It has always been our desire to explain the inner workings of our adoption process. Today I realized that the first draft of this post was started 11/28/2012! It is amazing that almost an entire year has passed and it wasn't until today that I felt I could properly communicate some of the processes details related to what is happening on the Ethiopian side of our adoption.
My new found confidence was inspired from our monthly conference call. Every month our agency holds conference calls with families within the Ethiopia program. These calls help answer questions, inform us of changes and celebrate with the families who have received referrals (my definition – referral – being introduced and presented to (a) your child). This month, due to many concerns regarding the lack of referrals and the increase of rumors surrounding Ethiopian adoption, the AWAA Ethiopia program director spoke directly with us.
So why is it taking so long?
Just like we had to complete paperwork on state and federal levels to prove we can adopt, a child in Ethiopia must also have paperwork completed on multiple, multiple levels (in general terms as example– county, region, state, country etc) to prove that they are eligible for adoption. The paperwork can also be more or less complex related to specifics in their case (like if they were given up by birth parents or whether they were abandoned).
Adoption laws are also always changing. Both the U.S. and Ethiopian governments desire for adoption to be ethical. We admire that goal and wouldn't want it any other way! The down side is that as the laws change it takes time to put them into practice in a time efficient manner. Adoption in Ethiopia looks very different then it did even just a couple of years ago. More recently, over the past year, the Ethiopian government has deliberately increased their research of interviews with police officers and child relatives to make sure children are not being trafficked or adopted for ulterior motives. This past spring, they also went into the lengthy and detailed process of renewing agency licences and as a result did not renew some agencies due to the inability of the agency to meet their standards.
The most recent change is a new process called PAIR (Pre-Adoption Immigration Review) that has been put into place between our governments this past summer, and officially started September 1st, 2013. Our agency's procedure is to have most, if not all, of the child information ready and accurate prior to referral. The new law now requires that paperwork must be submitted to our embassy (U.S.) so they can write a letter to Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA) with a preliminary finding on whether or not the child is eligible to immigrate to the U.S. In the past, a child's paperwork was prepared for the Ethiopian government first then presented to the U.S. Embassy after all Ethiopian proceedings were completed. Our agency used to be able to work on the translation and error correction while they were in process instead of at the outset. Due to language barriers, inter-country relations etc., this process has started to drastically slow down when children are eligible to be referred. This has been reflected in the fact that there has not been an infant (under 18 months of age) referred from our agency since July. (If you want more info on PAIR click here.)
Although new laws and changes can be depressing, our program director was very upbeat. She assured us that both governments are committed to finding forever families for these orphaned children. She pleaded with us to pray for the government officials who are getting used to this new system. She also assured us that there is not a lack of children to be adopted, only the lack of completed paperwork. She empathized with us on how difficult it is to wait but encouraged us to trust the Lord’s timing and to be patient.
So, the time frame before Boaz is home most likely will continue to grow. It is officially still at 36 months from DTE (which is still 18 months from now) but is almost assured to exceed that. With all of this being said, we are so thankful we have an upstanding agency who desires to work and cooperate with government officials in a just and worthy manner. We believe they are doing the absolute best to collect and sort through each child’s information and earnestly communicate with us in the process.
In the mean time, we have much more to update on our domestic adoption. More information to coming soon. Happy Thanksgiving!
