Another update from WHFC

We received an email today from the program director at WHFC. I have excerpted parts of it.

We realize many of you are patiently waiting for your precious addition from Ethiopia! Thus, we would like to update you on how the Program is moving. First, we are happy to say that the program is going very well. We are in fact, thrilled to share with you that we have placed 150 children with their forever-loving families since the program opened in October 2003.

Recent Ethiopia visit
In January, Vicki Peterson, our agency’s Executive Director, Lydia Spataru, Humanitarian Aid Director and Almaz visited Ethiopia. They had the opportunity to witness firsthand the wonderful care and love that the children are receiving at both Horizon House facilities in Addis Ababa. They also had the opportunity to spend time with our in-country staff and to meet with government officials, learning more about the needs of the country as well exhibiting to them our agency’s commitment to Ethiopia and the children we can place for adoption from the country.

During this trip, WHFC staff met with government officials, and discussed the adoption process and the needs for adoptive families. The need for families in Ethiopia is still very significant. Fortunately, Ethiopian government continues to be positive about international adoption for orphans. We also noted an increase of interest in adoption from Ethiopia adoption, both from the US and from European countries. While the need of families, especially for toddlers and older children continues to be significant, the processing structure on the Ethiopian end that involves identifying the children who are eligible for international adoption, and issuing the legal documents remains the same. In addition, the Ethiopian government has been implementing some changes in their adoption departments to maintain and ensure international placement only for children who are proven to be without any alternative of being raised within their birth community.

Most notably, two specific changes in the adoption structure have been recently implemented: Until very recently, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) processed adoption cases. Going forward MOLSA will be under the direction of the Women and Social Affairs department of the government, who will now oversee the adoption process. Secondly, the Ethiopian government has implemented a minimum of three months waiting time for abandoned children before they can be eligible for inter-country placement. These changes have been implemented as part of Ethiopian government’s goal to maintain the smoothness of the international adoption process and to ensure international placement of children only for those without the alternative of being raised in their own country.

Referral Wait Time Update
The Ethiopia Program team at Wide Horizons would like to ensure you that the above noted changes do not present any threat to our program. However, the combination of these recent changes in the process and the increase in applicants adopting from Ethiopia are slowly causing an increase in the timeframe for referrals. At this point, our previous estimated timeframe of 1-3 months from the submission of the complete dossier and CIS approval is now approaching 3-5 months. For families who already have been waiting for over 2 months or closer to 3 months, we are anticipating the total waiting to be 3-4 months. For families who have submitted completed dossiers and immigration approval more recently, we have estimated the waiting time to be 3-5 months for a referral. However, the wait time for families who are open for older children will be on the shorter end of this timeframe, while the referral timeframe for families waiting for infants will most likely to be on the higher end of the timeframe.

While we hope, you will be encouraged by the affirming news that this program is moving along smoothly we also realize the news about the increase of referral time will nevertheless create some disappointment. Our program staff is here to help in any way to make this remaining wait as bearable for you as possible. Please feel free to check in with us with any questions.