss that."

"Last year Adam and I went out there for six weeks, but we haven't been able to go since as the flights are just so expensive."

"People think that living in Uganda is cheap and, whilst some places are, the opportunities to earn a lot are less than here."

"So, at the moment I'm supporting them which is a lot of pressure."

"It's one of the reasons we want to settle here - I just can't wait to all be together and actually function as a family."

"And Josh desperately wants to be able to support his family."

After looking after Adam until he was seven-and-a-half months old and knowing she couldn't volunteer forever, Emilie reluctantly flew home to the UK without him in April 2015.

But her desire to adopt Adam was too strong, and she returned to the orphanage in December 2015 to begin the adoption process.

She said: "I worked non-stop as a supply teacher and worked at a bar on the weekend and I was home for two months before going back out for another visit."

"Adam was sick in Uganda and I'd been sending money out there to support him, but I knew it wasn't enough."

"So, when I went out in December 2015, I looked into the process of adopting and thought I'd try and not give up."

Emilie then permanently moved to Jinja town, Uganda, in August 2016 after finding a job at the international school and the adoption was finally approved in July 2019.

This enabled Emilie and Adam to move back to the UK in January 2021.

Emilie says that Adam has settled in well in his new home and that her parents - Peter, 65 and Jacqueline, 63 - "absolutely love him"."

She said: "Adam was excited to move and he'd been looking forward to moving with me for years and going on the airplane for the first time."

"A month or two in perhaps the novelty wore off and he had a lot of emotions to process."

"Adam's adoption in Uganda wasn't actually recognised in the UK so we had to go through the process of re-adopting here which was a nightmare."

"But it eventually all went through in December 2021 and then we got his British passport last year."

During the three-year adoption process, Emilie met her partner, Josh.

The pair hit it off and decided to take in Josh's cousins - George and Tallie. They later also took in James - another cousin.

Emilie said: "Two of Josh's uncle's children, George and Tallie, came to stay and they were really poorly."

"We essentially agreed to take care of them and then eventually we were going to take them back."

"But we realised that Josh's mum is 80 and the chances of her being able to look after the kids until adulthood was slim."

"The kids ended up staying with us for longer and they'd been with us for about a year when Josh and I had a conversation and basically said 'realistically they're family now'."

"And so, we decided that Josh would go through the adoption process as they're his biological family and once they've been in the UK long enough I'll be able to adopt them as their step-mum."

"It's been a long time but we're moving in the right direction and hopefully by the end of the year we'll have an answer."

"Once he's adopted them, we'll be looking into bringing them here to the UK - that's the hope."

Josh, who is still in Uganda, said he took in his three cousins after see how much they were struggling.

He said: "When I grew up I saw my mum struggling with us and these kids were very deep in the village and I saw them struggling and I knew I had to do something."

"I miss Emilie and Adam a lot, it's not easy to be apart. "

"The kids are growing up without Emilie and they miss her a lot and I need to see Adam growing. "

"We're constantly working on the process of getting over there but things move very slowly in Uganda."

"In Uganda, I can't support my family as I'm not earning properly but as soon as I'm in the UK I want to be able to support properly."

"Emilie has been struggling for years to support us. "

"In Uganda, the man has to support the family and I want to be able to be somewhere I can support them and put the kids in a better place where they can grow up."