Some of you may or may not be aware that recently there has been significant increase in the instability of the adoption atmosphere within Ethiopia due to corruption and unethical behavior that runs rampant by people abusing the process for financial gain both within Ethiopia and within countries in which children may be adopted into (including the US). Just this week 4 individuals from a US agency were federally indicted (you can read more about that here) on charges of child trafficking, this is just an example of the seriousness of the behaviors of people we as "waiting" families are supposed to trust. As you can image, all of this drama affects our status greatly. Previously we mentioned that during the 6 months it took us to complete our paperwork our waiting times doubled from 2 years (approximately) to 3.5-4 years. This week our case worker advised that we would be looking at closer to a 6 year wait, best case scenario, if international adoptions within Ethiopia would even continue to exist. There is also a large possibility that within this "best case scenario" we would not be able to request an infant referral and would need to be open to an older child or a child with special needs. In addition, while the entire country has not stopped adoption processes the southern region has, and the northern region is only dismissing children within the older and special need ranges. All of this information (this is just the tip of the iceberg but I don't want to bore you) is hard to process for us. Honestly we feel a little lost. It's hard to understand why our agency is giving us these daunting numbers when I can read about other families (via their blogs) throughout the US who are using a separate agency and getting referrals within our parameters within 6 months of waiting. Obviously I realize that some of these quick referrals have a bigger story to tell than what I can see and that some of them, more than likely, are being done unethically behind the scenes. The worst part about this is that it leaves innocent families like our own who stepped out in faith intending to be Christ's hands and feet faced with a story that is lined with greed, corruption, and crime they had no intention to be a part of. Without a doubt the last thing we as a family want is a child to come into our home that had a "first" family that dearly loves and wants them but it doesn't make the hurt in this mama's heart go away right now. Our agency has refused to work with any secondary orphanages or systems that have any part of being involved in the corruption and thus the consequences of our recent predicament.
So now what....
This week we were given a list of ultimatums, if you will...
• Continue in AGCI Ethiopia program, understanding timelines are unknown and could continue to expand
• Transfer to another AGCI adoption program
• Participate in a simultaneous AGCI adoption
• Participate in a simultaneous adoption outside of AGCI
• Terminate AGCI adoption journey
After many questions, conversations, tears, and prayers we have concluded that due to different requirements our agency has (such as maintaining birth order in our family, specific country qualifications etc.) we really don't have any options besides continuing to ride this whole thing out and let God take the reigns. Our concern is that we will keep pouring significant finances into a process that has no end. We will not have to make many decisions for a good 6-9 months when our first paperwork updates need to be made and we are hoping that by then we might have some better news to work with. For the most part I am relieved we are this far. The last 6-8 weeks of trying to get a better understanding about the situation has been physically, emotionally and spiritually draining. It's times like this I am thankful for a God who hears my prayers even when I'm not able to verbalize them.
Lastly, so we don't give you the wrong impression, we LOVE the people at our agency and are THANKFUL for their honesty with us. We are thankful they have taken a stand that coincides with one we would take. While we are heart-broken that Baby J may never come to live in our home, we refuse to allow our Western privilege to dominate over beautiful mamas born into different circumstances half a world away, there will be a better way for us to walk along side of them. We do not regret the financial commitment we have made, regardless if there is nothing we can physically show you for it. We have grown and will continue to grow because of this entire process and that is priceless...
