Pics of the nursery

Isaiah Peterson (born last month - see post from May 30th) and his Mom and Dad (Elizabeth and my brother Joel) are soon to be back from Africa. They will live with us for a while! Woohoo! Isaiah will get to use his soon to be cousin's (Micah) nursery! So here are pics of the nursery!



Anyone know how to get replacement cushions for my glider? I don't like the color.
BUT, I loooove my rocking giraffe!! Took two trips to World Market to find they were all sold out, then a waiting list and call - I jumped in my car as soon as I heard they were holding one for me! The things we'll do for the first time baby items!

Pics of Isaiah

Here's my nephew!

We will NOT be notified of our court date

Well, it appears Duni and Terra (our coordinators) are now going to just wait until we pass court before telling us of the proceedings. Previously, families would hear of their court dates and then would hear if they passed or not.

Soo... We will receive a referral and then about 8 weeks later, we'll receive news that we are leaving to pick up our son in 2 - 3 weeks! Kind of a bit exciting don't ya think?

Here is Terra's email:

There is an important change that all Ethiopia families need to take note of. From this point forward we are asking families to anticipate an 8-12week wait after receiving a referral before traveling to Ethiopia to pick up their child/children (12-16 weeks for families whose referrals fall during the court closures). During those 8-12 weeks there are a series of steps that must be taken to receive governmental approvals, court decrees, birth certificates, passports, visas, and a plethora of other documents for the adopted child. Because receiving the court decree is especially difficult and often times not approved on the first or even second court date we have decided to now switch to a new system where we will notify families with a travel approval when all of their documents have been collected and definitive dates can be identified to schedule travel. This means that we will no longer be contacting families about when their court dates will be, or each time their court date did not go through, or has been changed. Families will be notified within 2-4 weeks before traveling to Ethiopia with their travel approval.

HIS-


Terra Bailey
Ethiopia Family Coordinator

What is involved in this long process?

I thought I'd post for you what happens after all our paperwork is sent to Ethiopia (aka our DTE date - Dossier to Ethiopia). Here is an email from our coordinator.

Dear Waiting Families,
Per our conversation during the conference call below is an outline of the process that takes place after dossier submission and upon referral. I have also attached an MP3 recording of the conference for those of you that were not able to join us.
After Dossier Submission
1. Dossier is taken to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Authentication
2. Dossier is Translated into Amharic
3. A copy of the Dossier is submitted to the AW Partner Orphanages
4. When a child has been identified our representatives go to KC to pick up the child and all the necessary paperwork (profile or police report)
5. The Child is taken to a medical
6. All the documents are translated into English
7. The Translated referral document is then sent to our office in the US where a referral call will be made to the family.

After Referral

Step One Upon acceptance of the referral, a Contract of Adoption is signed between the child's legal guardian (the Orphanage) and the adoptive parent(s), or the agency representative (Girmachew). If the legal guardian is also the agency that is processing the adoption, another licensed orphanage can sign on behalf of the child. This contract is the basis for the issuance of the adoption decree, which shows that the guardian or the orphanage has relinquished their parental or guardian right in regard to the adopted child. The contract must be taken to the Inland Revenue Administration office to be stamped. There is a nominal fee.

Step Two- The parents' dossier is submitted to MOWA . MOWA will then affix a summary sheet, on which will be noted items such as court decisions, background data on the adopted child or children, and the names of Adoption Committee members who will complete the form at a later date (see below). At this point, for private adoptions only, MOWA usually asks the U.S. Embassy to provide a letter of support for the adoptive parents. .

Step Three- MOWA submits the parents' dossier to the Adoption Committee for review and approval to adopt. The Adoption Committee meets periodically, sometimes as often as every week, to review cases. The Committee either approves or rejects the prospective adoptive parent(s), based on Ethiopian guidelines for international adoptions. Given the volume of work before the Committee, it can take weeks before the Committee reviews a dossier. Further investigation into the parents' qualifications is done if deemed necessary, and a recommendation is made. Only if all the members of the committee agree, and sign the recommendation, is the request approved.

Step Four - Once the Committee has approved the parents' dossier, MOWA opens a file at the Federal First Instance Court to apply for an appointment date for the adoption hearing. The court date could be one to two months from the date of filing.

Step Five - CYAO opens a file at the Federal First Instance Court to apply for an appointment date for the adoption hearing. The court date could be one to two months from the date of filing. The Court generally is closed between three and twelve weeks between July and October. The dates change every year.

Step Six - A notice seeking any other claimants to the child is published in the local press stating the child's name and the name of the adopting parents. Anyone opposed to the adoption is requested to appear at MOWA by a certain date and time.

Step Seven- When the appointed court date arrives, the prospective parents or their agency's local representative will be asked to appear in court. Final decisions can be handed down quickly, but delays of weeks are not uncommon. Adoptive parents must obtain at least two originals of the court decree. One will be retained by MOWA and one must be submitted to the U.S. Embassy for the visa application. The original submitted to the Embassy will be returned to the parents.

Step Eight- After the adoption is complete, MOWA prepares a request to the city of Addis Ababa for the issuance of a new birth certificate, and a request to the Office of Security, Immigration and Refugee Affairs for an Ethiopian passport for the child in its new name. The U.S. Embassy needs both the new birth certificate and the passport to complete the child's U.S. immigrant visa application process.

Step Nine - The court decree must be translated into English. The original and the translation are submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for authentication. The authentication stamp, seals and signature are placed on the back of the translation. If the adoption contract was made in Amharic, it too must be translated into English and the original translation authenticated by MOFA.

Families can travel to Ethiopia for their consulate appointment and pick up their children after the above steps have been completed. Hope this sheds light on the process. Please feel free to email me any questions you may have about this and it can be addressed at the next conference call.

Grace & Peace

Duni Zenaye
Africa Program Director

Duni's trip to Ethiopia

Duni is our Family Coordinator for our adoption. She basially does it all for us - all we do is send her the paperwork and then we wait.... and say "yes! We'll accept this referral!!!!" and then travel to pick up our son (of course with much time in between each event!)

Anyway, she visited Addis Ababa Ethiopia recently to hire more in-country staff, consider other orphanages to partner with, and really just see all that goes on as far as the adoption process in-country rather than at the corporate office in VA.

So here is her email update to the Ethiopia waiting families (of wihch we are part of- there are 90 of us!!! We are somewhere around family #35 or #40 I think.)

Dear Families,

My one month stay in Ethiopia was long but productive. It was beneficial to me to be able to learn the in country process to better equip myself in assisting families during their adoption. It was also wonderful to meet and play with the older children and actually get to hold the little ones. Seeing these wonderful children was what I needed to give me a renewed sense of purpose and urgency to ensure that they are united to loving families in the shortest time possible. Most of all, meeting the children gave me a new appreciation and respect for those that have and continue to open their homes and hearts to children from Ethiopia.

My main reason for traveling to Ethiopia was to find ways to better the program, and as it grows, to ensure that we grow along with it to meet the new demand.

Finding new orphanages to partner with was of the utmost importance, and most of my time there was spent traveling outside of Addis to tour different orphanages. I am excited to announce that we were blessed to establish a new partnership with Gelgela Orphanage. They are located a few miles from our Transitional Home and have already referred children to our agency. Gelgela orphanage is expanding its projects (education & children sponsorship) in southern and northern Ethiopia. We are honored to support them in their new sponsorship program in Gojam (North Ethiopia).

As most of you know, adoption from Ethiopia has grown popular in the past year. In the last two years the number of adoptions from Ethiopia by US citizens has increased by 100%. While there were only a handful of US adoption agencies working in Ethiopia two years ago, there are now over 30. Most people are attracted to the program for the same reason; compared to other countries it has proven to be the quickest and there is a need for adoptive families as there are many orphans. Because of this increased interest families should expect to wait longer for a referral than some of the families who adopted a year ago when the number of prospective adoptive families applying to the Ethiopia program was not so high.

Of course such growth in the program and striving to meet the demand is not only a challenge for agencies but also for the Ethiopian government and adoption officials. As an Agency we are also responsible in ensuring that all the children have the correct paperwork and are true orphans in need of a home before accepting them to refer to families.

I was able to meet with officials and listen, as well as discuss ways to continue facilitating smooth and successful adoptions from Ethiopia. Meeting with them also opened my eyes to the different problems and set backs they have at the office as they don’t have the resources a developed country has. One such problem is power outages through out the city.

As most of you know, power is currently rationed throughout Ethiopia because of the lack of rain. There is no power two to three days out of the 5 business days. This has caused all processes to slow down. For instance MOWA cannot write recommendation letters to court on some days because of power outages resulting in rescheduling of court dates. Or the Vital Statistics office cannot issue a birth certificate because of the same problem. Families should expect some delays after a referral and leading up to travel because of these reasons.

The current wait time for both infant girls and boys is 7-9 months after DTE date. The wait time is also 7-9 months after DTE date for toddlers and children up to 5 years old.

The wait time after referral has also increased. Families should expect to travel 8-12 weeks to travel date after receiving a referral. If families receive a referral between August 7 and October 7 (During Court Closure) then they should expect to travel 12-16 weeks after a referral.

Even though the wait time has increased, I have all the confidence in the adoption officials in Ethiopia and they are doing all they can with the limited resources they have to process the adoption cases in a timely manner.

I thank the Lord for each one of you and for giving you the desire to adopt from Ethiopia. May He continue to guide you and give you perseverance as you wait for your child.

In Christ,


Duni Zenaye
Africa Program Director