I am co-moderator for my adoption agency’s yahoo group online. This is a group of potential and current AP’s using Adoption Avenues Agency and Toukoul orphanage (in ETH.) No one affiliated or employed by AAA or Toukoul is allowed on the board, rather, it’s an informational and emotional resource for parents.
As co-moderator I feel it is my duty to give parents the FACTS regarding any and all situations/questions/queries/fears that come up. Obviously, the recent High Court’s decision to postpone, indefinitely, the adoption hearings for children declared “abandoned” in the city of Addis, has been at the forefront of many parents minds. As such, I have sought out factual information to pass along. Our agency director, Radu, is in ETH this week, and this morning, sent me a PM with more information to send out on the board.
Radu has been investigating the situation and has been informed, directly by the High Court, the following information:
The “questionable” cases involved just ONE POLICEMAN AND ONE SOCIAL WORKER IN THE CITY OF ADDIS. There were 17 cases over the last year (2009) in which they “found” children, and then filled out paperwork indicating they had been abandoned. Those children were then sent to an orphanage (NOT TOUKOUL) and were referred to parents via an agency (NOT AAA.) The name of the orphanage and agency have not been released publicly, but individual agencies have been reassured they are not affected.
Because the High Court has the best interest of all Ethiopian orphans at mind, they have postponed the adoption hearings of ALL children listed as “abandoned” in Addis, pending further investigation. This is to ensure that Addis adoptions, and in fact, all Ethiopian adoptions are completed with the utmost ethical standards.
I KNEW our agency had nothing to do with this, but was so thrilled our director found out information first hand so very quickly, and reported the same.
My heart is aching for the children and families affected. The families who received referrals for the “found” children did no wrong. The children did no wrong. And, of course, the plethora of children and families whose adoption hearings are postponed because of these 17 cases, did nothing wrong. We can only keep these families and children in our hearts, minds, and prayers and be thankful the High Court wants all adoptions to be “above board” and ethical.
On positive news, a shout-out to Emily and her family: they received their court date for little Sarah today: May 27th!!!! We are hoping and praying our families will travel to Toukoul together in June.
Thanks for the update Meg!!! Good to know it wasn’t the work of a large group of people…but that doesn’t make it better or easier
Meg, Thanks for being so on top of everything. My heart goes out to the families that will be affected. And I totally hope we travel together!
Meg, thanks for doing this work and writing this up. Sorry my yahoogroups posting sounded so snippy. I really do appreciate it.
[...] more info on the situation in Ethiopia you can go to Meg’s blog and for some info and overall feelings on corruption in international adoption you can start with [...]
Thanks for posting Meg! Will not be long before you have your little one in your arms….so excited for you.
Appreicate the update!
[...] Lovely mom-to-be Meg has some almost first-hand info and was generous enough to share… Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)All I Had To DoHmmm…So……Yah……End of the Dry SpellAdoption Update… [...]
I heard from Jenna that you were taking this over from Amber. Thank you! This is good to know- our prayers are with all people involved the birth families, the children, and the adoptive families. I hope that this can be resolved well.
As one person who is effected by these recent developments, I ask you to please take this post off of your blog.
This is a very sensitive issue, and as adoptive parents waiting for court, we are trying so hard to protect the privacy of our child. These children are people who deserve to be able to tell their own story someday, if they so choose.
We would never think of (I hope!)posting such intimately private information about other adults on a public forum like this. Please consider the lack of respect for the children who are effected (our son being one of them) and remove this post.
We appreciate the concern and prayers, but we don’t need everyone to know about the specifics.
Thank you.
Dear Anonymous poster:
First, let me state that my intention of this posting was to inform, not to hurt anyone. I have in no way released any private information: no names, no agencies. I have only stated the facts.
Please keep in mind that this is MY personal blog. I have friends and family members concerned with our adoption, and I want them to know the facts. Actually, I want EVERYONE to know the facts. I would hate for people to hear rumors and think all ETH adoptions are unethical. They aren’t. As an adoptive parent, and adoption advocate, I feel the need to inform people who visit my blog about facts.