#29 boys (last month 30)
#13 siblings (last month 14)
While there hasn't been much news in the way of referrals since the beginning of the year, there was a fair amount of Ethiopia adoption related news. A team of delegates from various Ethiopian government offices traveled to the US in January to visit each agency working in ET. It seems they were confirming which agencies are reputable and weeding out others. Soon after the delegates returned to Ethiopia, several Ethiopia programs closed or are now losing their license. We are glad though not surprised that AGCI is an agency that has been relicensed. AGCI is making changes of its own, announcing earlier this month that it will only accept families adopting children aged 3 years old and older. They will no longer accept new families into the Ethiopia program who are adopting infants. (This does not effect families like ours who are already waiting.) Other agencies made similar changes last year.
And here we are, still a family waiting to adopt an infant from Ethiopia. We know the issues around infant adoption and we know there are babies in Ethiopia who legitimately need families. We are moving forward trusting that we are partnering with people in Ethiopia and in the US who are working hard to do the right thing, putting child welfare ahead of all other considerations.
And things are looking up for referrals. We unofficially know of some referrals this week. I wonder if we may be near a turning point?? For a little fun, here's a video that Bear has been watching a lot of in the past 2 days. A video made by Suzanne, one of the waiting mamas, with her daughter, one of the waiting big sisters. Thank you girls for making us laugh!
Don't you just love Suzanne?! She is the best!
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