Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Parents now required to attend court

updated 3/31 11:30 am EST
As many of you know, an announcement was made today that adoptive parents are now required to be present at the court hearings of their prospective children. This has been verified so far by at least 7 US agencies. Several agencies are saying the change is due to the high number of families who choose not to bring their new children back home with them after passing court, despite the child being legally theirs. This new change is supposedly affective immediately, though there is some discrepancy on how this will affect cases with court dates already assigned. Some say it will and these dates will likely be postponed; one says it will not affect those with upcoming court dates.

*Additional info: It's believed that the parents will be required to testify in Ethiopian court that they are committed to the child and have a desire to adopt the child.

3/11 update
More conflicting information today. At least one agency reported that the sign/note indicating the change had been removed from the court, and a couple agencies have amended their announcements to say they aren't sure if or when the rule will go into effect. At least one US agency has stated that this information is just a false rumor, while at least two others have indicated that the rule is agency specific.

3/13 update
A family scheduled for court yesterday passed, and they say that several others from their agency have also passed since the announcement. The change is so far not effecting those with court dates already scheduled.

3/23 update
According to one US agency, any applications for court dates submitted prior to April 8th will be exempt from the new rule, regardless of when the actual court date takes place. For applications submitted to the court after April 8th, both parents will be required to attend the hearing in Ethiopia. They will give a statement to the court that they will adopt the referred child. If the court date gets postponed or the case does not pass for any reason, the adoptive parents will not be required to come back on the rescheduled date; their statement to the court will suffice.

3/24 update
One US agency is reporting that today a sign was posted at the court saying that the new rule of having families appear at court had been suspended, indefinitely. Another US agency says that the meeting to discuss the rule change has been postponed, not the rule itself.

3/30 update
At least 2 US agencies confirm that a meeting to discuss the two trip change was to take place today, Wednesday. If anyone has any information about the results of this meeting, please let us know!

31 comments:

  1. International Adoption Net has confirmed this news as correct.

    Jen.

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  2. Does this apply only to US families?

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  3. Anon, according to the agencies it *seems* like this is a new rule that will affect anyone adopting from Ethiopia.

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  4. I guess I am just really naive. As I sit here waiting for our Embassy date to be confirmed and wanting nothing more than to go collect our new daughter, I can't imagine there are parents who go overseas and return without their child. I guess I just have not heard about it, so it had not occurred to me.

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  5. I just read on one agency's website that this new policy will be in effect starting April 9th.

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  6. More scary is that we have a court date for March 30th....

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  7. Who confirmed this? Besides becoming an agency rule, where is it written? I would love people to stop the rumors and start coughing up facts. How about we start with this blog? What are the 7 US agencies so I can call one of them to get to the bottom of this?

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  8. I know Gladney, CHI, and AWAA confirmed it yesterday, you could ask them. The first commenter on this post said IAN said it too.

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  9. Bethany confirmed today too.

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  10. Our agency denied it and said that this has not become law yet and would take some time to go through, if it went through. They also said that CHI initiated the proposal. I'll believe it after I read it on the State Department's website.

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  11. Has anyone had any court dates heard this week after the annoucement was made? I would think that would be the best indicator of whether it was affecting those couples with court dates already scheduled.

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  12. We had our court date assigned this week!

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  13. Was your court case heard?

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  14. Dove International has also confirmed this. Although there are many questions yet to be answered. I see the positive side to it though...even though this will cost significantly more, we get to see our kids earlier than originally planned. It will be VERY hard to leave them and have to come back later though. Ugh. Can't wait for more hard fact answers. Praying for y'all as we journey together.

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  15. confirmed what? that the change is coming in a month or two? that this still needs to be finalized? why create chaos- why not wait for an official statement?

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  16. Anon 9:54, I don't mean to create chaos. This blog is just to pass on what different agencies are saying, for anyone who's interested.

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  17. our agency has confirmed we need to be at court but is still waiting for more details- as someone who sat through the abandonmant ban last year im so sad about more restrictions.I wasnt planning on leaving our daughter home so soon but will do what i have to to bring our next daughter home

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  18. the last comment before mine proves this is agency specific

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  19. This blog provides a wonderful service and is only chaos inducing if a reader chooses to make it so.

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  20. I was referring to the poster "Erik" not the bloody blog

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  21. Please stop cursing and swearing, you are not reading this blog by force, are you? Please be civilized.
    Irene.

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  22. there is one german agency saying on their homepage that it is necessary from now on

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  23. Our agency is still trying to get solid answers. I'm not sure there really are any out there yet, but I appreciate hearing everyone's input and updates. Thank you :o)

    And thank you EthioPAP for providing this online community!

    Wishing you all a beautiful Thursday :o)

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  24. We had our courtdate yesterday and we passed. So, it seems that this new rule is not affecting those with courtdates already scheduled.

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  25. CHSFS has confirmed it, and they are telling PAPs that it does not affect those that already have court dates. They are assuming that it will go into effect in April, but they don't know.

    I have heard that agencies are meeting with MOWA in an effort to slow down the implementation of the new law.

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  26. I just wanted to write that I understand the pain and frustration as we have had delays after delays too. We have waited almost 9 months, but are finally traveling soon to bring our little one home forever. I will be thinking and praying for everyone effected by this and their children. Don't lose faith, your children will be in your arms soon. Good luck to all!

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  27. has anybody heard something about court dates not passing and being rescheduled 4 weeks later like it was with dates the last months!? that would be a big problem, who could affort leaving and coming back again and again or staying for months?

    i hope, these law means the court dates are really fixed..... and that it will come late!

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  28. our agency is now saying that the new rule has not been "set in stone" yet and that there could be problems in getting it passed. They are saying that the change came from one court only and for it to actually go into effect all 7 courts would have to be in agreement.

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  29. Our agency has said there is an official notice posted in the Ethiopian court stating this is going into effect April 9th.

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  30. Has anyone heard of having 5 court dates? Our child is on his 5th court date and we are frantic trying to figure out what is going on!

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  31. We just heard from our agency that the meeting stated that they are going to give families until mid-May to get as many people through as possible without the new regulation taking place. More details will follow

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