We recieved very little information form our agency regarding the meeting on Monday with the Joint Council. Although another family has started a blog to update what is going on. I want to pass this website along to my international friends who are in the same situation. I will post any information I recieve on my blog, but I will also be checking for other info on this blog
http://ethioadoptionnews.blogspot.com
Today, May 18th, the Joint Council of International Children's Services had a meeting discussing the investigation in Addis Ababa.
They've not updated their website as of now, but this is from IAN:
All of IAN’s Ethiopian Program Coordinators took part in a conference call today with the Joint Council on International Children’s Services and approximately 15 other agencies working in Ethiopia.
The main focus of the conference call was to clarify the current status of adoption in Ethiopia particularly as it pertains to the cases of abandonment in Addis. At this time Ethiopia is suspending abandonment cases in Addis only and not cases for children who have been abandoned in other areas of Ethiopia. The court in Ethiopia recently discovered the abandonment of 16 children to one 1 police officer all at the same time; these children were then placed with 4-5 orphanages. None of these children were placed at Sele Enat, the orphanage where IAN’s children are placed. Because of the fear of possible unethical conduct and illegal practices, IAN strongly supports the Ethiopian governments investigation of these cases.
Other news from the conference call is that the Ethiopian government is expecting at least a 20% increase in international adoptions over the next year and that Ethiopia’s focus will be on maintaining it’s current level of adoptions instead of increasing adoptions over the next year; that there is a strong need for more adoptions of older children (over 4) and children with special needs; and that U.S. agencies are contributing to services for children in Ethiopia through not only international adoption, but also through health, education and other human service needs.
1 comment:
Amanda -- although the information seems scarce, I'm glad you heard something!
Our agency director, who was there all last week, said that the children were all from, and placed in orphanages in, 1 specific area in Addis (he said "county" but I think he means suburb/section.) Because of that, the courts are considering re-opening/scheduling abanded child cases from other sections of Addis "soon." Of course, he couldn't tell us what "soon" means.
Please know our heart is just breaking for you and the other families caught up in the middle of this. We are praying for you and hope you hear good news later this week!
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