STUCK

On February 23, we submitted more evidence to USCIS, provided by our Adoption Agency, that Dawit is a true orphan.  It was 45 pages long and contained translated documents from 3 different languages.  Although, it did not contain the exact information that USCIS was requesting, it did provide more evidence.

On April 2, having not heard anything at all, I reached out to our assigned USCIS Officer, and learned that our case had been passed along to the US Attorney’s office for review.  We were not given a reason, a timeline, a contact name, or a general idea if this was a positive or negative move.  Since this time, we have felt both helpless and clueless as to how to proceed.  Our agency also has not provided us any guidance.

Speaking of our agency, Adoption Associates, Inc. announced this past Friday that currently they have eleven families with waiting referrals (this includes us).  They are committed to seeing these placements through to the extent that will be possible.  They have come to learn and accept that the Ethiopian government is not moving forward with all aspects of its international adoption program. The approvals of current referral documentation, the actual court processes, and the granting of new referrals are all being affected. There continue to be ongoing insurmountable obstacles. The hands of the representatives are tied as well as those of the agencies.  Unless things dramatically change on the Ethiopian side of things, our agency will be closing its doors to Ethiopian adoptions.  So…we need to get our case moving in a positive direction so that our agency will be able to assist in Dawit’s adoption before they decide that it is not an “extent that will be possible.” 

After a lot of conversations, guidance and prayer, we have reached out to an Immigration Lawyer to assist us in having Dawit declared an orphan and available to adopt.  We have our first consultation with her on May 15. 

We have also just recently contacted an investigator/searcher in Ethiopia to assist us in confirming the details we already know about Dawit and also to attempt to locate a birth mother.      

We have requested assistance from our State Representative Lynn Jenkins as well as both of our State Senators, Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran.  We have not received word from any of these offices; however, the Senators were contacted just this morning.

Meanwhile, Dawit turned 19 months on April 27.  As far as we know, he is healthy and being cared for at an orphanage in Addis Ababa.

Please…pray with us for this process to be quick so he can come home.  Please pray for the 55 or so families that are with our agency now trying to decide how to proceed with their adoptions they have financially and emotionally invested in.  And please pray for the approximately 6 million children in Ethiopia who now have no chance of being loved unconditionally by a forever family.