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Uganda Program News
May 21, 2013
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State of the Program
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Dear Friends,
I want to thank you all for your patience. This is not an easy adoption program and my projected timelines are often incorrect. All of you are so understanding and patient - you're really a great group of families!
As you've seen, referrals continue to be slow, especially for healthy/mild special needs under 5. We have two families left on our waiting list waiting for referrals. After that, AAI is not planning to re-open their waiting list of families any time soon and will continue to place children as a "waiting child" only program. This means we will find families for children as they become available as opposed to having a list of families waiting for a referral. We think that at this time, it is the best way to continue this program.
We do have several children currently waiting for families, older children or those with special needs. You can see their photos and information on our Waiting Child page. We anticipate that we'll have even more older children waiting soon. If you know of anyone looking to adopt children with significant special needs or over age 7, please share our information with them.
Thank you all again for your patience and flexibility. We will continue to do all we can to help find great families for the orphaned children in Uganda.
Sincerely,
Salem Richards, Uganda Coordinator
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| Waiting Child | |
I want to share one of our waiting children with you. Rachel is about 6 years old. She has cerebral palsy, which means her body is very stiff and she has a hard time controlling her limbs. It is difficult to tell how she is affected cognitively because CP affects her mouth muscles and she cannot speak. Some children with CP are typical cognitively and others have cognitive disabilities. Rachel loves to be held and gotten out of her bed. She spends most of her day laying in a dark room in her crib or in a stroller sitting on the porch. She eats well (being fed) and is a good size for her age. The orphanage has made no efforts to potty train her. Her smile absolutely lights up the room when you interact with her. She is interested in toys but has a difficult time interacting with what is available (not much). She stares intently at you when you talk to her and then will make "talking" motions with her mouth like she's trying to say something back, but no sound comes out. She loves to be tickled and will laugh and laugh.
This sweet girl will certainly benefit greatly from the love of a family and some intensive physical, occupational and speech therapy. I think she has a lot of potential that will never be met in the small, impoverished orphanage in which she lives. Rachel's orphanage doesn't believe anyone would ever want to adopt her and will not put any more paperwork together on her file until we find a family for her. We have limited background information at this time but if we found a seriously interested family we would be able to get more information. Please let us know if you or anyone you know might be interested in this beautiful little girl.
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| Ethical Adoptions and Changing Timelines | | |
As some of you may have heard, we are going through some staff changes in Uganda. We have hired a new in-country liaison who is doing a wonderful job working with families while they are in country. I'm excited to hear reports that the families who are in Uganda are enjoying his help and company very much. We may be making some other changes soon; if we do, we'll send you all a message and let you know.
As many of you know, ethics are a huge concern within the Ugandan adoption community right now. Some families and agencies have unfortunately been taking advantage of the system using bribes, falsified paperwork, and there are even accusations of child trafficking. I am thankful that AAI and our team on the ground has been extra diligent to make sure every case we process is ethical and that the children are true orphans.
As a result of all the increased scrutiny by the Ugandan authorities and the U.S. Embassy, almost all parts of the adoption process have gotten slower. Investigations into children's backgrounds have taken much longer than they did even six months ago. The court system is requiring extra documents and additional investigations. Passports are sometimes taking up to four weeks to receive. We are all mentally adjusting our expectations and projected timelines as things continue to change.
Please keep two of our families, the R. and W. families, in your thoughts - they are currently in Uganda working to get their children home. We have high hopes that both families will be home within a month. I know they are anxious to bring their new children home!
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| Going to Uganda | |  I am going to Uganda in July where I will be meeting with our team on the ground, exploring ways to increase the efficiency of processing paperwork on adoptable children, working to cultivate our relationships with orphanages, social workers and NGOs and meeting with some new organizations who have expressed an interest in partnering with AAI. I would like to take some crib toys with me to donate to some of the very poor orphanages I usually visit. The children with special needs in one particular orphanage very rarely leave the confines of their crib and I would love to provide some stimulating toys for them. If you would like to donate funds to purchase crib toys or send some toys for me to take, I would love to deliver them for you. I am happy to hand carry other items over as well if you have any thing you would like to me take with me (donations, photo albums for relatives of your adopted children, etc). I have limited space and would like to receive all items by July 1, so let me know if you plan to send anything. |
| Post Placement Reports Reminder | |
 Our Ugandan attorney has asked me to remind all of our families to please remember to send your post placement reports on time. They should be sent to the AAI office to be FedEx'd to Uganda or, if you are now only doing family written reports, you can FedEx them yourself. Some of the post placement reporting services in Uganda are apparently not getting the reports to the High Court and/or the attorney's offices. The judges often ask the attorney for reports on cases he has worked on and if we don't FedEx them, the attorney has nothing to present. This is very important; we want to show the country of Uganda just how much we love and cherish the precious children they have entrusted to us.
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Adoption Advocates International
709 South Peabody Street
Port Angeles, WA 98362
(360) 452-4777
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