[Bellebei]

We are starting the search for agencies that deal with Ethopia adoption. Can anyone give me insite on what to expect with childern from Ethopia? I was always under the impression that the childern are not taken care of and live in poverty. Is this true? Also, we diffently want a girl, how many times can we turn down a referral til we get a girl?

Lisa Marie
from WI
Mother of 3 and wife to Chriis

[ocracoke]

Congrats on your decision to adopt from Ethiopia!! In Ethiopia children are either relinquished or abandoned. Infants are often found abandoned in public places where the parent knew the child was likely to be found and taken to an orphanage. Other children are taken to orphanages by parents or other relatives who can no longer care for them. AIDS, other illnesses, death, and extreme poverty are reasons for children being in the orphanage system. My daughter was relinquished the day after her mother died because her father was also dying. But the children are well cared for in Ethiopia. But you can still run into issues -- malnourishment is a big one. My daughter was so use to being hungry and thirsty that she no longer cried for either and it never occured to her to ask. So when she came home she ate like a professional football player for about 6 months before she was sure she would always have food. She also came home with ringworm, giardia, lactose intolerance, bronchitis, scabies and a double ear infection. But she did not have any chronic illnesses or anything serious -- but that can all be found in Ethiopia.

Keep in mind that some agencies do NOT let you request a gender (some only allow it for gender balancing) while others will let you. You will need to ask the agencies about requesting a girl. And if the agency does not allow gender selection you can not turn down a referral because it was a boy. It is my understanding that you can only refuse a referral because of a medical reason. I will PM you a list of the agencies that I know of that are performing adoptions in Ethiopia or about to start a program.

Best of luck on your journey.
Samantha

[DaniWestRN]

Hi Lisa Marie,
Samantha has already started to explain this to you, but the way Ethiopian adoption works is bit different from some other popular countries like China. With Ethiopia, your agency makes your referral not Ethiopia, therefore you just need to find an agency that will agree to refer you a girl. Also most agencies run their own care centers for the children they are placing or planning to place... this means the children get better care than in a standard orphanage. Samantha has explained the health issues well, I think. Some agencies have better reputations for placing healthy children then others... ask around about that.

[eyesonchrist]

I know that our agency also allows you to chose any gender. They don't put restrictions on that. They also run their own orphanage. While the children come in from gov't run orphanages they are then moved to the agency run homes known as transition homes. Our daughter lived with her momma for 4 years. She was considered very healthy. She is 4 and is 26 pounds and 36 inches tall. Tiny compared to American 4 year olds. But she came with no health issues. No parasites, no ring worm, no lice. no head fungus nothing. Though many of the children at the orphanage did have head fungus. PM me and I'll give you my email and we can talk easier that way.
How exciting!
Smiles,
jen