ethiopia

I feel sad for my two Angela friends tonight. Both of them are in the process of adopting children from Ethiopia, and they've gotten some tough news. Ethiopia is about to cut their adoptions from 50 a day to 5 a day, a reduction of 90%. 


From an email Angela H. sent today:
The Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia is the main agency that handles approving cases for adoption.  They have announced that they are planning to reduce the number of international adoptions by 90% starting on March 10, 2011.  They are planning to reduce the number of cases processed each day from about 50 to 5.  The Ministry’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues; 1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and 2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option.

The Joint Council on International Children's Services has said that the Ministry’s plan is a tragic, unnecessary and disproportionate reaction to concerns of isolated abuses in the adoption process and fails to reflect the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption. Rather than eliminate the right of Ethiopian children to a permanent family, we encourage the Ministry to accept the partnerships offered by governments, NGOs, and foundations. Such partnerships could increase the Ministry’s capacity to regulate service providers and further ensure ethical adoptions.

They are encouraging many to sign a petition that will go to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.  I've included the link to the petition here.  We would appreciate your prayers for Ethiopia and the government and mostly for the orphaned children there that could very possibly be spending extended amounts of time in orphanages, transition homes, etc.  Also, please pray for the families that have already received their referrals.  They are fearful of how long they could have to wait to get court and embassy appointments to bring their sweet children home.  There is much at stake here.

Here is the link to the petition: 
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html

If you have five minutes, could you please sign this petition? I understand that they are worried about valid things, but reducing adoptions by 90% is going to hurt so many children. And can you imagine having gone through this excruciatingly long process and already being matched with a child (or even on the waiting list) and not being able to get your son or daughter home. It just breaks my heart to think about it.

***********************

On another adoption note, a new fundraiser will go up on the Hope for Anton blog in the morning. Creative Memories! This one's for you, Crafties. 

***********************

We're still having a great week. Vanessa and I feel like we've known each other forever and have discussed everything from our favorite Tex-Mex or who has the best milkshake to parenting and having Godly marriages. It has been amazing having her, and I will really miss her when she has to go back home. But God is working so much, and I just can't wait to share in more detail all the neat things that have happened this week. 

Vanessa helped with dressing change today and dressed an arm and a leg all by herself. She's a natural! I know God is equipping her to be an EB mommy. 

A few photos from Vanessa's camera from yesterday.

I didn't know the focus was on manual. Oops.