Friday, May 22, 2009

An email from someone with Adoption Ark:

I received a call from my agency this morning to provide an update on things. Our agency had families with court dates today and next week on 5/27 (that was mine). Our in country rep attempted to go to court today and had a prepared statement explaining that none of our children are from the 5 orphanages under investigation and requested that the cases be heard. His request was denied. The judge said that all cases of abandonment in Addis are "on hold" until the completion of the investigation, and that the cases today would not be heard NOR would my case be heard next week.

Our in country rep attempted to ask the proverbial million dollar question as to WHEN this would likely be resolved, and he did not receive an answer as to any potential timeline.

Our agency has reinforced that there is NOTHING any of us can do but wait. I offered to fly to Addis to appear at my scheduled court hearing next week in an effort to act as my own child's advocate. I was reminded, however, that this is NOT a personal thing------the courts are not saying that we are in some way less than ideal parents--------that this is PURELY about the need to ensure that there is no child trafficking happening. I COMPLETELY understand that, and certainly have the utmost respect for those critical efforts to protect children everywhere. That, however, is a 100% OBJECTIVE perspective, and there is a part of me at this point that is clearly struggling with maintaining objectivity. It feels like I just KNOW that the best place for my daughter right now would be here in the nursery we built for her. I keep thinking about how critical the first year of life is-------and that hers is being spent just waiting for this to be resolved before she can meet her family who loves her already. And what if it is never resolved? What would become of her precious life? For something that is "not a personal thing", it sure feels awfully personal........

Wish I had something more encouraging to report.

Hugs and prayers to everyone this holiday weekend.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing with us the info and your thoughts. I'm sad for all of us in this situation.

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  2. Sitting here in Denmark feeling the exact same thing, we have our 7 months old daughter waiting in Ethiopia, we have no court date yet though.

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