Pertaining to Ethiopian adoptions: The legal process for adopting has been slowed down by many changes in the way adoptions are now being handled in Ethiopia. This mostly has to do with child relinquishment procedures but is also due to changes in leadership in some key offices. One of these changes is that the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA), which oversees adoption on the federal level, has changed directors. The new person has worked in this office for some time and our agency believes that this will be a positive change.
A news story from Australia regarding adoption from Ethiopia came out on September 15th and has rocked the adoption community. It concerned child trafficking in Ethiopia and targeted a particular U.S. agency. Child trafficking should be an issue of grave concern to everyone, but mostly to all who are involved in the adoption process. The Ethiopian government has responded by setting up new and even stricter guidelines, requiring that all recognized agencies go through a new registration process. This has made the adoption process take a little longer but it is necessary to make sure that the children that are leaving Ethiopia are indeed "true orphans" or are children whose parents truly cannot take care of them and have relinquished them and really understand what that means.
Here is the link to the story if you would like to read/listen to it yourself:
Concerning our process: I learned this morning from our agency, that they have one more November family that is waiting for an infant girl referral and then they will be moving on to the families that sent their paperwork (dossier) to Ethiopia in December (08).....For those that don't remember, our dossier was sent March 26, 09, so that gives you an idea of how much longer our wait could be. For baby boys, our agency is referring to families whose dossiers were sent in mid-February.
September is a month when Ethiopia takes a small break and not too much gets accomplished. The courts will reopen in a few days and things should start moving again. I spoke with the director of our agency last month and she told me that we will most likely not be receiving our referral until (approximately) January of next year. When we started the process it was only taking about 6-7 months (after being placed on the waiting list) for an infant girl referral, lately it has been taking around 10 months or longer. The end of September marks our 6th month on the waiting list....ugh....but the good news is that we are over half way, pertaining to the waiting process anyway! Hopefully.....
Have a great day!
Wendy
3 comments:
I would just caution readers of this article to read with discernment, because there is definitely some stretching of facts and possibly even fabrications by the author of the article/documentary. And, please read the rebuttal by the Christian agency in response to the article because the article was very one-sided and seemed to target Christian agencies in particular with vague statements and lack of verified facts. Blessings!
Anonymous,
Thank you for reminding everyone of this. In my quest to let people know what has been going on in the "adoption world" I forgot to remind them that the media can often times form the story into more of what they want it to be, than what the story actually is itself. The agency that the article attacks is a reputable agency and as always...there are two sides of the story.....
Rejoicing with you in the 1/2 way mark! And hold on, sweet friend. Your Ethiopian princess will be worth every minute.
Blessings to you,
Sarah Dawn
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