Adoption during COVID-19: The Markell family of 4

A Plymouth family decided to expand during the pandemic. They’ve gone from a family of three to a family of four through adoption. Although the process has had to change because of COVID-19, the love it takes to welcome a child into your home is the same.

It’s the culmination of dreams come true. Six-year-old Clarence Cohen Markell was officially adopted on Thursday. "I get adopted!" he exclaimed.

Putting one foot in front of the other, Clarence is now flying high. His support net is woven strong.

"For us, it’s just someone else we can help nurture and foster into a bright future," Justin Markell, now Clarence’s father, said.

Clarence now has a dad, mom and big sister.

"He’s just, overall, just very smart and a really good, loving brother," Audrey Markell, now Clarence’s older sibling, said.

Sheila Markell, now Clarence’s mother, added, "We are grateful that we’ve raised a daughter who has embraced this, I mean this is big, this is big."

And for the little kid and newest member of the family, he now feels "Good, because it’s my adoption day!"

But getting to this day wasn’t easy.

"He’s pushed all of us to our limit, and out of every single one of our comfort zones," Sheila said.

When asked why they wanted to adopt Clarence, Justin said, "The short answer is Sheila."

Sheila’s story is coming full circle with her son’s story. She grew up in a foster care environment.

"It’s always been a dream of mine, it’s been a long journey, and there’s been a lot of highs and lows," Sheila said.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Hennepin County decided to suspend in-person celebrations at the courthouse for the time being.

Melissa Sherlock, Hennepin County Program Manager for Kinship, Child Foster Care Licensing and Adoption, said adoptions are different in a few ways because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We had to be creative about how to get documents to adopting parents … The data privacy around adoptions is higher than any other type of even social service, it’s not private data, it’s confidential data … Court hearings were postponed for some time," Sherlock said.

The county decided adoption hearings would be finalized virtually via Zoom.

And, because of the pandemic, they had a drive-by celebration. Family, friends and loved ones stopped by the Markell home to welcome Clarence to the family.

Now, it’s the Markell family of four.

"He’s actually adopting us as much as we are adopting him," Justin said.

During National Adoption Month this year, Hennepin County had 13 families adopt 21 kids.

There have been 146 completed adoptions through October 2020 compared to 172 completed through October 2019.

Paths to adoption include:

• Foster care: Some families care for children or teens on a short-term basis while their birth parents work to resolve their issues. Families who wish to adopt if parental rights are terminated start out in the concurrent families program.
• Relatives: Children in out-of-home placement do better when they are with family members or kin (friends or neighbors). In Hennepin County, nearly 70% of adoptions finalized in 2019 and 2020 have been with relatives who already know and love them.
• New adoptive families: Adults who want to become parents are matched with a waiting child or teen who is living in foster care.

Hennepin County also said, "Adoptive families and foster families make a powerful difference in children’s lives."

You can learn more online.