... a new development

Last week we were told that all the hullabaloo surrounding the alleged recruitment of children from families into agencies hoping to place the children with waiting adoptive parents around the world have finally caused a new process to be issued from the US Dept. of State regarding Ethiopia adoption.

This is nothing new in adoption. Many countries already have this process in place and frankly when it comes to protecting children it is likely a good idea however the further delay it will cause in placing waiting children is totally frustrating. What is best for children? Of course it is a stable loving family where children can finally land and begin to flourish without needing to be removed again and uprooted to another place.  Of course we do not wish to have any children removed from families due to the promise of an agency recruiter seeking to traffick children. Such horror happens all around the world and
although most orphanages and agencies operating within Ethiopia have the best interest of the orphan at heart, do not be fooled by what poverty, disease, hopelessness and power can sometimes generate. People living in desperate conditions often resort to desperate measures. Giving up their children is often a means of survival not an act of illegal selfishness.

Our hope is that children are relinquished into the care of an Ethiopian government run agency under fair and legal means. It is our only hope that children around the world are protected by any means necessary. This new policy will mean some delay for all of us waiting to open our arms to our new children but for now we are trying to trust God's timing and remind ourselves that she is already living in our hearts and what we think and feel each day for her is perhaps being felt all the way around the world in Africa. Our prayers, attitudes and actions each day are making a difference!