Asking for Your Help

We are so confused and so sad.  We got a call from our case manager today—and it wasn’t a good kind of call.  There have been some changes in Ethiopia.   

Our interpretation and understanding at this point is that the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s, Children's, and Youth Affairs (MOWA) is getting pressure from organizations like UNICEF (who aren’t in favor of international adoption).  Because of this, they are going to drop their number of case review each work day from 50 to 5.  They are essentially reducing intercountry adoptions by 90%.  And it’s scheduled to take effect on Thursday. 

Based on an explanation from the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS), MOWA’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues:
1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and;
2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option.

YOU CAN HELP change their mind!  Our agency (and all other ethical adoption agencies) cares first and foremost about the children.  Since this decision clearly is not in the best interest of the children, our agency (along with the other agencies that work in Ethiopia and JCICS) will continue to fight this.  Please pray that the children win and that MOWA continues to review cases at the current rate.

Please click here and sign this petition—it will take less than 1 minute!  By signing, you are simply saying that you support the Ministry’s goal of ensuring ethical adoptions that serve the best interest of children, and you are respectfully urging them to consider the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption.   You are asking MOWA to reconsider its plan and to partner with governments, NGOs and foundations to achieve their goals and avoid the coming tragedy for children and families.

So, what does MOWA review have to do with bringing Eden home?  MOWA has to review and approve our case before it goes to the embassy for review.  Therefore, if they are only reviewing 5 a day, it could delay the process significantly.  Before this change, our estimated wait time between court and embassy was 4-8 weeks.  Imagine the implications on our wait time with this massive reduction! 

Are you still leaving for Ethiopia on Sunday?  Yes.  This will NOT affect our first trip or our court appointment date, so we’re still leaving on Sunday and we still get to meet Eden on Tuesday and we still go to court on Thursday.

When will you get to bring Eden home?  We have no idea.  This WILL affect the length of time between our first court appointment and our final embassy appointment, which means that it affects the length of time it will take for us to bring Eden home.  Our agency has no idea how it will play out—they can’t give us an estimate because this is all new.  (NOTE: if you have any further questions for me based on this, feel free to email me.)

We know that God is STILL on the throne and that He is in control.  Please pray!  Please pray for the Ethiopian orphans and their caretakers.  Please pray for everyone who is advocating on behalf of these children—in favor of international adoption.  Please pray for MOWA to continue reviewing 50 cases a day.  Please pray for families like us who are caught in limbo after already being matched with our child.  Please pray for ALL families who are in the adoption process from Ethiopia.  Please pray for ALL of the 145+million orphans around the world.  Please pray for ALL of the families who are considering international adoption—pray that this news doesn’t keep them from taking that step of obedience in their life.

Thank you in advance for your help by signing the petition and praying. 

NOTE:  If you want to read more about what UNICEF believes, click here to read one of my previous posts.