DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS

In writing this blog, I'm going to try my best to keep things as organized and comprehendible as possible.  However, I'm finding this more and more difficult to do as nothing is really comparmentlaized in the adoption process!  I know it's only my 3rd blog post, but I apologize in advance if some of the blogs seem to run together or if they involve multiple ideas!  

This post is all about ETHIOPIA and the decisions Ron and I made to reach this big DECISION!  As stated before, Ron and I always considered adoption our Plan A for starting a family- we just didn't have the countries nailed down.  Once we found out we were moving to Thailand, a lot of decisions were made for us!  We knew where we would be living for the next 3 years and could begin working on our 3-4 year timeline (which is very difficult to actually be able to do with a military life)!

In 2000, Congress passed the Child Citizenship Act.  Under this law, children adopted overseas by American parents are automatically granted American US citizenship the moment they land on US soil.  This is pending that the parents followed the rules set by the host-nation, have legally adopted the child in the host nation, and completed the proper US Immigration forms and the I-600/I-800 adoption form (forms that make the parents eligible to adopt abroad from the US side of things).  Even though we are going to be living abroad during our adoption process, it is reassuring to know that our children will be granted US citizenship after we adopt them.   However, to ensure that they receive their citizenship and all of the benefits the come with it, we had to choose a country that would enable us to legally adopt our child in that country as we will not be residing in the US to finalize the adoption.

Ron and I knew we wanted to adopt a child from Africa.  As stated previously, I love the cultures and landscapes in Africa and have always been drawn to the continent.  Additionally, knowing that the continent contains the poorest nations on earth was a large pull for Ron and I to look there.  The US State Department has an excellent website devoted to intercountry adoptions: http://adoption.state.gov.  Ron and I explored the website and read the country information for every country in Africa.  At first, we looked into Kenya.  But Kenya requires that the adoptive parents live in that country for an extended time, which we wouldn't be able to do.  We then researched Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Ethiopia was the only country in Africa that would enable us to have a finalized adoption before we left Ethiopia with our son.

The reason for this is that Ethiopia requires two trips to complete an adoption: the first trip is to meet your child for the first time (YAY) and for the Ethiopian Court hearing to legalize your adoption.  After this trip, the adoptive parents are required to leave Ethiopia and return a few weeks later once all the paperwork has been completed.  This second trip enables you to complete the adoption and leave with your child as an Ethiopian citizen with a US Visa (remember this changes once they reach American soil).  Not all countries require two trips, and it is only the countries that require two trips that have adoptions fully completed when the child is brought to the US.  For the other countries, the adoption must be completed in the US court system or through follow-ups with social workers and the adoption agencies.  Although Ron and I were interested in Rwanda and the DRC, we knew that those countries did not meet our needs with the actual adoption process.

It is interesting to note the increase in African countries open to American adoption.  Many adoption agencies are beginning "pilot programs" with many African countries.  These seem like exciting programs and ways for families to have short wait times for their adoptions, less adoption fees and an opportunity to adopt children from impoverished/war-torn nations.  If you're considering adoption, I would strongly recommend looking into these countries.  The children are TO DIE FOR cute!  http://www.bbinternationaladoption.com/waiting_children.shtml

So Ron and I decided upon Ethiopia due to its economic status (1 in 10 chidden never live to their first birthday, over 50% of the children never attend school), as well as its adoption laws.  Both of these seemed to fit exactly what we were looking for.  To top this all off, Ethiopia is a very established country in the adoption world!  There over over 30 American adoption agencies that the Ethiopian government has approved to conduct adoptions in Ethiopia.  This past year, over 1,200 children from Ethiopia were adopted into the US.  In the past 13 years, over 12,000 Ethiopian children have been adopted into the US!  This is incredible considering that Ethiopia has over 5 MILLION orphans!  Ethiopia is one of America's largest adoption partners.  This was reassuring to Ron and I as we knew that there would be less uncertainity with this program.  Again, as we will be overseas while adopting, we wanted to limit as many controlled uncertainities as possible as we will have many obstacles to face (to be discussed later).

The majority of families adopting abroad request daughters (80-85% of families).  Why?  I don't know.  As such, Ron and I decided to ask for a son.  The wait time is much less for males and we want to open our hearts to a child that is in need.  We therefore decided on a son from Ethiopia.  This was an easy decision once we heard the stastitics!  After all, the goal through our adoptions is to have our children no longer be orphan statistics, but members of a loving family where numbers don't matter! :)

A third decision we had to make with all of this was the age of our son.  At first, Ron and I were open to adopting a child 0-4 years of age.  We thought adopting a toddler would be a lot of fun.  Additionally, most parents adopting request an infant (0-1 year of age), so there is a shorter wait time for older children and again, we would be helping out those in need.  However, after talking to various adoption agencies and watching "Gotcha" videos online (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr26swseGw0), we decided to keep our request for a son 0-2 years of age.  By the time we actually adopt our son, he will be 1-2 years old, which we feel is a perfect age for us!

So after MONTHS of deliberation, Ron and I decided on a young boy (0-2 years old) from Ethiopia for our adoption.  This was a huge step!  But believe it or not, it was one of the easiest decisions we will make along this journey.  After this decision was made, we then had the task of deciding on an adoption agency...