Ethiopia Program Updates

This is to announce that Children's Hope is closing the House of Hope Guest House. The guest house was established in 2008. Since that time many families have  enjoyed gatherings with other adoptive families and their children, and enjoyed wonderful Ethiopian and American cuisine there. However over the past year or so there has been a decrease in the number of families staying at the House of Hope at any given time, thus this reality does not make it beneficial to keep the guest house open. As well, over the years the area surrounding  the guest house has gone down a bit and does no feel as secure. Our families have also expressed more of a desire to be in an area where they can walk around somewhat, outside of their guest house on their own...

Selam,

Effective today, I will no longer be sending the update out every week, but every two weeks instead. Should we have important news to report or information that we would like to share with all families, I will certainly keep you updated with a special update.

Mark Your Calendar,  It’s not too late.

The Ethiopia team is planning a gathering for Ethiopia adoptive families and their children on October 9, 2011 at 12:30 - 2 pm at the Queen of Sheba Restaurant, 6665 Olive, St. Louis, Missouri. 63130. ph. 314-727-7057. The US Ethiopia team will be in attendance. We are looking forward to having a buffet style Ethiopian lunch and visiting with one another. It’s not too late to RSVP. Please forward to me the number of adults and children who will be in your party that day. If you can’t RSVP at this point but happen to  find that you are free that day and want to stop by, please feel free to do so. I’ll be giving the restaurant a final count on next week.    

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Traveling families

Two families are on their way to Ethiopia to unite with their children. We wish them a safe and wonderful journey. Another family leaves next week. ...

Traveling Family

One family had their visa interview this week and is traveling back to the US with their baby today; two more families received visa clearances today – however, we are waiting for confirmation on their visa interview date and we are hopeful and prayerful that several others are to follow...

Mark Your Calendar!

The Ethiopia team is planning a gathering for Ethiopia adoptive families and their children on October 9, 2011 at 12:30 pm at the Queen of Sheba Restaurant, 6665 Olive, St. Louis, Missouri. This is a preliminary notice to see how many families will be interested in being in attendance. The US Ethiopia team will be in attendance. We are looking forward to having a buffet style Ethiopian lunch and visiting with one another. We will need to hear from you first to see how many will be in attendance in order for the restaurant to determine the cost of the buffet.  Please forward to your adoption consultant the number of adults and children who will be in your party that day.  Please RSVP by Wed. Sept. 21. We hope to see all of you there. 

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Visa Interview Dates - FYI

The US Embassy has informed us there will be no visa appointments scheduled for September 26-30^th.

While you are waiting.

Many things are changing in Ethiopia and various processes are taking longer than they had in the past...

On Monday September 12 this year, Ethiopia will be bringing in the year 2004!! The US Embassy and other offices will be closed in celebration. The majority of our in-country staff as well will have the day off in celebration.

Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days and 6 days in the leap year.

The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind between September 11 and January 8...

Once you receive a referral, that would be a good time to double check with your health insurance company, or human resource department at work to inquire about what is needed to add a child to your insurance, if you haven’t checked into that beforehand. You will want to have health insurance for your new child at the time of placement. It would be best to add the child before you leave on your trip to Ethiopia, if possible. Some companies only allow 30 days to add a child...

Dear Families, 

Happy Friday! For those of you who are anxiously awaiting referrals, we haven't forgotten about you, and hope to be able to report news of more referrals before too long! In the meantime, know that there is a lot going on in Ethiopia these days with our new staff and things in the program are still moving along in the right direction! Please see below for the latest information from the US Embassy regarding their part in your adoption process. 

Regarding the Visa Interview Process with the US Embassy:

USCIS Verification to Ensure Child Background Information is Accurate. (From a former US State Department web post)

The Department of State would like to remind adoptive parents...

Resources

Stephen Curtis Chapman’s new  music video http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=F9B20CNU&utm_source=GodTube%20Must-See%20Video&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=08/15/2011

Recipe – Spicy Ethiopian Red Lentil Soup   (serve over rice)

Cooking Light Magazine – May 2010 Edition, pg 94

Submitted to us by an adoptive family. Thank you Felicia for sharing. 

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1981726 

Books -

Series, by authors Rita J. Simon and Rhonda M. Roorda. Available on www.Amazon.com

In Their Own Voices- Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories

In Their Parents Voices -- Reflections on Raising Transracial Adoptees

Court Dates

Today we received court dates for 3 families. We didn’t expect that anyone would be around to work court cases, but our incountry staff kept checking and today we learned that we received 3. Because of the court closure the assigned dates are 3 months out, but families are able to mark a date on their calendar as to when they will finally be able to put their arms around their children, and for that they are very excited.

As well, our incountry staff received the adoption decrees for 6 families who had traveled to see their children and were anxiously waiting and hoping that their MOWCYA letters and approvals would still be processed before the closure of the courts. Again, our incountry staff was diligent in returning to the MOWCYA to see if the families’ cases were being completed and today we received notice that they were, and now we can say that their referred children are officially theirs. 

On last week several families traveled to meet their children for the first time, during the court trip. Several of them went armed with not only items for their babies but also with suitcases full of supplies to PAINT the transition home. It was huge undertaking but they did it, and they were excited with the idea of doing it. Even the staff got involved. The infants' rooms, toddler rooms, older children rooms, playroom...

Our hearts go out to the people of Africa. Learn more. Click a link to learn more

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/07/20/somalia.famine/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/07/why-africas-drought-is-so-catastrophic/242616/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louis-belanger/food-crisis-africa-_b_895157.html

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38224&Cr=ethiopia&Cr1

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CIS, Fingerprint  and Passport Expirations

Don’t be caught off guard.

It’s important to remain keenly aware of when...

Happy Friday!

This will be a short update to share news from the program this week.

Today the Ethiopia team is happy to have found a forever home for a special baby girl age 3 months. The family waited 7 months for this placement...

Dear Families,

The CHI reunion is this Saturday, July 9 in Chicago. I (Sharon) will be in attendance and hope to see many of you there.  I will be out of the office on Friday, July 8, in order to make my way to Chicago; therefore I am sending the update today.

Ethiopia Trip

I had a very productive 2 weeks in Ethiopia on last month. I was able to meet with the director at the MOWCYA (Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs); meet with an official at the US Embassy in Addis to ask about the process there, attended court with 7 families and the visa interview with 2 families who were in country for those processes. I visited the orphanages...

Dear Families,

The CHI Office will be closed on Monday for the 4^th of July Holiday. Have a safe holiday weekend!

This week we were able to match one of our wonderful waiting children with their forever family-congrats to the child and to the lucky family!

We have also been referred a set of older siblings, girl age 13 and boy age 11. Please consider them for your family by reviewing their information here: www.CHIFamily.net

This week your CHI staff participated in a conference call with all other licensed adoptive agencies in Ethiopia-something that happens several time a year in an effort to keep us all connected and working towards the same goals...

This week 12 families were in country for their court hearings and we welcome them safely back home. Their court hearings went well, however the needed letters from the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth did not arrive for their scheduled dates. At this time, the Ministry has not given us a timeline for the arrivals of the letters but indicated during the hearings that they were about 15-20 days behind. We will continue to track this progress over the next several weeks.

We also celebrate 2 families returning to Ethiopia this weekend to pick up their children-congratulations! 

Two referrals were given to families today:

• 1 female 4 months old-family waited 7.5 months
• 1 male 13.5 month old-family waited 7 months

Sharon is in Ethiopia!

Sharon has arrived safely in Ethiopia, volcano eruptions and all! She has had a busy first few days and reports that all is going well. She hopes to meet with the Ministry officials next week, as they are only open for visitors two days a week and this week were unavailable because of a celebration.  She hopes to learn more about their process and plans for the future and we look forward to her sharing what she learns with everyone when she returns.

The Ethiopia team is happy to have referred 2 children this week. Just yesterday and today, two infant girls, both 2 months old were referred. The families both waited 7 months to be matched. Congratulations!

Families with Court

We had 3 families to appear in court on yesterday to finalize their adoption. They were aware before court that the approval letter needed from the MOWCYA would not be completed at that time and presented to the judge in order for the adoption to be finalized at that time. The adopting families were able to give their consent to the judge to adopt their referred child and they are now on their way back to America to await the MOWCYA’s approval letter...

Happy Friday,

Three families are in Ethiopia to bring their children home.  We wish them all the best as they start their new lives together.

Sharon in Ethiopia

On March 12^th I will be leaving for Ethiopia for approximately 2 weeks. I will be visiting our staff there, visiting our orphanages, visiting various Ministries, looking at the various processes, etc. I’ll also have the pleasure of meeting some of our adopting families who will be traveling for court during that time.

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State Department Adoption Notice

The US Department of State has posted an additional notice on the state department website regarding the impending slowdown of adoption cases in Ethiopia. Many of you may have seen the newly added statement.  We were all initially informed of this news back in March.... 

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Court Date Given

I’m happy to report that another family received a court date today. This family waited about 5 weeks to be given a court date and will be traveling  to meet their child in about 4.5 weeks. Congratulations to the happy family.

Ethiopia Update

This week the Ethiopia team referred 2 more children. Two boys: 2 months and  nearly 9 months old.  Both families waited 7 months to be matched

Three families are traveling this week to bring their children home. We wish them a safe and enjoyable journey. Congratulations to all the families, and children.

Travel Immunizations

It is not too early to start getting your travel immunizations. You do not have to wait until it’s time to travel before getting travel immunizations. Some immunizations can last for 3, 5, 10 and 20 years or even longer, and some have to be taken in multiple vaccinations; therefore, even if you will not be traveling for several months or even a year, you can start some of your immunizations now.You can visit the Center for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov/travel  to see...

What a great week we’ve had in the Ethiopia program with great news to present to our families. And just today we presented 4 more court dates to waiting families.  These families were given court dates roughly 1 ½ months after acceptance of their referral and they will be travelling for court in slightly over 1 month. 

In total this week we have received 12 court dates for families and 4 referrals. Here is a recap of referral received.

• Female - 6 months old – family waited  6 ½ mos to be matched
• Male -  4.5 mos – family waited 7.5 mos to be matched...