Although this news doesn't affect our adoption, it is horrible none the less. The last week has brought two changes to the Ethiopian adoption process. The first is that MOWA, the organization that has to approve all adoptions in Ethiopia has decided to temporarily not support adoptions of relinquished children from 3 of the 10 provinces in Ethiopia. The reasons for this are not clear and the "temporary" timeline has no clear end. What makes this even worse is that 3 out of the 4 orphanages that Imagine Adoption works with are in these provinces, which means that referrals will drastically slow down (there were only 2 in Feb compared with 14 in January, and none in March so far).
The second change came about yesterday. The Ethiopian Federal Court put up a notice to make a change in the travel of adoptive parents. The change was that all adoptive parents must now make 2 trips to Ethiopia. The first trip would be made on the first court date, and the 2nd to pick up your child. The reasons for this change are to make sure that the adoptive parents are sure that the referred child is the child that they want to make part of their families. I guess some people have actually gone through the entire process of adoption and at the last minute changed their minds in Ethiopia and left their children there(Crazy). As of this morning the notice has been taken down and the courts are negotiating with a representative of the 70 international adoption agencies licensed and working in Ethiopia. The hope is that they will change their minds or postpone the mandate untill later in 2010, so everyone hangs in limbo.
Like I said, these changes do not affect our adoption because we are through court and legally Tegegn is our son, but it sucks none the less. I have made a lot of friends in this process, and my heart is hurting for them. These changes mean more slow downs, more money and most of all more emotional heart ache. When will it stop, will it ever be a stable, firm process?
This news was a shock for us. I feel for all the families who have referrals and are just waiting on court dates. That's a lot of added stress. My guess is that no, it will never be a stable process.
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