Ethiopia Adoption

Lately I have come across several opinion articles about the state of adoptions in Ethiopia. In these articles, the authors raise concerns about the boom of adoptions coming from Ethiopia. Statistics from the last several years would suggest that this boom has largely been the result of a shift in availability, as adoption programs in other countries, namely Guatemala and China, have closed or dramatically changed. But the central claim in these articles alleges that some children were wrongfully placed with adoptive parents when they were not actually orphans, as evidenced by the fact that these children's parents were still living. For domestic adoptions and adoptions through the foster care system in the US, what makes a child eligible for adoption? American children are… [more]

Ethiopian adoption is still reeling from all of the fraud and issues that it had this year. In the beginning of 2011, I posted that Ethiopia was the country to watch. Their adoption program was on fire. They were processing cases quickly. In retrospect, I should have more sensitive to the adoption process and realized that when a country is gaining ground so quickly but lacks the regulation to sustain it- a fall will occur. That is what happened in Ethiopia this year. That might seem like a negative take on all that occurred. It actually is not. Ethiopia is now painfully aware of what must be done to protect its children. That is a good thing. The children are the reason that… [more]

As Angie and I have previously reported on the Ethiopia blog, an increasing number of parents adopting from Ethiopia have received notices that their children's cases are "not clearly approvable". In these cases, the US Embassy did not have enough evidence to determine these children met the US definition of orphan, as part of the investigation for the I-600, with 100 percent certainty. These cases were then forwarded to the USCIS office in Nairobi for futher investigation. This increase in case transfers was a the result in the change of processing. Previously, Embassy staff would request additional documentation if needed. Now, cases requiring additional evidence must be transferred to USCIS first. With the sudden increase in these cases, USCIS recently sent a team… [more]

How about a feel-good story this week? Recently, I interviewed a family who is adopting a boy from Ethiopia. Meet the Page family. Mollie and her husband Scott have three adorable girls. The boy, Isaiah, they are waiting to bring home from Ethiopia is equally as cute. Two years ago, Mollie and Scott were gathered at a friend's house to hear a band play. The band was there to raise awareness about the orphan crisis. That night, the Pages could no longer silence the stirring in their hearts to adopt. As they prayed about their decision to adopt, "We always came back to Ethiopia. Truly, it was like Ethiopia chose us!" said Mollie. She explained, "Even though I had never been there, African has been on… [more]

The Ethiopian adoption program continues to work through its issues in regard to making adoption from this country safer. In the past year, Ethiopia has struggled. They have dealt with issues of fraud, paperwork misfiling and orphanage mishandling. The result is that adoption from this country has been dealt a crippling blow. Ethiopia is processing only 5 cases per day which is a 90% drop from this time last year. I have followed the adoption program for one year and watched it falter. It has been heart breaking to witness. Earlier this year I said, "Ethiopia is the country to watch. Its adoption program is booming." Now this adoption program is trying to pull itself out of the murky waters and regain its… [more]

On October 28th, USCIS and the Department of State held a conference call regarding an increased number of I-600 cases that have been forwarded to the USCIS office in Nairobi. The purpose of the conference call was to explain what "not clearly approvable" means. In the last several months, nearly 60 adoption cases that were submitted to the US Embassy in Addis Ababa were given this status. Prior to these 60 cases (that were forwarded in about one weeks' time), only 10 cases had ever been previously sent to USCIS. When the US Embassy deems a case "not clearly approvable", it does not mean that these cases are denied. Instead, it means the Embassy does not have enough evidence to approve these cases… [more]

Ethiopian adoption has been under serious scrutiny for the last six months. They have been working on their program with the intent to 'fix' what has been a past threat. On October 17, 2011, an adoption notice was released from Ethiopia pertaining to orphanage closures. There are twelve orphanages that have been affected recently. They are: SOS Infants- Ethiopia (Arbaminch, Dila and Awassa branches,) Gelgella Integrated Orphans (Tercha and Durame,) Bethzatha Children's Home (Sodo, Hosaena, Dila, Haidya, Durame and Hawassa,) Ethio Vision Development and Charities (Dila and Hawassa,) Special Mission for Community Based Development, Enay Alem Orphanage (Awassa,) Initiative Ethiopia Child and Family Support (Hawassa,) Resurrection Orphanage (Hosaina,) Musie Children's Home Association (Hadiya, Hosaina, Dila and Kenbata,) Organization for Gold Age (Kucha, Dila and… [more]

This post is a follow-up to the previous post, called "I-600 in the News". As you may know, the approval process for Ethiopian adoptions occurs in two steps: 1) Ethiopia's Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs declares adoptive parents as the legal parents of an orphan; then 2) The US Embassy agress that the child meets the US definition of orphan, and the family is now allowed to return to the United States. In March, the Ethiopian government announced a slowdown in the first step of this process as an effort to reduce any possible wrongful placements in reaction to claims of poor practices or coercion. In addition to this slowdown in case processing, new regulations were placed on orphanages and agencies to make sure… [more]

I am so happy to have another person blogging on Ethiopian adoption that is currently in the process of adopting from Ethiopia herself. Check out her blogs under Lindsay. As I was researching for this particular blog, I came across some important information for those of you are in an adoption from this area or are considering an adoption. On October 7, 2011, a notice was released stating that in January, April and September of 2011 public meetings were held involving the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Office of Child Issues of the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security US Citizenship and Immigration Services. This meeting predominantly focused on the I-600 which is the Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative. According… [more]

The struggles within the Ethiopian adoption program remain. Throughout the summer, we have watched the Ethiopian inter-country adoption program go from flourishing to almost a stand still. They are processing very few cases daily now and continue to shut down orphanages and agencies within their own country. It is a shame to witness. At this point, Ethiopia is maintaining its commitment to processing 5 adoption cases daily. This is a 90% drop from the beginning of the summer when the cases of fraud surfaced. There have been many visits from adoption partner's leadership which have resulted in little change. Perhaps that is not a fair analysis because a lot of information is passed behind closed doors.  Anyway, there are many people who were… [more]