Australians who have been waiting to adopt children from Ethiopia have received devastating news that the Australian government is suspending the program.

A Dec. 9 article by Barbara Miller of Australia's ABC News provided the following details:

The Federal Attorney-General has put the adoption program on hold because of concerns over a request from Ethiopia that Australia enter into a formal aid agreement as part of the arrangement.

Adoption agencies and prospective parents say they and hundreds of children have been left in limbo for no good reason and they are calling for the suspension to be lifted.

In the past 10 years more than 450 Ethiopian children have been adopted to Australia and many more families are interested in adopting an Ethiopian child. ...

Teacher Alex Grieve and her husband Rod have been going through the adoption program for six years. About 16 months ago their application was finally sent to Ethiopia to be matched with a child.

But then came the news that the Australian Government had suspended the adoption program. ...

Ms Grieve says she is devastated by the news.

"It's been pretty crushing, pretty hard. This is our only option to become parents," she said.

Labels: international, australia, ethiopia

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Five years ago, before Angelina Jolie brought international attention to the African nation, the Blome family adopted a six-year-old boy from Ethiopia. Since then, adoptions of Ethiopian children have soared from just 289 in 2004 to more than 1,700 last year.

Fraud concerns put a halt to adoptions from Guatemala and Vietnam in the last several months. The Kazakh Embassy has ceased processing adoption dossiers -- the inches-think binder of required home study and family background documents. ... China poses challenges as well. ... Ethiopia, by contrast, allows both married and single parents to adopt, and the process typically takes less than two years. (Source: The Contra Costa (California) Times)

The adoption agency chosen by the Blomes five years ago had an intriguing requirement -- that the couple commit to giving something back to Ethiopia. So every year, Erik Blome returns with crates of art supplies and runs workshops at eight orphanages.

Labels: international, adoption rights, ethiopia

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In 1997, just one American adoption agency was licensed to operate in Ethiopia. Today, there are twenty-two. Though Angelina Jolie's adoption of an Ethiopian child has certainly helped bring the country to the fore-front of international adoptions, its popularity had already been on the rise.

"Ethiopia, with a population of 76 million, has an estimated 5 million orphans, according to aid organizations. Many African nations have outlawed or impeded the adoption of their children by foreigners. Ethiopia has welcomed American and European families who are willing to provide homes for children who have lost both parents to AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis or starvation, or who come from families too destitute to feed and clothe them."

The two things that set Ethiopia's adoption system apart from others are transitional homes in which the orphans are very well cared-for, and the opportunity for adoptive parents to meet birth families and even visit their villages.

Read more at TwinCities.com.

Labels: international, ethiopia, inter-country_adoption

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