[erinelway]

I have heard from a few different sources now that court hearings for abandonment cases are being put on hold.

Apparently there was some irregularity in the reporting of abandonments that was detected by the courts last week.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if your referral is an abandonment, please check with your agency right away.

[Rapids]

I heard that this affected ONE particular agency on Friday. I guess we will see if today's scheduled cases are heard or not.

If anyone has news from an agency, please post it.

[Rapids]

The below quote is an excerpt from an email message that our agency got from their attorney in Addis.

"...the court has stopped to entertain police abandonment cases until an explanation is provided by the Addis Ababa Police Commission on the reason for the increased number of abandoned cases in particular areas within the city. It is reported that some 300 abandonment cases were reported to the police and their respective letters issued from them with in just eight days. Now the court is wondering what is going on.

To this effect, the court has asked the Addis Ababa Police Commission to provide an explanation on this. Until such explanation is provided and the court is satisfied with the answer, all police abandonment cases have been banned from being processed by MOWA upon the court’s order.

The investigation has been started and there have been several meetings held with orphanages and police forces here in Addis. But no one knows what the outcome of this investigation will be and how it will affect these cases."

[erinelway]

Yes, that is the exact information that I have read. I am so sorry to hear it and so sorry for those who are in process with abandonments.

I worry what this means for Ethiopian adoptions overall. I am hoping that this is just a paperwork issue (ie the officer completed paperwork for multiple cases on the same day). But I greatly fear that this investigation may reveal deeper problems. These problems need to come to light so that any corruption can be rooted out, but at the same time there are always innocents caught in the crossfire.

To those of you in process, I highly recommend trying to meet your child's birthfamily.

[Rapids]

I may be wrong, but I think it is against Ethiopian law for the adoptive parents to meet the birth parents. And if one is adopting an abandoned child, one wouldn't know who the birth family is anyway...

[renee-albright]

It is definititly not against any laws..we met our son's birthmom when we were in addis and many other families from our agency have birthparent meetings as well.

[ocracoke]

Absolutely not against Ethiopian law. Some agencies require birth family meetings if birth family is known. At least one agency (not sure which one) says there is to be no contact per US embassy (before, during, or after the adoption). Also not true. You can not give money or any gift of value but you can meet. One agency allows for the meeting with their interpreters but does not allow any recordings of the meeting -- not sure why. I did not get the chance to meet my daughter's birth family so now I am having to go through the process of searching to find them. I would absolutely meet them if given the chance to do it over.

Samantha

[erinelway]

Yes, as Renee and Samantha said, it is absolutely NOT illegal to meet the birthfamily, not by Ethiopian law and not by US law. I would be very wary of an agency that says it is.

We met our son's birthmother and I will be forever grateful for that opportunity.

Of course you could not meet the birthfamily in the case of an abandonment...that is why I said "TRY" to meet the birthfamily.

[girly123]

I was told that this applies only to those abandonded in the city of Addis Ababa.
Nicole

[ocracoke]

Well if the child is abandoned then the birth parents are unknown. If you are able to meet the birth parents then the referral paperwork has been falsified. Process is different for abandoned versus relinquished.

Samantha