We have been told since September that there is a "hold" on relinquishment cases (Oromo Region). Does anyone have any information about this. How long is this hold supposed to last?
We received a referral from the Oromia region the first part of December. We cannot get a court date until the "hold" is lifted. We have been told that all agencies are affected by the hold if they are in the Oromia region. Please give any information that you may have.
We received a referral in May for a little boy from Oromia. We've been told on multiple occasion that his orphanage erred in his paperwork and that we've been waiting all this time for it to be fixed. We just recently learned of this (not from our agency)....any and all information would be greatly appreciated!
We are also waiting for a court date for 2 children from the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. We are with CWA and are adopting an 8yr. old and a 10 yr. old. All we've been told is that everything is alright, we are just waiting for an official "announcement" by the officials in that region. How long that will take, who knows?? I'm trusting in God's timing.
EthioPAP ... My apologies.. I posted on a different thread but thought it was this one, I'm very sorry for the confusion! To those of you who have asked, we are NOT using CWA but are experiencing similar problems, however our agency is telling us NOTHING.. the only information I am getting is via this blog! So as bitter sweet as this is I thank all of you for sharing, your insight is helping us at least keep some perspective on what might be happening. Our agency just has announced the two trips too as if it came out of thin air!
We are from Canada and are waiting for paperwork from the Oromia region so that court can be applied for. It has been 5 months since our referral. Just wondering if anyone has any info?? The orphange is the Almaz orphange.
It's been over 4 months since our referral and we are also waiting for paperwork to file for court. The hold is still in place. Two weeks ago we were told that our orphanage, which is in the Shashemene region, would be getting a letter from MOWA saying they could resume work. The letter has never arrived. I don't even understand the hold at this point. Any insight??
So glad to hear others are having this same issue. We received a referral back in April, 2009 and are still waiting. No information forthcoming from the agency except that our son is paper ready but cannot be released from the Oromia region until the elections are over in May.
We, too, are waiting for a court date. CWA is our adoption organization. We accepted a referral in Sept of 2009 and right after we accepted is when we were told of the issues in Oromia. Currently, we are waiting for our orphanage to get their letter of re-certification or something of this nature so our last document can be signed and submitted for court. This has been the situation for months. I am glad that I found this site because I was starting to think that this was a CWA issue. Our son was abandoned and we were told in January I believe that children of this status could be moved forward in the process, however he is still in the orphanage and nothing has changed.
seems as if there are TWO seperate issues at hand. 1 being a hold up because of orphanage certification and 1 because of MOWA being closed in the Oromia region. We were told that MOWA has nothing to do with the elections and nobody knows why this regional office closed. People in country said they heard it was supposed to be closed for two weeks. It has been well over a month.
We found out on Friday that officials in the Oromia region will be introducing new adoption guidelines after the May elections. It hasn't been announced if the guidelines have been written yet to be announced after elections or if the guidelines will first be created after the elections. Either way, we were told that our wait for a court dates is no longer weeks but most likely months. We have been waiting for a court dates since September.
It's great to have this site to find out what others are experiencing. We too have been on hold since last October when the courts re-opened. We have had our referral since July 2009. We had hoped that the orphanage assessment would release things but I guess not. Our child is at Sele Enat. I can't believe how many children and families are being affected by this hold - many!!! I had a feeling it was going to be contingent on the election outcome after we had to wait for the orphanage assessment report. Ugh! Then are we to wait until the election results come back on June 21st? Trying to be patient amidst our wait. It's not easy.
I'm shocked to hear of referrals from last summer and still no court date. I truly think this is an agency thing! I think they, probably the Ethiopian side of the agency, are using MOWA and other excuses for them referring out children that have not already been declared orphans, or for their own laziness. This is unacceptable! There is no reason a family should have a referral for six months to a year without a court date! My agency (CHI) has NEVER had any family wait that long for a court date. Possibly close during the abandonment issues, but seriously? I wonder why they are telling you guys this when other agencies are passing out referrals and court dates just fine. They blame MOWA, elections, etc.. But MOWA deals with all the agencies in ET. Are they showing favoritism? Or are the agencies with these long hold ups using MOWA for an excuse? Something to think about. GET MAD FOLKS!
We received our referral on 10/5/09 and had our court date today in which we did not pass. Not sure I am getting the entire story from our agency. We were told all cases did not pass today b/c MOWA didn't provide letters that they needed to. I inquired yesterday to our agency about MOWA being closed and our agency said they knew nothing of MOWA being closed. Does anyone know how long MOWA has been closed?
It is my understanding MOWA on the federal level is operating and not closed. We had a court date last week but didn't pass...we had friends who had a court date this week and did pass.
In the Oromia region, the women's affairs office is not issuing letters at this time.
It is my understanding that it is only in the Oromia region that nothing is happening. It is the regional officials in this region that have stopped issuing paperwork and no court cases have been assigned in months. There will be new guidelines issued, unfortunately, sometime after the elections. Now, for all of you above who have received court dates or know of people who have receive court dates since Sept/Oct of 2009...please state whether your child is in an Oromia region orphanage. If they are not, then that is why you have seen movement with court dates.
I am not sure what we are suppose to "get mad about" (which is stated in an earlier post) as there is nothing we can do if it is an Ethiopian government issue. From some of the statements above, I do not believe this is an agency issue isolated only to one or two agencies. I think every agency that works with orphanages in the Oromia region is experiencing these issues. My concern is that no one is doing anything to make this situation better.
I do think that all of the agencies would have some sort of ability to work with and reason with regional officials and perhaps the agencies can represent all of the parents back home better by standing up for our rights too. I can't imagine how any of this is helping the children as they sit and wait even longer to be brought home. I am disappointed in our agency as well as all of the agencies who work together, and am not impressed with their relationship building skills and problem solving strategies.
I received a phone call yesterday from my agency saying that MOWA in Oromia is now open but that they are really backlogged but will begin processing papers again.
I just heard the very same thing. The MoWA office in Oromia is open again and gearing up to process cases again. My understanding is that there will also be some changes to the documents needed.
This is great to hear they are open again, Does any one know if the "ban" and the office being closed are the same issue ? Has any one else heard from their agency? Thanks so much for this last updates
We have a court date tomorrow for a child from this region. We have been told we probably will not pass due to a missing signature. There are apparently 30 cases in this situation that the MOWA from Oramia won't sign on.
We are from Germany and also waiting for a court date sinc march. Please can you inform us when a court date is passing? The people who are waiting for almost one year are still waiting or they could bring already their child at home? Thank you.
Thank-you to everyone for sharing. It is good to feel not as alone but very sad that so many children are affected. Our son has been in this mess since July 2008 (yes nearly 2 years) so we have lots of information. The reason for the stoppage is corruption. Many agent were paying government staff at every level of the Oromo region to get cases through. They paid more and more and the problem got worse and worse. Until they had to close it and stop the referral letters which is were we all got stuck. Our agent refused to pay any bribes and this is why we have been stuck for so long.
We need to hope and pray that the corruption can be stopped and the children in need are referred so they can join their families.
Yes, corruption was the reason for the first MoWA Oromia closure at the local office. They fired, re-hired, and re-trained everyone. This is actually very good - nobody wants corruption at all - that can cause a whole country to shut down. They also shut down 20 orphanages in the region. But in march, right when the local Mowa was ready to re-open, the Addis MoWA for Oromia closed. Nobody knew why this was happening. But, I have heard from reliable sources that MoWA is getting ready to re-open and will finally be signing papers again. We are at the end of the wait, just hold on. This is great news! By the way, we are with CHI.
Addis Oromo MoWA was also closed due to corruption. The chief is well known for taking bribes from the American agents. Don't know which other countries were also involved, don't know the names of the agents just know that they were American. Her name is Saaidda. Our information is that she is being replaced and is scrabbling for friends around the world to get her out before she is put in jail. Apparently she was once a very helpful person but the lure of money has corrupted her and she has been abusive anyone but those who she has had arrangements with. There are many complaints against her. It is all really sad for those children affected.
Keep sharing. Hopefully we are not too far off now.
Dear all, we are waiting now for 4 years. We are from the Netherlands. So please one year waiting time is nothing compared to the Dutch parents that would like to adopt children. The Netherlands does not want to pay as much as USA does, so all children go to the USA. Think about what this tells us all...!
Sadly Australian families wait on average 7 years because Australian families are only allowed to cover the real cost of the adoption not massive profits that go to bribery. Due to the corruption in Ethiopia our government suspended the program to investigate. They found no corruption with our agent and have re-open with lots and lots of preventative policies. Very hard for those who are waiting but child trafficking is not on. There is 1 Australian family who has been approached by their first child's birth family to adopt her sibling because she too has been abandoned - sadly due to the corruption in Oromo region the family has had over 70 appointments and 22 months of struggle against the authorities that want the child to go to the US because they can make money from her. It is really sad and I don't believe that the American families are aware of the mess their agents are making. The US government needs to address the issue to protect the children, bio families and adoptive families. There are now lots of anti-traffic child billboards in Ethiopia and for the first time in 6 trips (1998 - 2010) to Ethiopia we as adoptive parents are not well regarded because they presume we brought our children when in reality we waited 6 years for siblings (1994-2000) and only covered the actual costs of the adoption. It is very sad because we choose Ethiopia for its ethnical adoption 16 years ago and now we have to deal with being treated like baby-buyers on our return trips.
Yes, I completely recognize this procedure in the Netherlands. I guess Australian families have the same rules as are followed for the Netherlands. It is very strange that the USA (which is a member of the Hague adoption law since april last year) seems to have still completely different rules... especially when it comes to pay for adoption children. In the netherlands they also only pay for the minimum cost of a child, but because of that all children go to the USA... strange but true. I am also wondering if the American citizens are aware of this and what is really happening in adoption world? What do their adoption agents tell them?
I think that they are kept in the dark and I really feel for them. They think they are doing a great thing but are really causing havoc and corruption due to lack of adequate supervision by their government.
Go to the following website for more information on what is really happening. www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2686187.htm
Are there any organisation working for ethnical adoption in the US maybe we could contact them with the story of the Australia family whose child's sister will probably go to the US because of the corruption caused by the American agents. Any ideas from the American families?
It is not just the Americans there are a number of other European countries involved too. I know that the Netherlands is strict like Australia.
I also know of an orphanage that was pro-adoption that now does none now because the corruption is so bad. The agent they were dealing with is making huge money while they struggling to feed their children.
Hi, Yes the adoption agencies (especially the USA agencies) seem to be the cause of the corruption. The poor Ethiopian people see that there is a big need for children in the USA... so the Ethiopian people see dollar signs in their eyes. And they get a lot of money from the USA agencies... so 1 + 1 = 2... So, USA people... please talk to your agencies first... they are indeed the cause of all the problems now in Ethiopia. Let them stop paying that much for adoption. Let them pay as much as other countries do. USA is now buying children... it has became a market and must stop immediately. The only people that can stop this are the prospective USA adoptive parents. They should gather and go to their government and agencies and force them to chance the rules and amount of money. That is the only solution for this problem. There should be a world wide organ that sets up and checks all adoption rules.
I'm not sure why this turned into a slam on US adoptions but I know it could have been done elsewhere. Our agency does not charge us much like many others, has been in Ethiopia for much longer than any others. I am tired of the corruption that comes with any adoption anywhere - Russia, Guatemala, Haiti, etc. We have been waiting to bring our kids home for over a year. I would like to have this brought back to a more positive side in letting all us parents who are stuck in the paperwork problem in the Oromiya region to be able to communicate as to what is happening with our cases and to encourage one another.
We've finally seen movement in that the approval letter from the Shashemene MoWa office was signed this past week - now the file moves onto the Oromiya MoWa office in Addis for their approval. This is good news for us and hopefully, other parents are seeing it also.
I really appreciated the last few posts. It was quite fascinating insight into possible issues -- issues that could shut Ethiopia and end options for some children who might need those options, including those currently stuck in Oromiya with paperwork problems.
And for those of us who visit our children's birth country and hope to do so for years to come, how adoption is viewed within Ethiopia is obviously a big concern.
Hopefully people won't be too intimidated to share information that might not always be well received by many readers.
Yes please continue to share. How much are people paying their agents and what are they doing for it. Which US agents are doing the right things and which aren't. This is important to share so families can make ethical choices. Maybe the family whose sibling can't get to Australia because of corrupt agents could talk with the good ones. This family is desperate after 2 years any suggestion for ethical agent who would help. Family would be willing pay for services.
We are the family trying to adopt our daughter's sister fro Oromo region. The birth family have been put under great pressure for her to go to US. Paperwork is correct but has a closed orphanage on them. The family can't go back to town bureaucrats because after fighting with them so long they have worn out their welcome. So even when mows head office opens again she is still stuck. A suggestion of a good agent to help the family would be a huge help. Please help these littles girls to be re-united.
Last Wednesday our agency(a Canadian agency) told us that the Oromia region is not processing any paperwork yet...either abandoned or reqlinquished cases. Has anyone heard otherwise????
If you look at the main page it says it is closed but us agents getting paperwork ready children through. But my lawyer says it is not the case for us.
from what I understand, there was one agency (CHI) who happened to get some of the children's papers ready - it was kind of a fluke - our daughters papers were one of the children - so now she is all paper ready, except.... then, the Birth Certificate mandate came into affect, and MoWA for Oromia has been in Adama for training for several weeks, and therefore they have not been able to provide BC for any children. MOWA training is "supposed" to be done in a week or so, and then they will supposedly re-open and begin processing papers and stamping birth certificates. the thing is, Bethany just announced that they have officially been told that the ET courts will be closing August 6-Sept 26th, and so realistically, I don't even know if we, parents with kids stuck in Oromia, will be able to get our paperwork all ready within that short week window between Oromia MoWA re-opening and the courts closing. And once the courts close, we can't apply for court. So sadly, I think we will be waiting until fall:(
I posted the above post. I have since spoken to several friends whose children are in Oromia and they are working with AAI and CWA. They have already received the final papers form MoWA AND their Birth certificates, and have applied for court. So I do not know what in the world is going on and why, after waiting a month, we still do not have the birth certificate.
We are with CWA and our children are in Oromia Shashamene region now. We've been waiting since January. They can not even process the kids paperwork until the region opens up. So no telling how long it will take for us to get a court date. praying the region opens up very soon so we can bring our kids home this year.
Hello, can you give an up-date please? Who has already a court date, which passed? Our child is still in orphanage. He had to move because the first o. closed. We could not take him home yet.
We are still waiting for paperwork from Oromia region. It seems like some agencies have gotten their paperwork and were able to submit their papers for court application. Sadly, we are still not at that point. The orphanage that our little girl came from did not get re-licensed. Still no word from our agency whether they switched the paperwork to one that Oromia is accepting. She has been at our agency's foster care home since September 1, 2009. I would love to know if some people are getting paperwork. I am also interested in whether or not they were relinquished. Thanks in advance!
She came from Almaz orphanage. She is currently in our agency's foster care home (and has been there since September). However, her paperwork needs to be changed to a licensed orphanage. At this point, I still don't think that step is done. Have you seen any progress with your referral? Has MOWA issued the necessary paperwork
The first orphanage has closed and not re-licened again. And the little boy had to move to another orphanage. This one has to make new paper work. But it does not yet. We wait since february and nothing happens. Our agency tells us that we have to wait probably until december
Why are you not going yourself to the MOWA in Addis Ababa and make an appointment with Ms. Maheder? She is the big boss under the president of the MOWA. You can discuss what you want with her. Bring a Amharic speaker with you who can do the translation. The agencies are all afraid of the MOWA at the moment. Especially the agencies with bad reputations and agencies that worked together with the unreliable orphanages. Maybe you can explain the difficulties and maybe she feels positive... It might be worth trying to my opinion.
Is your agency telling you it will take until December to get the paperwork switched to a new orphanage OR that it will be until December that you can pick him up? Thanks!
We have been waiting since Oct 2009 and our daughter has been in our Canadian agency care home since Sept 2009. She was from the Almaz orphanage in Oromia. They have last informed us that because no papers have moved, and courts are closed, and we need 2 court dates......that it will probably be another 11-12 months before we get her home. It is hard to know she is growing up without us. She turned 1 this April, so she will be over 2 when , or shall I say IF we ever get to bring her home. So very frustrating!!
Despirate Mom, I am so sorry, my heart breaks for you. This does not makes sense to me? We were trying to adopt 2 children from the Tsega orphanage, which was shut down. We had not gotten their "official" referral because we were waiting for "one last paper" to be signed by MoWA. In the end, we think MoWA kept postponing the signing of the paper because they new Tsega was going to be shut down. The ET gov actually came in and took all the children to other licensed orphanages. We were not able to locate them, so we were not able to adopt them.
But we are now adopting a 5 month old child from Oromia, and we were able to get her papers, submit to court, and now we have our 2 court dates - Oct 22 for MoWA and Nov 22nd which is the one we must attend.
I do not understand why it will take so long. Something else must be going on. When we were working with Tsega house, which was obviously doing bad, things were slow and terrible. But now that we are with a good agency and a reputable orphanage, it has been much quicker. I do not understand why she has not been moved to another licensed orphanage that your agency can work with. I believe parents were given the phone number for MoWA so they could "track down" their children if their orphanage was shut down. We did not do this becuase the children had never been officially referred to us. so sorry about this. I don't think everyone is being honest with you. blessings, Sympathetic mom
Thks for contacts. We are still trying after 2 years to have our daughter's sister adopted. Corruption has caused all the problems esp US corruption as bureaucrates were getting money to send kids to US and we are not American. I hope all the corruption is cleared out as so many children & parents are paying for it. Good luck to all of us. Take care.
Second in charge is now moving on & replacement for top job in Oromo MoWA is coming in. Hopefully the new person will end the corruption & get it all moving in an ethical way giving priority to children who need adoption & have waiting the longest.
This blog was started in May 2009, when a hold was placed on the adoption of children who were found abandoned within the city of Addis. The hold personally affected hundreds of prospective adoptive families world-wide. These families were soon disheartened by the lack of news on the investigation, with some agencies getting and passing on more information than others. This blog was started as a compilation of any and all information we could gather about the investigation into Addis abandonment cases. Since that time, this blog has evolved to include any information pertinent to Ethiopian adoption. I post information that agencies give to their clients, with all sources remaining anonymous. I rely solely on PAPs and APs of the various agencies to share what they are being told. If you have any information from your agency on any aspect of Ethiopian adoption that you'd like to share, please email me at ethioadoption@gmail.com
We received a referral from the Oromo Region in July. We passed court in October and traveled in November. Our child was relinquished.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, What agency did you use?
ReplyDeleteWe received a referral from the Oromia region the first part of December. We cannot get a court date until the "hold" is lifted. We have been told that all agencies are affected by the hold if they are in the Oromia region. Please give any information that you may have.
ReplyDeleteWe received a referral in September. Our agency told us in December that there was a hold and to expect a long wait. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteI posted earlier and we are with CWA. Please share what agency you are using. Are all agencies affected??
ReplyDeleteWe received a referral in May for a little boy from Oromia. We've been told on multiple occasion that his orphanage erred in his paperwork and that we've been waiting all this time for it to be fixed. We just recently learned of this (not from our agency)....any and all information would be greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThanks Everyone!
Can you please tell the agencies you are using?
ReplyDeleteWe are also waiting for a court date for 2 children from the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. We are with CWA and are adopting an 8yr. old and a 10 yr. old. All we've been told is that everything is alright, we are just waiting for an official "announcement" by the officials in that region. How long that will take, who knows?? I'm trusting in God's timing.
ReplyDeleteFor those affected by the 'hold', can you share what orphanage your kids came from in the Oromo region?
ReplyDeleteIs anyone outside of CWA being affected by this?
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering wy my comment I posted yesterday was erased....
ReplyDeleteAnon, what was your comment? I did not erase any comments, and never have unless specifically asked to by the author. Are you sure it posted?
ReplyDeleteEthioPAP ... My apologies.. I posted on a different thread but thought it was this one, I'm very sorry for the confusion!
ReplyDeleteTo those of you who have asked, we are NOT using CWA but are experiencing similar problems, however our agency is telling us NOTHING.. the only information I am getting is via this blog! So as bitter sweet as this is I thank all of you for sharing, your insight is helping us at least keep some perspective on what might be happening. Our agency just has announced the two trips too as if it came out of thin air!
We are from Canada and are waiting for paperwork from the Oromia region so that court can be applied for. It has been 5 months since our referral. Just wondering if anyone has any info?? The orphange is the Almaz orphange.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
It's been over 4 months since our referral and we are also waiting for paperwork to file for court. The hold is still in place. Two weeks ago we were told that our orphanage, which is in the Shashemene region, would be getting a letter from MOWA saying they could resume work. The letter has never arrived. I don't even understand the hold at this point. Any insight??
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear others are having this same issue. We received a referral back in April, 2009 and are still waiting. No information forthcoming from the agency except that our son is paper ready but cannot be released from the Oromia region until the elections are over in May.
ReplyDeleteWe, too, are waiting for a court date. CWA is our adoption organization. We accepted a referral in Sept of 2009 and right after we accepted is when we were told of the issues in Oromia. Currently, we are waiting for our orphanage to get their letter of re-certification or something of this nature so our last document can be signed and submitted for court. This has been the situation for months. I am glad that I found this site because I was starting to think that this was a CWA issue. Our son was abandoned and we were told in January I believe that children of this status could be moved forward in the process, however he is still in the orphanage and nothing has changed.
ReplyDeleteseems as if there are TWO seperate issues at hand. 1 being a hold up because of orphanage certification and 1 because of MOWA being closed in the Oromia region. We were told that MOWA has nothing to do with the elections and nobody knows why this regional office closed. People in country said they heard it was supposed to be closed for two weeks. It has been well over a month.
ReplyDeleteWe found out on Friday that officials in the Oromia region will be introducing new adoption guidelines after the May elections. It hasn't been announced if the guidelines have been written yet to be announced after elections or if the guidelines will first be created after the elections. Either way, we were told that our wait for a court dates is no longer weeks but most likely months. We have been waiting for a court dates since September.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have this site to find out what others are experiencing. We too have been on hold since last October when the courts re-opened. We have had our referral since July 2009. We had hoped that the orphanage assessment would release things but I guess not. Our child is at Sele Enat.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how many children and families are being affected by this hold - many!!! I had a feeling it was going to be contingent on the election outcome after we had to wait for the orphanage assessment report. Ugh! Then are we to wait until the election results come back on June 21st? Trying to be patient amidst our wait. It's not easy.
I'm shocked to hear of referrals from last summer and still no court date. I truly think this is an agency thing! I think they, probably the Ethiopian side of the agency, are using MOWA and other excuses for them referring out children that have not already been declared orphans, or for their own laziness. This is unacceptable! There is no reason a family should have a referral for six months to a year without a court date! My agency (CHI) has NEVER had any family wait that long for a court date. Possibly close during the abandonment issues, but seriously?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they are telling you guys this when other agencies are passing out referrals and court dates just fine. They blame MOWA, elections, etc.. But MOWA deals with all the agencies in ET. Are they showing favoritism? Or are the agencies with these long hold ups using MOWA for an excuse? Something to think about.
GET MAD FOLKS!
We received our referral on 10/5/09 and had our court date today in which we did not pass. Not sure I am getting the entire story from our agency. We were told all cases did not pass today b/c MOWA didn't provide letters that they needed to. I inquired yesterday to our agency about MOWA being closed and our agency said they knew nothing of MOWA being closed. Does anyone know how long MOWA has been closed?
ReplyDeleteIt is my understanding MOWA on the federal level is operating and not closed. We had a court date last week but didn't pass...we had friends who had a court date this week and did pass.
ReplyDeleteIn the Oromia region, the women's affairs office is not issuing letters at this time.
It is my understanding that it is only in the Oromia region that nothing is happening. It is the regional officials in this region that have stopped issuing paperwork and no court cases have been assigned in months. There will be new guidelines issued, unfortunately, sometime after the elections. Now, for all of you above who have received court dates or know of people who have receive court dates since Sept/Oct of 2009...please state whether your child is in an Oromia region orphanage. If they are not, then that is why you have seen movement with court dates.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what we are suppose to "get mad about" (which is stated in an earlier post) as there is nothing we can do if it is an Ethiopian government issue. From some of the statements above, I do not believe this is an agency issue isolated only to one or two agencies. I think every agency that works with orphanages in the Oromia region is experiencing these issues. My concern is that no one is doing anything to make this situation better.
I do think that all of the agencies would have some sort of ability to work with and reason with regional officials and perhaps the agencies can represent all of the parents back home better by standing up for our rights too. I can't imagine how any of this is helping the children as they sit and wait even longer to be brought home. I am disappointed in our agency as well as all of the agencies who work together, and am not impressed with their relationship building skills and problem solving strategies.
Just wondering if there has been any movement in the Oromia region now that the elections are over?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI received a phone call yesterday from my agency saying that MOWA in Oromia is now open but that they are really backlogged but will begin processing papers again.
ReplyDeleteI just heard the very same thing. The MoWA office in Oromia is open again and gearing up to process cases again. My understanding is that there will also be some changes to the documents needed.
ReplyDeleteThis is great to hear they are open again, Does any one know if the "ban" and the office being closed are the same issue ?
ReplyDeleteHas any one else heard from their agency?
Thanks so much for this last updates
Which agencies are you guys with? Please share. We are with CHI but have not heard anything yet.
ReplyDeleteWe have a court date tomorrow for a child from this region. We have been told we probably will not pass due to a missing signature. There are apparently 30 cases in this situation that the MOWA from Oramia won't sign on.
ReplyDeleteWe are from Germany and also waiting for a court date sinc march. Please can you inform us when a court date is passing? The people who are waiting for almost one year are still waiting or they could bring already their child at home? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank-you to everyone for sharing. It is good to feel not as alone but very sad that so many children are affected. Our son has been in this mess since July 2008 (yes nearly 2 years) so we have lots of information. The reason for the stoppage is corruption. Many agent were paying government staff at every level of the Oromo region to get cases through. They paid more and more and the problem got worse and worse. Until they had to close it and stop the referral letters which is were we all got stuck. Our agent refused to pay any bribes and this is why we have been stuck for so long.
ReplyDeleteWe need to hope and pray that the corruption can be stopped and the children in need are referred so they can join their families.
Please keep sharing.
Yes, corruption was the reason for the first MoWA Oromia closure at the local office. They fired, re-hired, and re-trained everyone. This is actually very good - nobody wants corruption at all - that can cause a whole country to shut down. They also shut down 20 orphanages in the region. But in march, right when the local Mowa was ready to re-open, the Addis MoWA for Oromia closed. Nobody knew why this was happening. But, I have heard from reliable sources that MoWA is getting ready to re-open and will finally be signing papers again. We are at the end of the wait, just hold on. This is great news! By the way, we are with CHI.
ReplyDeleteAddis Oromo MoWA was also closed due to corruption. The chief is well known for taking bribes from the American agents. Don't know which other countries were also involved, don't know the names of the agents just know that they were American. Her name is Saaidda. Our information is that she is being replaced and is scrabbling for friends around the world to get her out before she is put in jail. Apparently she was once a very helpful person but the lure of money has corrupted her and she has been abusive anyone but those who she has had arrangements with. There are many complaints against her. It is all really sad for those children affected.
ReplyDeleteKeep sharing. Hopefully we are not too far off now.
Dear all, we are waiting now for 4 years. We are from the Netherlands. So please one year waiting time is nothing compared to the Dutch parents that would like to adopt children. The Netherlands does not want to pay as much as USA does, so all children go to the USA. Think about what this tells us all...!
ReplyDeleteSadly Australian families wait on average 7 years because Australian families are only allowed to cover the real cost of the adoption not massive profits that go to bribery. Due to the corruption in Ethiopia our government suspended the program to investigate. They found no corruption with our agent and have re-open with lots and lots of preventative policies. Very hard for those who are waiting but child trafficking is not on. There is 1 Australian family who has been approached by their first child's birth family to adopt her sibling because she too has been abandoned - sadly due to the corruption in Oromo region the family has had over 70 appointments and 22 months of struggle against the authorities that want the child to go to the US because they can make money from her. It is really sad and I don't believe that the American families are aware of the mess their agents are making. The US government needs to address the issue to protect the children, bio families and adoptive families. There are now lots of anti-traffic child billboards in Ethiopia and for the first time in 6 trips (1998 - 2010) to Ethiopia we as adoptive parents are not well regarded because they presume we brought our children when in reality we waited 6 years for siblings (1994-2000) and only covered the actual costs of the adoption. It is very sad because we choose Ethiopia for its ethnical adoption 16 years ago and now we have to deal with being treated like baby-buyers on our return trips.
ReplyDeleteYes, I completely recognize this procedure in the Netherlands. I guess Australian families have the same rules as are followed for the Netherlands. It is very strange that the USA (which is a member of the Hague adoption law since april last year) seems to have still completely different rules... especially when it comes to pay for adoption children. In the netherlands they also only pay for the minimum cost of a child, but because of that all children go to the USA... strange but true. I am also wondering if the American citizens are aware of this and what is really happening in adoption world? What do their adoption agents tell them?
ReplyDeleteI think that they are kept in the dark and I really feel for them. They think they are doing a great thing but are really causing havoc and corruption due to lack of adequate supervision by their government.
ReplyDeleteGo to the following website for more information on what is really happening. www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2686187.htm
Are there any organisation working for ethnical adoption in the US maybe we could contact them with the story of the Australia family whose child's sister will probably go to the US because of the corruption caused by the American agents. Any ideas from the American families?
ReplyDeleteIt is not just the Americans there are a number of other European countries involved too. I know that the Netherlands is strict like Australia.
I also know of an orphanage that was pro-adoption that now does none now because the corruption is so bad. The agent they were dealing with is making huge money while they struggling to feed their children.
Hi, Yes the adoption agencies (especially the USA agencies) seem to be the cause of the corruption. The poor Ethiopian people see that there is a big need for children in the USA... so the Ethiopian people see dollar signs in their eyes. And they get a lot of money from the USA agencies... so 1 + 1 = 2...
ReplyDeleteSo, USA people... please talk to your agencies first... they are indeed the cause of all the problems now in Ethiopia. Let them stop paying that much for adoption. Let them pay as much as other countries do. USA is now buying children... it has became a market and must stop immediately. The only people that can stop this are the prospective USA adoptive parents. They should gather and go to their government and agencies and force them to chance the rules and amount of money. That is the only solution for this problem. There should be a world wide organ that sets up and checks all adoption rules.
I'm not sure why this turned into a slam on US adoptions but I know it could have been done elsewhere. Our agency does not charge us much like many others, has been in Ethiopia for much longer than any others. I am tired of the corruption that comes with any adoption anywhere - Russia, Guatemala, Haiti, etc. We have been waiting to bring our kids home for over a year. I would like to have this brought back to a more positive side in letting all us parents who are stuck in the paperwork problem in the Oromiya region to be able to communicate as to what is happening with our cases and to encourage one another.
ReplyDeleteWe've finally seen movement in that the approval letter from the Shashemene MoWa office was signed this past week - now the file moves onto the Oromiya MoWa office in Addis for their approval. This is good news for us and hopefully, other parents are seeing it also.
I really appreciated the last few posts. It was quite fascinating insight into possible issues -- issues that could shut Ethiopia and end options for some children who might need those options, including those currently stuck in Oromiya with paperwork problems.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of us who visit our children's birth country and hope to do so for years to come, how adoption is viewed within Ethiopia is obviously a big concern.
Hopefully people won't be too intimidated to share information that might not always be well received by many readers.
Unfortunately the probs & corruption are relate as mows head office on hold due corruption. Not reopening until sept / aug.
ReplyDeleteYes please continue to share. How much are people paying their agents and what are they doing for it. Which US agents are doing the right things and which aren't. This is important to share so families can make ethical choices. Maybe the family whose sibling can't get to Australia because of corrupt agents could talk with the good ones. This family is desperate after 2 years any suggestion for ethical agent who would help. Family would be willing pay for services.
ReplyDeleteWe are the family trying to adopt our daughter's sister fro
ReplyDeleteOromo region. The birth family have been put under great pressure for her to go to US. Paperwork is correct but has a closed orphanage on them. The family can't go back to town bureaucrats because after fighting with them so long they have worn out their welcome. So even when mows head office opens again she is still stuck. A suggestion of a good agent to help the family would be a huge help. Please help these littles girls to be re-united.
Last Wednesday our agency(a Canadian agency) told us that the Oromia region is not processing any paperwork yet...either abandoned or reqlinquished cases. Has anyone heard otherwise????
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the main page it says it is closed but us agents getting paperwork ready children through. But my lawyer says it is not the case for us.
ReplyDeletefrom what I understand, there was one agency (CHI) who happened to get some of the children's papers ready - it was kind of a fluke - our daughters papers were one of the children - so now she is all paper ready, except.... then, the Birth Certificate mandate came into affect, and MoWA for Oromia has been in Adama for training for several weeks, and therefore they have not been able to provide BC for any children. MOWA training is "supposed" to be done in a week or so, and then they will supposedly re-open and begin processing papers and stamping birth certificates. the thing is, Bethany just announced that they have officially been told that the ET courts will be closing August 6-Sept 26th, and so realistically, I don't even know if we, parents with kids stuck in Oromia, will be able to get our paperwork all ready within that short week window between Oromia MoWA re-opening and the courts closing. And once the courts close, we can't apply for court. So sadly, I think we will be waiting until fall:(
ReplyDeleteI posted the above post. I have since spoken to several friends whose children are in Oromia and they are working with AAI and CWA. They have already received the final papers form MoWA AND their Birth certificates, and have applied for court. So I do not know what in the world is going on and why, after waiting a month, we still do not have the birth certificate.
ReplyDeleteWe are waiting since 1.03.2010 for a court date. The orphanage where our son was is closed. They put him to anotherone. Its crazy what happens.
ReplyDeleteWe are with CWA and our children are in Oromia Shashamene region now. We've been waiting since January. They can not even process the kids paperwork until the region opens up. So no telling how long it will take for us to get a court date. praying the region opens up very soon so we can bring our kids home this year.
ReplyDeleteCould someone please provide the contact details of US agent that could help our daughter's sibling who have been stuck for 2 years now.
ReplyDeleteHello, can you give an up-date please? Who has already a court date, which passed? Our child is still in orphanage. He had to move because the first o. closed. We could not take him home yet.
ReplyDeleteWe are still waiting for paperwork from Oromia region. It seems like some agencies have gotten their paperwork and were able to submit their papers for court application. Sadly, we are still not at that point. The orphanage that our little girl came from did not get re-licensed. Still no word from our agency whether they switched the paperwork to one that Oromia is accepting. She has been at our agency's foster care home since September 1, 2009. I would love to know if some people are getting paperwork. I am also interested in whether or not they were relinquished.
ReplyDeleteThanks in advance!
Thank you for your answer. In which orphanage was your little girl? Did she have to move to an other orpanage also?
ReplyDeleteShe came from Almaz orphanage. She is currently in our agency's foster care home (and has been there since September). However, her paperwork needs to be changed to a licensed orphanage. At this point, I still don't think that step is done. Have you seen any progress with your referral? Has MOWA issued the necessary paperwork
ReplyDeleteThe first orphanage has closed and not re-licened again. And the little boy had to move to another orphanage. This one has to make new paper work. But it does not yet. We wait since february and nothing happens. Our agency tells us that we have to wait probably until december
ReplyDeleteWhy are you not going yourself to the MOWA in Addis Ababa and make an appointment with Ms. Maheder? She is the big boss under the president of the MOWA. You can discuss what you want with her. Bring a Amharic speaker with you who can do the translation. The agencies are all afraid of the MOWA at the moment. Especially the agencies with bad reputations and agencies that worked together with the unreliable orphanages. Maybe you can explain the difficulties and maybe she feels positive... It might be worth trying to my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIs your agency telling you it will take until December to get the paperwork switched to a new orphanage OR that it will be until December that you can pick him up?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
We have been waiting since Oct 2009 and our daughter has been in our Canadian agency care home since Sept 2009. She was from the Almaz orphanage in Oromia. They have last informed us that because no papers have moved, and courts are closed, and we need 2 court dates......that it will probably be another 11-12 months before we get her home. It is hard to know she is growing up without us. She turned 1 this April, so she will be over 2 when , or shall I say IF we ever get to bring her home. So very frustrating!!
ReplyDeleteDespirate Mom
Despirate Mom,
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry, my heart breaks for you. This does not makes sense to me?
We were trying to adopt 2 children from the Tsega orphanage, which was shut down. We had not gotten their "official" referral because we were waiting for "one last paper" to be signed by MoWA. In the end, we think MoWA kept postponing the signing of the paper because they new Tsega was going to be shut down.
The ET gov actually came in and took all the children to other licensed orphanages. We were not able to locate them, so we were not able to adopt them.
But we are now adopting a 5 month old child from Oromia, and we were able to get her papers, submit to court, and now we have our 2 court dates - Oct 22 for MoWA and Nov 22nd which is the one we must attend.
I do not understand why it will take so long. Something else must be going on. When we were working with Tsega house, which was obviously doing bad, things were slow and terrible. But now that we are with a good agency and a reputable orphanage, it has been much quicker. I do not understand why she has not been moved to another licensed orphanage that your agency can work with. I believe parents were given the phone number for MoWA so they could "track down" their children if their orphanage was shut down. We did not do this becuase the children had never been officially referred to us.
so sorry about this. I don't think everyone is being honest with you.
blessings,
Sympathetic mom
June 18 anonymous said
ReplyDeleteAre there any organisation working for ethnical adoption in the US
Here are two
Ethica: http://www.ethicanet.org/
PEAR: http://www.pear-now.org
Thks for contacts. We are still trying after 2 years to have our daughter's sister adopted. Corruption has caused all the problems esp US corruption as bureaucrates were getting money to send kids to US and we are not American. I hope all the corruption is cleared out as so many children & parents are paying for it. Good luck to all of us. Take care.
ReplyDeleteSecond in charge is now moving on & replacement for top job in Oromo MoWA is coming in. Hopefully the new person will end the corruption & get it all moving in an ethical way giving priority to children who need adoption & have waiting the longest.
ReplyDeleteAny news?
ReplyDeleteAfter 2 years waiting we have our court date in january. I hope that everything is working well.
ReplyDelete