The US Department of State has issued their update:

Adoptions of Abandoned Children Halted by Ethiopian Court

On May 4, 2009 the Ethiopian First Instance Court temporarily stopped accepting cases involving abandoned children referred by orphanages in Addis Ababa, citing a substantial increase in the number of children being brought for adoption. The number of abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa has grown dramatically in recent months and Ethiopian authorities have become aware of possible cases of unethical practices associated with some of them.

Neither the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) nor the First Instance Court had been accepting abandonment cases from any orphanage in Addis Ababa pending an inquiry. However, on May 23 the Court confirmed that while the investigation into cases of abandoned children continues, it has begun accepting cases of abandoned children referred from Addis Ababa government orphanages. These include the following orphanages:

• Kebebe Tsehay Orphanage
• Ketchene Orphanage
• Kolfe Youth Center

Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov for updated information on Ethiopia.

An email:

Just wanted to let you know that I have heard from two reputable sources that the investigation is narrowing to the orphanages in which the scandal took place. Additional pending cases will not be investigated. There is no clue as to when impacted cases will begin to be heard though. This is good progress.

Provided by PEAR-
From the Australian Central Authority to an Australian adoptive parent's organization., emailed by the Australian Attorney General's Office:

Ethiopia – temporary suspension of court cases involving abandoned children – Updated 28 May 2009

The Department has obtained additional information about the Ethiopian Federal First Instance Court’s decision to suspend cases involving abandoned children in Addis Ababa orphanages. The Court has confirmed that the suspension applies to all existing and new cases. The Court has also advised that the suspension now only applies to children from private (non-governmental organizations) orphanages in Addis Ababa. Please note, the considerable majority of orphanages are privately run.

The Court is unable to provide an indication on how long the suspension will remain in place, given the nature of the investigations required. The Court hopes that the investigation will be progressed as soon as possible. At this time, the Department understands that the concerns are of a general nature and do not specifically relate to any Australian cases.

The Department supports actions taken by the Court to protect Ethiopian children. We recognise and respect the roles and responsibilities of Ethiopian judiciary and Government authorities in these matters and welcome actions taken to ensure appropriate practices and safeguards are in place.

If you have any queries regarding your adoption application, please contact your State or Territory Central Authority. Further updates will be provided when possible.

Waiting to hear back on which agency this is from:

Our agency in-country representative said that part of the issue with the suspicious cases is that the police were giving out abandonment clearances before the proper wait period, as defined by MOWA, had ended. I believe they’re investigating this as well as the overall increased number of abandonment cases, and we were told it could take awhile due to staff size.

From CHI:

I received the message below just this morning form the US Embassy in Addis Ababa. None of the orphanages listed are orphanages that we work with. It has also been brought to our attention that the abandonment issue has extended to other parts of Ethiopia as well, for example in some of the western cities and towns, none of which we work in however. It’s good to see that there has been some movement with some Addis orphanages. We’ll continue to keep you posted.

Dear All:

We contacted the Ethiopian Federal First Instance Court today. Court President Ato Dessalegn told us that the investigation into cases of abandoned children is still pending. But, the Court has begun accepting cases of abandoned children referred from Addis Ababa government orphanages. These include the following orphanages:

· Kebebe Tsehay Orphanage
· Ketchene Orphanage
· Kolfe Youth Center

I hope this information is helpful.

Regards,
[Consular Section Chief, U.S. Embassy, Addis Ababa]

Note: Gladney works with these 3 orphanages, I'm not sure if any other agencies do.

edited: apparently this information has now been forwarded from the original source to most US adoption agencies.

Info coming from AC (a Denmark adoption agency):

They say that the suspiscious cases especially are concerning some of the children found in the following subcities: Lidetta, Kirkos and Addis Ketema.

(...the children "especially came from" these subcities, so it does not rule out all other cases.)

Note: According to the Addis Ababa City Government, there are 10 sub-cities in Addis Ababa: Arada, Kirkos, Gullele, Kolfe Keranyo, Akaki-Kality, Nefas Silk-Lafto, Lideta, Bole, Addis Ketema, and Yeka. If you look at a map of Addis , you’ll see that the 3 sub-cities mentioned above are right next to each other.


People from AC have also heard that the court is considering canceling their two month summer closure for the rainy season. They believe it isn't to do with the investigation, but rather a general restructuring of their operations. This is very unofficial information, so please do not take it as fact, and if anyone can verify, please contact me.

Support Board

A break from ban info for a moment…

Thank you to everyone who has sent me emails telling their story. I'm continually surprised at how many people this is effecting. It’s heart-breaking to be faced with this just when we thought the long wait for our children was almost over. We know this investigation is necessary to keep Ethiopian adoptions ethical, but this is such a hard time for so many families as we wait for an outcome.

In addition to this information blog, I’ve gotten several suggestions for a forum where people can talk (complain!) about the situation and talk with other families going through the same thing. In response to this, we went ahead a created a message board (the link is on the right-hand side of the blog), if anyone’s interested in talking about it. Hang in there, everybody.

adoptionboard.net

(you can continue to email me, or you can post questions there for me or for the group. I certainly don’t know all the answers, so maybe somebody else on the board will!)

Also, as the new week begins, please continue to send me any updates or info from your agency!