Ethiopia Program Updates

On June 5^th we were thrilled to offer the referral of 7-week-old twin girls. The happy family waited 15 months to be matched. This is the longest that a family requesting siblings, or any Children’s Hope family, has waited for a referral. The family had just decided to expand their age request as, unless we received twins, their age range for siblings was a bit too

All Ethiopia Program families in process receive weekly updates with a wealth of information direct from our Ethiopia Team. If you are a completed Children's Hope family, you can find these weekly updates archived on our password protected site, www.CHIFamily.net. Stay informed and keep in touch. Send us your family updates (communications@childrenshope.net) and we'll share your happenings with fellow CHI families!

And families request the rain of referrals begin.

They got their answer - on October 1, Children's Hope received 3 referrals for our Ethiopia Program families. These referrals were for an 8-week-old baby boy, a 1-month-old girl and a five-month-old girl. On Thursday, October 2, two more adorable 1-month-old girls were also referred to Children's Hope families. Congratulations to all!

Ten families will have come home with their children from Children’s Hope -Ethiopia through the month of August. Three families are currently in Ethiopia making final arrangements and completing their visa interviews this week. As Ethiopia travel occurs after the child’s adoption has been finalized in court, these three families were the last families whose adoptions were finalized before the court’s closure during the annual rainy season. The Ethiopian courts will reopen to process adoptions on October 9^th. Current adopting families with referrals will resume Ethiopia travel beginning in November

Six beautiful children came home last week from Ethiopia with their new families. Three more will return this week and one family will travel at the end of the week to bring home their son. With these homecomings, there will be 46 children adopted from Children’s Hope Ethiopia this year. This makes for a total of 56 children home since our first homecoming last August. Congratulations to them all!

Five families had a happy homecoming in the past week. Since one family adopted two siblings, six total children are now in their new homes. Another family who arrived in Ethiopia this past weekend will be home very soon. We expect others to be traveling towards the end of June.

Twenty-three children entered into their new parents' arms and came home to the United States so far this year, through Children's Hope International's Ethiopia adoption program. Five came home this month to the beautiful spring weather and all things truly made new.

In mid-April, eight Children's Hope families received referrals, including 6 boys and 2 girls. The youngest little boy was 2 months old and the oldest of those children referred was 3 years old. Congratulations to all of these families! The longest waiting period for these referral families was 5 months.

Happy Anniversary Ethiopia Program! On April 3, 2007, Children's Hope International became licensed to work in Ethiopia for the purpose of adoption and humanitarian aid - upholding our mission to provide -Homes, health and hope for children in need."

In our first year, the Ethiopia program placed 28 children into their forever homes with some truly amazing families.

"God has been gracious to us as we started the program and learned the requirements for a successful adoption process in Ethiopia. I am thankful to our amazing in country staff as well as our incredible US staff who have worked diligently with me, and our families, to see that our program, and your adoption was successful," says Sharon Turner, Ethiopia Program Director.

February was an exciting month for adoptions from Ethiopia.  On February 27, we welcomed home our last traveling family out of the 10 total for the month.  Congratulations to you all and welcome home with your beautiful children. 

In March, five families have received court dates and are awaiting decisions for their adoptions. Our prayers are with you in this time of excitement and anticipation. 

February is Black History Month. PBS has some wonderful programming on this month related to African and African American History. Also, this might be a good time to become familiar with popular Ethiopians in history as well.

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Thirteen children will come home from Ethiopia this February, their parents having completed their international adoptions overseas. Eleven children are home so far this month! Currently the longest wait time from paperwork submission to Ethiopia to referral has been five months.

Melkam Addis Amet (Happy New Year)!
At the close of 2007, Children’s Hope was blessed to place 10 children into 8 families in the U.S., including one special needs child. We are expecting even greater things in 2008! One family has traveled home with her little girl this month and we are expecting many, many more to follow.

There are so many wonderful things happening in the Ethiopia program; 16 families have been matched with a referral since the courts closed and reopened, families have received court dates and more are preparing to travel. Two families returned home with heir children in late November. One of our singles leaves for Ethiopia this Saturday, December 8. We wish you the best in your travels!

The Ethiopia Team has matched fourteen Children’s Hope families with their children since the Ethiopian courts closed in September and have now reopened. Since the beginning of November, four families have received referrals and four additional families with earlier referrals have had court dates scheduled. It is an exciting time as the courts reopen to finalize our families’ adoptions prior to their travel to Ethiopia!

Ethiopia families have been celebrating this past month with referrals. Nine children have been referred to eight families since September 10, with one family receiving a referral for twin girls! The youngest referral received was for a 6-week-old infant girl. These children were referred from three orphanages Children’s Hope is currently working within in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

On September 11, Ethiopia celebrated its own new millennium. Welcome, Ethiopia, to the year 2000!

Adhering to the 13-month Julian calendar (which all countries followed for 1500 years), Ethiopia is now seven years and eight months behind the current international standard Gregorian calendar. The Ethiopian New Year is celebrated on 1 Meskerem, or September 11, which marks the end of the rainy season and the beginning of spring.

More children are now entering the House of Hope, Children’s Hope transition home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As children prepare to take their medical examinations we hope to give referrals to families in coming weeks. Several dossiers have been received and it is exciting to see our new families completing their paperwork for submittal to Ethiopia.

The Ethiopia program remains a very popular program for adoptions and it continues to grow daily.

• There are 89 families in the Ethiopia program.
• 2 families will be returning from Ethiopia with their children this weekend.
• 4 children were adopted by our three pioneer families—three boys and one girl. All of the boys were 3- to 5 ½-months old and the girl was 2-years-old.