Thursday, March 11, 2010

Shame & Joy

yesterday marked eight months waiting...yay! yay! yay!

From the words of another blogger, F You CWA.
...and all you other lowlife agencies "allegedly" preying on families and children in the form of corrupt adoption. Your greedy actions have the potential for serious repercussions for thousands of innocent children.

Corruption is in every industry and comes in many forms. And if you're good at it, you'll always treat a few right who will sing your praises. It's quite unfortunate, to say the least, when you hear corruption allegations being made that involve children, and in a third world country to boot. Turn any corner and there is true need. To take advantage of this is simply shameful. (previous reference)

For family & friends not in the know, it is strongly suggested that because of the ongoing allegations mentioned above, new policies were required. Two were implemented this week.

Early in the week, the US State Department announced that visa processing for children adopted from Ethiopia will take on new requirements, which may cause a slight delay in the process. (Okay, not psyched about the delay but this was inevitable and we applaud the thorough steps being taken.)

The second notice came yesterday. Effective immediately, federal courts in Ethiopia require families to travel twice; once for court date to meet your child prior to adoption, allowing the judge to make any necessary inquiries and the second trip to pick up your child once you have passed court and their visa has been processed.

I don't care how many hoops we have to jump through to bring our baby home. We welcome a more transparent environment; one that leaves little wiggle room for corruption. My silly question is, Where are the hoops for these corrupt agencies? Isn't it safer for all, if their plug is pulled before they have the chance to pull ours?

The latest CBS interview is below.





This isn't all doom & gloom. The JOY...we are going to meet our son SO much sooner than we planned! Yes, there will be floods of tears boarding that plane home as he stays behind, but we will not focus on that part yet. We've scoured the web for families' blogs who reference traveling twice during their adoption. You see, each country has their own set of laws and each agency, their own rules. And all must abide by Ethiopia's set of laws. Suffice it to say, there is a plethora of variations to this calculation.

So, we found amazing stories from families in other countries, with other agencies and from those who simply opted on their own to travel twice. All were wonderful stories that have me so looking forward to spending time in our son's country, exploring on our own and most importantly meeting our son in the very near future. The one thing all families noted was the structural difference in the two trips with the pre-court trip being the more flexible, exploratory with much opportunity to engage in the local community. The latter is more structured with much time being in the guesthouse as you bond with (and spoil and dote on) your child/ren.

My stomach swirls with excitement as I realize, we don't need to send a care package with another family immediately because WE WILL BE DELIVERING IT OURSELVES! Awesome! We'll probably still try to send something though :)

In closing, it's very important to note the values, humanitarian efforts and core that drive the ethical agencies currently in-country. Their advancements have improved the lives of so many in need and continue to do so. It brings such calm and peace of mind knowing we are with one of the most reputable agencies. We applaud them for being everything they said they were from day one and for this week in particular - reaching out at all the right times.

7 comments:

  1. My family and I are newly in process with one of the *good* agencies, and we have been following the recent developments with interest. Your blog is one of my favorites, so I've been waiting anxiously to hear your reaction. Thank you for spelling it all out so beautifully.

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  2. how much do i love you? what a hard bunch of emotions to navigate. but you are so right. you are going to be in Ethiopia twice. it's going to be awesome. you will meet that sweet boy sooner. you will get to have adventures and be explorers. and it's going to be so worth all of it. xoxoxoxoxoxo

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  3. Yeah, F you CWA and the like! I just can't work out why an agency would even think to do this, when there are millions of orphans in Ethiopia who will never be adopted. Ever. Sigh. Way to hang tough, friend. Love you.

    Heidi

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  4. Just stopping by to tell you that I love your passion and your strength! I seriously wanted to do a chest bump after reading this! :) You speak about it so eloquently. Good reminder about delivering the care packages ourselves!! Yes, that makes me smile. Love you!

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  5. Thank you so much for always having such a balanced outlook on everything! You are the bomb-digity blogger! Things are getting super exciting!!!...Your CALL is coming ANY MINUTE!! (and hopefully ours too!) :)

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  6. just found your blog and LOVE this post. i will NOT drink the nasty kool-aid that CWA is handing out and their continued DENIAL of what they have done "we are in good standing with the government, yada yada, we are so great and deny these allegations" PUHLEASE--you have been caught on video tape. they need to be punished and yet they haven't (hmmm, i wonder how many people they had to pay off to be in good standing??????) i was planning on blogging about this and now will definitely do so. thanks for having the courage not to brush it under the rug. they are evil AND instead of them being punished, now adoptive families from legit agencies have to be punished......

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