Friday, May 29, 2009

News From the State Department

We recently posted about a suspension of abandonment cases from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Though that decision has no afect on our families, we wanted to keep you posted as the situation develops. Here is the most recent announcement from the State Department:

May 26, 2009

Adoptions of Abandoned Children Halted by Ethiopian Court

On May 4, 2009 the Ethiopian First Instance Court temporarily stopped accepting cases involving abandoned children referred by orphanages in Addis Ababa, citing a substantial increase in the number of children being brought for adoption. The number of abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa has grown dramatically in recent months and Ethiopian authorities have become aware of possible cases of unethical practices associated with some of them.

Neither the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) nor the First Instance Court had been accepting abandonment cases from any orphanage in Addis Ababa pending an inquiry. However, on May 23 the Court confirmed that while the investigation into cases of abandoned children continues, it has begun accepting cases of abandoned children referred from Addis Ababa government orphanages. These include the following orphanages:

Kebebe Tsehay Orphanage
Ketchene Orphanage
Kolfe Youth Center

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Referral Acceptance!

#1 on the toddler boy list and the 5 year+ boy list has accepted a referral for two older siblings! Everyone on these list moves up one spot.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Ethiopia: JCICS Conference Call

All of IAN’s Ethiopian Program Coordinators took part in a conference call today with the Joint Council on International Children’s Services and approximately 15 other agencies working in Ethiopia.

The main focus of the conference call was to clarify the current status of adoption in Ethiopia particularly as it pertains to the cases of abandonment in Addis. At this time Ethiopia is suspending abandonment cases in Addis only and not cases for children who have been abandoned in other areas of Ethiopia. The court in Ethiopia recently discovered the abandonment of 16 children to one 1 police officer all at the same time; these children were then placed with 4-5 orphanages. None of these children were placed at Sele Enat, the orphanage where IAN’s children are placed. Because of the fear of possible unethical conduct and illegal practices, IAN strongly supports the Ethiopian governments investigation of these cases.

Other news from the conference call is that the Ethiopian government is expecting at least a 20% increase in international adoptions over the next year and that Ethiopia’s focus will be on maintaining it’s current level of adoptions instead of increasing adoptions over the next year; that there is a strong need for more adoptions of older children (over 4) and children with special needs; and that U.S. agencies are contributing to services for children in Ethiopia through not only international adoption, but also through health, education and other human service needs.

Friday, May 15, 2009

The following alert was posted on the adoption.state.gov website:
May 13, 2009


Adoptions of Abandoned Children Halted by Ethiopian Court:
The Ethiopian First Instance Court has temporarily stopped accepting cases involving abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa, citing concern over a recent increase in the number of abandoned children being brought for adoption. The number of abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa has grown dramatically in recent months and Ethiopian authorities have become aware of possible cases of unethical practices associated with some of them.

Currently neither MOWA nor the First Instance Court are accepting any abandonment case from any orphanages in Addis Ababa pending an inquiry.

Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov for updated information on Ethiopia.


We have discussed this situation with our facilitator in detail and he is confident that our cases will be fine. At this time the decision only affects children who were recently abandoned in Addis Ababa. All of our abandoned children have either been abandoned in other regions or were abandoned long before the suspicious activity began.
On Monday IAN will be on a JCICS conference call with the Ethiopia Caucus to address all of the issues surrounding this decision. At that time we will post another message updating you to any changes or any clarifications to the announcement. Please know that in international adoption things can change at any time, this announcement is based on our current understanding of the situation.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Referral Acceptance!

Number 1 on the baby boy and baby girl lists has accepted a referral today! Everyone on both lists move up one spot!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Referral Acceptance!

Number two on the baby girl list accepted a referral today! Everyone below #2 on the baby girl list moves up one spot!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Abandonment Cases

As many of you have heard, there is a lot of buzz coming out of Ethiopia about the status of abandonment cases. Due to an unusually high number of illegal abandonment cases in Addis Ababa since last fall, the Federal Courts in Addis Ababa had originally planned to put a hold on all abandonment cases.

However, upon further investigation, the hold on case approvals now applies only to five specific orphanages in Ethiopia, none of which are orphanages IAN works with. At this point, the hold on abandonment cases will not affect IAN families.

It is a good thing for the ethical standards of adoption in Ethiopia that these cases are being looked at more closely to avoid families to illegally abandoning their children. At this point we have not seen any impact on the overall status of adoption timelines, but we will continue to watch for this in the future. IAN and our in-country facilitators will continue to monitor this situation closely, and we will keep you updated with any changes.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Wait List Movement

Hello Everyone!

The following movement has taken place on our wait lists:

Toddler Girl- everyone below #4 moves up one spot
Toddler Boy- everyone below #1 moves up one spot
5 years+ boy and 5 years+ girl- everyone below #1 moves up one spot
Siblings- everyone below #2 moves up one spot

As always- call to confirm your # on the waiting list!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Referral Acceptance!

Happy May everyone!

We've had a great start to the month- a referral of a toddler girl was accepted today. Everyone below number one on the toddler girl wait list moves up one spot!