Back to Ethiopia? Re-entering the Ethiopian adoption process

So the story of how this happened started back when we were still in Bogota. When we happily exited the Ethiopian program in 2011 things were becoming a lot more difficult over there. Regulations were changing quickly (and many for very good reasons). Shortly after Ben got home, our agency stopped taking applications for children younger than 5 years old. Since all of our children were under the age of 5 and we aren't qualified to parent anything older, Ethiopian adoption was kind of a closed door moving forward (hence, the decision that Sibley child #3 would be Colombian special needs and we found ourselves back in Bogota in the summer of 2013 a bit ahead of schedule...).

So, the Colombian adoption completed, we started thinking about Sibley #4. Because we had felt Ethiopia was a closed door, we had planned to move forward with a domestic adoption of an African American child in a few years. I had looked into Ethiopia with another agency and was seriously considering enterring the program when we got wind that our agency was allowing returning families to enter the Ethiopian program (and only a select # allowed at that). This all happened while I was still sitting in my room at El Refugio in Bogota last summer. Who starts paperwork talks for their next child while the ink is not yet dry for the current child?! Apparently us, especially since another Ethiopian adoption is estimated another 2-3yrs to actually happen, at which time our kids will be significantly order than they are now. Surely I will be bored or something by then.

So we got Sammy home, got our savings account above $4.00 which, I kind you not, was what we had left when I got home, and started the paper trail yet AGAIN. Who writes TWO dossiers for TWO separate countries in one calendar year??!! Again, apparently us.

The timeline for people that like those:

*not yet 6 weeks after Sammy getting off the plane, we applied to the Ethiopian program on 8/8/2013

*final homestudy approved 11/3/2013 and immediately applied for our I600A the next day

*had minor drama with a Request for Evidence from immigration because they wanted a fresh date on my background clearance from MN since my previous one from 2010 was more than 14 mo. old. I really did promise them that I had not moved back to MN to abuse any children in the meantime, but alas, they wanted proof from MN and that cost me a few weeks. A few days after Christmas we had that fresh approval back to our agency and they immediately filed it with immigration.

*My 171H (immigration approval) for up to 3 children, ages 0-4 yrs at time of referral with any/all special needs (save 1) came to my mailbox on January 10, 2013. This, OF COURSE, happened while my husband was out of the country in he Dominican Republic, but luckily I already had the entire dossier prepped so signatures by him were not needed.

That, folks, is why this is the only photo I have, taken from my phone that day on our way to Fed Ex. I didn't have the camera, but it was monumental, as was 3 little boys at Fed Ex in the rain.



Lucas got to do the honors when we sent the papers for Sammy last February, so now it was Ben's turn. Our documents were found to be satisfactory with our agency, and we started the waiting process at lucky #35 on the wait list. I think we have moved down a few slots since then.

On one hand, we are in for a long wait, but on the other hand our dossier was written for special needs children. If a child comes in to care that does not fit what the folks above us wrote theirs for (most for normal, healthy, 1 or 2 children/twins) then it goes to us by default. So, in reality, we could get a referral at any time in our specific case.

We must tell you that the climate of adoption in Ethiopia has really shifted in the past few years. We are entering this process "eyes wide open". Our goal being to be in the right place at the right time for a child who is hard to place. The door for Ethiopia may close, and it may close abruptly and without warning. We know this. We feel we owe it to Ben to try to give him a similar relationship to a sibling that Lucas and Sammy enjoy. For lack of a better explanation, "sameness". "You look like me. You are from where I am from. Your birth mother looked like my birth mother in some way. They spoke the same language". This may not be possible, but at the moment we are at peace with the Ethiopian program and the type of referral we are open to.

On that note, just in the past weeks MOWYCA (Ministry of Women, Youth and Childrens Affairs, for my Colombian friends, this is the "Bienstar" of Ethiopia)made a sweeping change that requires all adoption documents to be signed by only the Regional head or assistant head of MOWYCA. Think of this like only one person in the state you live in can help with all of the adoptions, and this isn't America, people. That means a major bottle-neck of cases to go through 2 people, thus slowing an already slow situation. That wouldn't be a crisis, but the problem was that this new issue was made "retroactive".. meaning many of the kids already in process (and specifically all children with special needs that are cleared for adoption but haven't found families yet) and some already referred to families are stuck. The Regional heads don't want anything coming back to their desk/are refusing to sign off on old cases, but the kids can't move forward without the new signatures!!!

This is where you stop right now and pray for these kids. They are stuck. Pray that the MOWYCA officials would have compassion on these children and sign off on their cases so they can move forward, ESPECIALLY the little ones with special needs who need to be matched with families in order to receive therapy for their disabilities. We want transparency in adoption and we want ALL cases to be thoroughly investigated. These children were already cleared by their government. We pray that the government can look at their cases again and re-clear them so they can move forward.

Now that the blog is mostly caught up, I'll post when I have more developing news on Ethiopia. For now, we prayerfully wait and parent those we are already blessed with and pray for children waiting for parents, and children yet to be reunited with their parents who are still living.