We wanted to share with you some recent news coming out of Ethiopia. There was recently a government meeting in Ethiopia where the Minister of the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) shared her perspective that international adoption from Ethiopia should be ended. The biggest criticisms seem to be ethical questions about birth families being coerced into adoptions in order to make orphanages and adoption providers wealthy, as well as widely shared negative experiences of some Ethiopian adoptees. You can read an article about the meeting here on allAfrica.com.
No laws, rules, or deadlines have been implemented at this point. Both the article and Temesgen, our AAI Attorney in Ethiopia who was invited to observe the meeting, have communicated that the overall feeling of everyone at the meeting was that international adoption is a very negative thing. We aren't sure at this point if adoption from Ethiopia will really be ended altogether or just face delays.
Temesgen also reported that several people, including two of our recent adoptive families, were interviewed by the National Ethiopian public tv station. The questions focused on the amount of money each family paid to process their adoption. Their interviews were edited in a way to convince the population as a whole that adoption from Ethiopia is not a good idea.
Unfortunately, with all the talk about decreasing or eventually ending international adoption, there is not a plan in place for all of the children currently languishing in orphanages, living on the streets, or young girls and mothers selling their bodies to just survive. Instead the focus seems to be just a general verdict that international adoption is negative for Ethiopia.
There are rumors over the internet that the plan is to shut down adoption from Ethiopia in the next nine days. Temesgen has not indiciated that this is the case. As far as we know, we will continue to process our current cases as promptly as we can. Temesgen has reassured me that all of our currently matched families and children should continue to have their adoptions processed without any challenges. His concern is the impact this may have on the number of children being referred for adoptive placement in the future, and the likely longer wait this may create for our families currently waiting for a referral. If and when a timeline becomes clear, we will be sure to share this with all of our adoptive families as well.
What can you do to help? EthioStork, an investigative company in Ethiopia that has helped a lot of adoptive families, is asking for their clients and Ethiopia adoption stakeholders to contact the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia with stories and photos of their successful Ethiopian adoptions in an effort to influence the conversation currently taking place. EthioStork is encouraging families to email pasaddis@state.gov as well as local and state representatives sharing their support for maintaining family integrity and keeping children in birth families, while keeping international adoption open for the children that do not have the aforementioned options.
Additionally, in light of the current situation, we expect the finances of our Ethiopia program to be quite challenging for awhile. If you feel moved to give, our Ethiopia program, sponsorship programs, and partner orphanages would greatly benefit from your generous donation. With an anticipated slowing of the adoption process in Ethiopia, children will spend more time in orphanages and less funds will be available to meet current obligations.
Our plan at AAI is to continue processing our currently matched families as we know how to do so well. Temesgen and Mekete are hard at work discovering how all of this will impact adoption, continuing to process the adoptions of families that are currently matched with children, and making a plan going forward for our waiting families as well. Once we have new information about what this all means for our Ethiopia adoption program, and confirmed impact on adoption processing timelines, we will be sure to communicate that with all of our families.
I wanted to share this with all of you as I know you may have heard the rumors and have a lot of questions and concerns. I am happy to speak with any of you and answer questions about what all of this means for you and your adoption. I will be available on my cell phone today, Monday, until 2:00pm PST, and then unavailable the rest of the day as I have an outpatient medical procedure. I expect to be back in the office and available again on Thursday, January 2 after the New Years holidays.
