[teranga]

Hi. I'll answer the questions I can..

1. The average time is under a year, generally well under a year. Factors determining time are things out of your and your agency's control (like BCIS fingerprint clearance. some states do this very quickly, others take months), what age child you are adopting, what agency you are using, etc. But if you count on a year you will probably be happily surprised. We adopted an infant boy (home 02/05) and the entire process took just under 6 months, start to finish.

2. Cost again is going to vary. The biggest variable here is the agency you use. There are now 5 agencies permitted to do adoptions to the U.S. from Ethiopia and the costs vary quite a bit (several thousand dollars). Also, if you choose to escort it will be a different cost than if you travel. If you do travel, how you like to travel (first class, local cheap places, etc) will largely determine what is spent. We spent $11,000 excluding travel. I have an Excel spreadsheet of every single cost and when in the process it was paid, if you're interested. PM me if you'd like to see it. [Edited To Remove Agency discussion] We traveled but I did not include it b/c again--HOW you travel will weigh heavily into your costs there. The other costs involved are pretty stable.

3. I don't know about this one but, having lived in Senegal for 2 1/2 years and now having adopted from Ethiopai (and having done travel through other African nations) I will caution you against thinking about "african" culture. Africa is a huge continent and the culture varies tremendously, just as culture in "The Americas" (all the countries in North and South America) vary tremendously. Ethiopia has its own specific culture, languages (some language groups do cross borders of course), and history. I would suggest looking into books on Ethiopian history/culture (and there are MANY available).

4. If your husband's diabetes is under control, that should not be an issue.

5. There are healthy children of both genders waiting for families above the age of about 3. For infants, there are more boys than girls available (as is the case everywhere in the world except China partly b/c 80-90% of adopting parents worldwide request girls..). However, the wait for girls is generally not long either. For our son, we waited one month and those waiting for girls waited about 3 months. Sometimes more infants come in than others, so at times there is no wait at all. The longest wait I've heard of for infant girls is 6 months.

6. You can check the State Dept. website concerning travel warnings. Addis Ababa is a modern, cosmopolitan city and is the HQ for the African Union, and the African HQ for the UN. There are many businesspeople and NGOs working there. There is a hotel (the Sheraton) which is one of the best hotels in the world. And there are many local places with more local "flavor" as well, depending on your needs. (We stayed at the Ghion, which is Ethiopian Gov't owned, and it was more than adequate). We felt very safe in Addis (and outside Addis). People are friendly and do not hassle you (I was MUCH more hassled in Senegal!). I'd say the same precautions as anywhere in the world: don't go out alone at night, know where you're going, don't congregate in places Americans frequent as terrorism anywhere is a possibility. Those kinds of basic things. One other thing of note is that there was an election recently and there was some localized violence following it (by the University). It is over now, but could possibly flare up again when official results are announced. You would be traveling way past that time though, and I do know of several people who are traveling right at that time and are not concerned about it. State Dept updates woudl keep you aprised of that situation. Plenty of people take their kids w/them when they go. We didn't (our bio kids are 3 and 4), but if I had it to do over again, we would have.

Hope that's helpful!

Teranga