Monday, March 03, 2014

Praying for you Daily

Thank you to those who have supported our call by praying for our adoption.  Thank you to those who have supported our call by joining in our fundraising efforts.  Thank you to those of you who have asked about how things are going and how we are doing and how things in Ethiopia are.  Here is a brief update on where we are at. 

We are officially number 12 on our agency’s wait list.  However, for the last 2 months we have been virtually next to receive a referral for our son, meaning I don’t leave my phone too far away.  J 

For the last several months we have been made aware of numerous children already living in orphanages that have been assigned to our agency to adopt when they are “paperwork ready”.  These children are just waiting on physical paperwork to be completed in order for them to be officially ready to be referred to a family.  So our son is definitely in an orphanage, just waiting for his paperwork to be completed so we can receive our referral call (and finally see his picture)!!!!!  So, why the delay?  Why does it take so many months to fill in forms and sign paperwork?  We found out officially today from our agency the following information…. 

One of the documents required in order for a child to be considered adoptable, by Ethiopian law, is the regional clearance. This document has always been required, but in the last several weeks, MOWCYA added two additional requirements for this document.  First of all, they are requiring this document to be signed by the head of the region.  In the past, it could be signed by one of several staff in that office, but now it must be the head.  Secondly, they are requiring a statement such as "this child was not able to be adopted domestically and is approved for an international adoption."  We just found out about this second requirement this week. 

Meanwhile, there appears to be a power struggle going on between MOWCYA and the regional offices. MOWCYA is requiring these things and the regional offices are saying they "have already completed the clearances" and they "do not have the authority to say a child is approved for international adoption; the courts have the authority for this."  The regional offices submitted a letter of argument to MOWCYA earlier this week. 

So the two reasons stated above are the main reasons why there haven’t been any referrals in the last couple months, even when we know our son is there, waiting for us to be matched to him with an official referral.

So we will continue to pray for you each night.  We pray God will protect you from harm and give you strength to stay healthy – physically, emotionally and spiritually.  We love you precious son and miss you more than you will ever know. 

Love,

Mommy & Daddy 

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