An email I received (amended by the source):

The agency update you posted today seems coherent with what we were told by our agency today; we had planned to fly to Ethiopia... our agency suggested not to cancel our trip just yet but to wait until next week. I guess they have heard the same rumor and hope something happens soon.

An agency update (today):

Dear Families,

I hope you are still staying strong. I wanted to send you an email regarding the Abandonment Children’s Issue in Addis Ababa and my conversation with [Name withheld] this morning. I first want to preference this email by saying that the information was presented to me as RUMORED and not that anything has been officially confirmed or announced, but that this is what some agencies and orphanages in Addis have been discussing among each other. So there may be some truth to some of the information. I generally do not post about what’s “rumored” but I just wanted to give you a sense of what it might be looking like in Ethiopia regarding this issue. I will be traveling to Ethiopia on June 13^th for 2 weeks and will look further into this situation while I’m there if it is not resolved before that time.

First of all, my understanding is that the investigation has been completed. This was told to our in country rep by one of the judges. Our rep was at the court to process other families’ adoption cases. This is all of the information that he received from the court and was not given any information regarding what the decision of the investigation is and what was going to be put in place to move forward. The ban has not been lifted as of yet regarding when they will start hearing abandoned children’s cases, as the announcement regarding the investigation or the next steps have not been officially announced. When asked what the decision was, our rep was told to go and find out himself as it is not in the judges power to give that information – it has to be given from a higher authority then her. I asked our rep to go to the proper authority to ask about the results, and he said that it is not an agency issue (except for the agency/agencies who were involved), but that it’s an orphanage issue, and a orphanage director in Addis would have ask for that information . I asked him to have one of the orphanage directors that we work with to go and ask. He noted that no one is going to ask. They want to wait until the orders are officially given, and not rock the boat, so to speak. I did mention to him to have Enat Alem orphanage to go the officials on behalf of our families who are waiting for children from that orphanage. Everyone is concerned about making waves before everything is announced. I will follow up on this when I am in Ethiopia.

[Name withheld] is very hopeful that all of our cases will go through and he has mentioned that even though the information that he is hearing is “rumored”, it’s all positive for the most part.

Unfortunately, our phone conversation disconnected before I could ask further questions or whether he thought your cases would be heard before the courts closed. I tried calling several times after the disconnect but was not able to reach him again. I’ll check in again with you one Monday to let you know if there is anymore information that I have received.

We’ll also be happy to have a conference call with you on Wednesday for those families who would like to be on the call. We’ll email you with the time. If anything more concrete takes place before than were we might need to have the call sooner, we’ll let you know. I know many of you still have questions and concerns. Hopefully this is helpful. At least it looks like it’s moving in the right direction. Again Ethiopia culture is one that doesn’t give out much information until the results are final, but I’ll continue to dig into this and keep you posted.

An agency update from yesterday:

"Good Afternoon Waiting Families:

...I do not have any "new" news to share. The court is still investigating past case files looking for any patterns which fall outside of protocol. As of this week the only situation we are aware of is the one concerning 16 cases which were cleared in one week to one orphanage by one police official. The orphanage is not one in which we work. I can say to you that the attorneys
representing the licensed adoption agencies are asking for a speedy resolution by the court but I will tell you what they have told me and that is the court will resume when they have completed their investigation and not before.

So, we are able to refer children, get medicals and labs, photos and monthly updates. During this suspension we cannot get legal papers on the child, abandonment clearances, review by the MOWA, court dates or finalization hearings."

(This post was amended at the request of the source):

From a non US-agency it is reported that court dates are now given for abandoned children found in Addis Abeba from the orphanages Kids Care, Almaz Ashene and Sele Enat, and they expect more court dates.

The agency believes that five orphanages seem to be in focus: Enat Alem, Betezata, Edget, Betesaida and Godanaw, and that families with children here have to wait for the investigation to finish before getting court dates.

Unfortunately they have no news as to the status of the police investigation.

(12/6/2011 update: The organization Edget Baandnet Children's Center, located in Awassa, would like it to be known that they are not the Edget mentioned in this post, and that they were not involved in an abandoned children investigation in 2009.)

From an agency representative (on May 29th):

What we were told today, from reputable sources in Ethiopia, was that the investigation will be complete and they will begin hearing cases again of abandoned kids by the end of June. That is really all I know. I guess that is at least a timeline. I am not saying that by the end of June doesn't mean it couldn't be earlier than end of June, but I really don't know that is just what we were told. They will get these cases on the docket through before courts close, I am sure.

Note: At least 2 other agencies have also been hinting about a possible resolution by the end of June.


*Edited to remove the name of the agency. I like to include agency names so people know where the information is coming from (and that it's coming from a reputable source--an adoption agency licensed in Ethiopia), but in this case I've decided to remove it. The person providing the information didn't tell me themselves which agency it was, and I'd like to respect their anonymity.

From CHI:

Still no closure to the abandonment child issue in Addis Ababa as of yet. As far as the questions that have been posed from some families regarding getting a new referral or getting a second referral while the abandonment issue is being investigated, the response was that the abandonment cases waiting must wait and can not be touched/moved until the investigation has been completed. As well, there can not be two cases open in the court for the same family and for different children. I still have no idea when the ban will be lifted; no date or time frame has been given. I have no other information at this time, I am sorry.

Blessings
Toni Lynch
Ethiopia Adoption Consultant

From CHI:

Abandonment Child Issue

The abandoned child investigation still continues in Addis Ababa. The ban has been lifted on hearing abandonment child cases in the courts for about 3 government orphanages in Addis Ababa, as of this week. We do not work with government orphanages for the referral of children; and outside of those three orphanages at this time, the investigation continues. It is still unknown as to how long the investigation will continue; therefore while it is still in place, we will not be referring abandoned children from Addis Ababa. We are still referring abandoned and relinquished children from outside of Addis Ababa, however. This investigation is something that all agencies will have to wait on to be completed. There is nothing specific to CHI. We will just have to wait for the ruling from the court on how it will proceed with abandoned child cases in Addis, along with the other agencies.

Court Closure

As is standard practice in Ethiopia, the Ethiopia Federal Court closes for the rainy season from August until October each year (some smaller courts in the various regions begin to close for very short periods of time before that). Our Ethiopia staff will be working to get as many adoptions approved in the courts as possible before the time of the court closure. We have not been informed of the actual date that the Federal Courts will close this year but will pass that information along once we receive it. When courts are closed, referrals can still be given and families can still travel to pick up their children, as long as the adoption was approved in the court before the courts closed. Though the adoption process continues it's generally at a slower pace during these months then the rest of the year, as many take vacations and such, during this time in Ethiopia.