10 families did not pass court last Friday, we were the only ones rescheduled. The other nine families didn’t even have their cases heard. When I heard why they didn’t pass on Friday I was absolutely devastated for them, and worried for the future of the Ethiopia adoption program. Unfortunately not all people involved in international adoption act ethically. They facilitate adoptions where the children are not actually orphans, but rather someone’s child. Because a few people working in the adoption field in Ethiopia acted unethically, nine families hearts were broken on Friday. No one from our agency was involved in the alleged acts, but these families were still affected. Their cases are on hold until the Ethiopian government can figure out how to properly handle the situation. The government does not want to risk children who are not orphans being adopted, neither do adoptive parents or ethical adoption agencies. Please pray for these families, their children, and the government of Ethiopia. I can only imagine the pain of these families, knowing their babies’ faces, but not knowing when the wait will end. When you adopt, you fall in love at different rates, but most all fall in love before they ever travel. These families love these children and want what is best for the children, please pray.
For some info and overall feelings on corruption in international adoption you can start with this blog post and click on some of the links if you want.