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Ethiopia requires several follow up reports after the adoption is final and you are home with your child. Once you are home I would advise you to write on your calendar the various dates that your reports are due. Time gets away from you fast!
Agencies may have different time lines, but in general a one month, three month and a six month report from a social worker are required. Family reports are also due a few times the first year. After twelve months, Ethiopia wants an annual report until the child reaches the age of 18. Since we adopted siblings we are allowed to have one written report. If you adopt children at different times, or from two different children’s homes, you have to have individual reports for each child.
Each report has to have six to eight pictures of the child up close and then a few family and group shots. The pictures should be clear and the kids properly dressed with nicely done hair. They ask that you don’t include any pictures that would be confusing to the Ethiopian culture. For example, trick or treat pictures with kids wearing costumes may look strange to someone who has never celebrated Halloween. At least one of the pictures needs to be professionally done and at least one post-adoption report a 5×7 has to be included. The child’s Ethiopian name and any name changes has to be written on the back of each photo.
The actual content of the report is pretty general. They want to know health status of the child, any illnesses, cavities, if the child needs glasses. School report cards are nice to have as well. They want to know how the children are attaching, and how the whole family is adjusting. It is okay to mention the rough spots. If your report is to shiny and happy they will probably suspect something is wrong!
It is also nice to add how you are keeping the Ethiopian culture alive in your home. I try to include pictures of us eating Ethiopian food or with other Ethiopian kids.
The social worker follow up visits are a lot like a short home study. The kids barely spoke English when we had our first post-adoption visit and she only asked them a few questions. It was not nearly as stressful as the home-study, especially since we had the same social worker for each visit.
I would recommend having a file folder labeled post-adoption reports kept handy and you can add pictures and notes. This should keep your reports easier to get done. It is hard looking back over a year and remembering everything.
Ethiopia requires more post-adoption reports than most countries. I know that all my work may just end up in a file cabinet somewhere, only to be looked at a couple of times. I like that fact that Ethiopia cares about their kids. I respect my children’s homeland and thank them for my children.
As a single momn, I have just initiated my adoption process with Ethiopia and I am wondering if there are other single moms who are also currently in the same situation. I would love to learn more about Adoption in Ethiopia in general and for single moms in particular.
Thanks, Clara