International Adoption

With international adoption you really need to be prepared for the fact that anything can happen. Since I began my research, I’ve seen many changes, which cause delays to the process.
We’ve already had to wait a year just to get started due to the marriage requirement rule change. There has also been a change regarding travel. Lately there have been discussions on discontinuing adoptions to single females.

The primary entity that will dictate when we make it to “Gotcha Day” is how long it takes to get through the Ethiopian courts. I’ve been asked if we get to see our son before we make a decision. We will receive a referral but we do not get to select a child. A referral will include a pic, and whatever medical information is available. Based on the referral we will decide to accept or decline the referral. After we accept a referral our agency will petition for a court date on our behalf. A court date could take 3 weeks or it may be much longer. Ethiopian courts close for the raining session from August – September. To pass court we will need a favorable opinion from MOWA; if the child is being relinquished, a biological parent has to be present for court. Often it takes more than one court date to pass court. Only after we have successfully passed through the courts will we be given a travel date, which could be - 2 months later.

Once in Ethiopia we are required to stay for 7 days. There are two American hotels in Ethiopia. We are planning on staying at the Sheraton. While in Ethiopia we will go to the Embassy and apply for a visa for our son to travel home. We will be permitted to visit our son each day at the Care Center. While in Ethiopia we will distribute humanitarian aid and visit some of the orphanages. On the seventh day we will be allowed to pick up our son and bring him home!