Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The future of this blog...

As you may have noticed, I've had nothing to post lately. This blog was originally set up to pass on information specifically concerning the abandonment hold, though often the information was beneficial to anyone with an interest in Ethiopian adoption (such as MOWA closing for training, the dates of the annual summer closure, etc.)

I'm happy and willing to continue posting what agencies are saying about any Ethiopian adoption related topic whatsoever, not just the abandonment ban. If your agency shares some interesting news, please feel free to pass it on to the rest of us! Not all of us have agencies that are quick to learn of and share new developments in Ethiopian Adoption.

As for the abandonment hold, many families have now passed court and some are currently traveling or will travel soon. We understand this hold was necessary to make sure all ET adoptions remain ethical, and very much appreciate those in Ethiopia who worked hard to complete their investigation in a relatively short time frame!

There are many families still affected, unfortunately...some who are waiting for new court dates to come or be assigned, some who are waiting on essential paperwork before they can move forward, and some who were referred abandoned children without police clearances who are currently waiting for decisions to be made on how to proceed with such cases. Our hearts go out to these families.

Thank you so much to everyone who was willing to pass on what their agencies were saying, and to anyone who may continue to do so in the future :-)

14 comments:

  1. Thank YOU so much for this blog Ethiopap. I wasn't even one of the families caught up in the abandonment investigation, but I found your blog invaluable. I am thrilled that you will continue to post information as you get it. I have been hoping you would! Thanks again!

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  2. As a family that was caught in this investigation, I greatly appreciate the support you have offered. I look forward to following the information you recieve in the future and will share with you if I have any information from my agency. Thanks!

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  3. This has been the best support that we have had during this investigation. You have done exellent work Ethiopap, Thank you:)

    You wrote that: there are some who are waiting on essential paperwork before they can move forward. We are on this boat also. Does someone know who will do this paperwork in Etiopia? Is this MOWAs work? We passed early this week, and now we have to wait extra for some paperwork but didn´t have specific information. What is our others situation, who have passed this week or last week?

    Good luck for everybody!

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  4. EthioPap, I would have been lost in this situation without your blog - thank you so much!

    Anon 1:09 am: Are you not just waiting for birth certificate and passport in order to apply for Visa as we do?

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  5. EthioPap thank you very much for having kept up our spirits during the difficult time. I will send you my email adress, in case you ever come to Jutland in Denmark :)
    I can tell, that both agencies in Denmark have been told, that the court is not closing for summer, but it seems that they get new court dates for october now, so I would assume that the court staying open during the summer is only in order to get the pending cases through.
    XXX

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  6. EthioPAP, your blog has been my lifeline while waiting to hear what the outcome would be. If you had a counter on it, I know I looked atleast 10 times a day!

    Thank you for providing us with this excellent resource, I cant imagine going through the waiting without this blog!

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  7. Anon 1:09 answer:
    We don´t know exacly what we are waiting for. Our agency could´t tell that to us, little strange?

    Who will write birth certification after passed court? How long that will take?

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  8. Has anyone heard about September court dates?
    Our agency told someone today they may get one??
    hmmmm????

    Are people passing, not passing?
    thanks,
    good luck to all :)

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  9. Hey anon 12:15, I have not heard any September court dates. There have been a ton of October court dates already given out, though.

    It seems like most people are passing court! :)

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  10. We are one of the cases of a referred abandoned child (in April) without police clearance. Since the ban was lifted our case has been in limbo. First we were told that the Addis gov't was still deciding how to handle cases like ours. Now we are being told MOWA will get to cases like ours after the backlog has been sifted through, most likely during the court closure. Our agency estimates we will get a court date for the end of Oct or into November, and it will not be assigned until after the courts reopen. My agency says the courts will close Aug 21 and reopen Sep 25.

    THANK YOU EthioPap for this blog which, like another poster said, has been my lifeline this summer.

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  11. Jenny,
    Hi, thanks for the post. What do you mean by "backlog gets sifted through"? Has anyone from your agency received a September court date? Our agency is telling us the courts will be closed for 4 weeks. No official reopen date that they know of.
    I am still waiting for a court date too.
    This will all be worth it once our babies are in our arms!

    I wish you well and hope you get a court date sooner rather than later

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  12. Anon 11:58
    By backlog I meant all the cases that would have gone to court had it not been for the ban, that are now being processed my MOWA and given court dates. When MOWA is finished with those cases and the letters and clearances that they require, supposedly they will get to the cases like ours who were never issued 60 day abandonment police paperwork (also because of the ban). Apparently MOWA is now handling that paperwork instead of the police. Noone I know has a court date in Sep, and a family with my agency just got a court date yesterday for Oct 14th.

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  13. Thank you so incredibly much for starting this blog and I hope you DO keep it going with Ethiopian news. We are so grateful!

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  14. Whilst I can understand the anguish of waiting parents, having been through a difficult case of our own, involving a disreputable and deceptive agent, via the Australian system. Can I just remind waiting parents of their responsibility to the children and parents of Ethiopia. You have it within your power ensure that ALL adoptions are legal and above board at all costs and I mean at all costs! Please don't lose sight of the heart ache and worry of the parent whose child may have been taken illegally and without consent, regardless of the conditions that child may have been living in. It is not our right to perpetrate at trade in illegal children to any country. In a country as poor as Ethiopia, with little infrastructure and with inadequate governmental departments, such as we are familiar with in our own counties, corruption or mismanagement (But mostly greed!) can quickly lead to the innocent and vulnerable in this society suffering at our hand. That same hand that we all reached out with, filled with compassion and concern. Don't be afraid to ask questions and seek answers, as your children will in time. You owe it to them, as much as yourself.

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