[dylav]

My husband and I and my two children (adopted from Colombia and Guatemala) will be starting the adoption process in September for Ethiopia!! We are very excited and would like to have any advice regarding the Ethiopian adoption process. Having done it two prior times, we have noticed that each country has its quirks where you just want to call and beg please, please process the paperwork so we can bring our baby home. Has anyone had this experience with Ethiopia? And if so what paperwork processing pitfalls should we expect??? I have to admit I have a hard time waiting --- it must be a generational thing with emails, cell phones and needing instant gratification.

[ocracoke]

In my experience, Ethiopia tends to be fairly smooth. The two possible areas that I see your case could get hung up would either be with MOWA or with court. MOWA writes a letter to the court approving the adoption. Without that letter you will not even be heard in court. However, you may not know that the MOWA letter has not been completed until your court date when the judge looks at the file and discovers it is not there. Court is also a place where things can get held up. If the court determines that it is missing any paperwork they will continue your hearing to another time. If a birth relative was suppose to show that didn't they will continue your hearing to another time. If the electricity goes out they will continue your hearing to another time. Typically speaking the Ethiopian courts are closed most of August and September for the rainy season and new year holiday. However, it is my understanding that they are not closing this year in order to deal with the back log of cases just waiting for court. I am not sure what they will do in future years. Some agencies seem to have an easier time get court date then others. Some agencies have a better track record for getting through court on the first or second try. I have heard of people not passing court until the 5th or 6th or 7th court date but I think that is rare. I have heard of some people not getting their court date until months after their referral while other agencies get court dates within weeks of the referral. Some agencies will give referrals before the dossier is done while other require the dossier to be in Ethiopia before you are eligible for a referral. My biggest advice is to do a ton of research on agencies. In my opinion, there are some seriously unethical agencies operating in Ethiopia and you want to make sure you are not picking those agencies for your adoption. Best of luck on your adoption.

Samantha

[2xaround]

Congratulations on starting the process for #3. My husband and I also have a daughter from Guatemala and I will tell you that the paperwork for Ethiopia was much easier.

I would like to tag on to what Samantha said and let you know that the wait for referral is very much dependent on the agency. For example, it can take upwards of 18 months for an infant referral from one agency and 6 months from another. Like most countries, older children, sibling groups and special needs referrals come much quicker.

Good luck as you begin another journey and please keep us posted along the way.