WHEW!!! We are done with our home study! We have a few more things to hand into our agency- physicals, statements of good health, another background check...but as far as the meetings go, we are finished!
Also, some more big news!! We are almost positive we are going domestic! This was not our original plan, but like they say: We plan, God laughs :) At this point Ethiopia is going through some transitions that I have previously mentioned. It sounds like they are getting things worked out, however, the process sounds like it will still be delayed. Sad, but true :( Right now, we just feel like that would be a pretty drawn out process and somewhat of a risk. Any time a country goes through changes there are always risks. They still remain to be quite stable, but when you don't have children, like us, it's hard to add so much time to the process. At this point we firmly believe we will- FOR SURE- adoption from Ethiopia. As most of you know, we plan to adopt more than once :)
At this past home study we discussed: age, gender, twins/siblings, race, health, open/semi/closed adoption, agency fees, travel, etc...we are hoping for a newborn, African-American, boy or girl, healthy, semi-open adoption. Semi-open means we will write letters to the birth parent(s) through out agency if they are interested in doing so. Sometimes the want to get updates and sometimes they just don't for their own reasons. We feel however it is suppose to work out, it will...
So- while we got thrown for a bit of a loop these past few weeks, we feel comfortable and confident with where we are right now and are very excited!!!
Our next steps....hand in additional paperwork, make a profile book (shows birth parent(s) an insight into our lives), Lindsey (social worker) finishes writing up our home study, distributes our profile books, and we wait!!! We are hearing typical waits are 4-6 months to be matched. Some have waited as little as a few days!! :) We are hearing the fact that we are young and without children makes us more appealing...we will see!
Lots of changes, but we have faith we are the right path!!!
Until my next post....
Tasha
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Decisions, decisions...
We got word from our agency that Ethiopia has agreed to hearing 20 cases per day. It's better news than 5 per day, but still only half of what they were doing. So...it sounds like instead of waiting 3-4 months between referral and our 1st trip it will be more like 6-8 months?! There really is no way of telling right now. All we can do is wait and see how fast families in front of us are moving through...however, it can take a while to actually see that. In the meantime, our social worker thinks we should meet for our final home study this weekend and get that wrapped up. While we wait to see how everything in Ethiopia goes she thinks we should put together a profile book for birth parents to look at for domestic adoption. We all agree there is no point in us wasting time and at least this way we are still making progress...whether it be international or domestic. Chaske thinks we should proceed with domestic for now and once we bring our baby home we can see where Ethiopia is sitting and start the process with them! We can also do them simultaneously...this is the route I would like to go, but we're not sure if this is realistic for us right now.
LOTS to think and pray about. We would probably have a little more patience if we had children already, but with this being our first it's hard to have such a long wait for Ethiopia, but at the same time we promised ourselves we will not turn out backs on these children and are 100% sure we will adopt, at least once, from ET! Just trying to figure out the best path right now :)
I will keep you all updated! Thanks for all the support we have received so far...you have all been so wonderful!!! Thanks for all your concerns and prayers!!
Until my next post...
LOTS to think and pray about. We would probably have a little more patience if we had children already, but with this being our first it's hard to have such a long wait for Ethiopia, but at the same time we promised ourselves we will not turn out backs on these children and are 100% sure we will adopt, at least once, from ET! Just trying to figure out the best path right now :)
I will keep you all updated! Thanks for all the support we have received so far...you have all been so wonderful!!! Thanks for all your concerns and prayers!!
Until my next post...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Today is the day...
Today is the day all the changes over in ET are suppoes to go into effect. Please pray that whatever comes out of this is truly in the best interest of the children over there...
http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia_alert.html
http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia_alert.html
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Ethiopia changes...
Ethiopia's court is making some huge changes. Right now they hear about 40 cases per day...starting March 10 they are saying they are going to reduce it down to 5 per day. This would cause major delays to adoption. Our agency has said UNICEF has made it their mission for the past 5 years to lessen the number of adoptions. They believe it's best for children to stay in their country of birth. Can't say I disagree with that, however, Ethiopia is no where near being able to provide a great life for these orphans right now. They are better off in a different country with a loving family than living on the streets, starving, dirty, alone. As you can imagine, this is so frustrating and effects us big time. This would cause a huge delay in the time between our referral and our first trip as they have to hear our case in court before we make that first trip. All we can do is hope and pray they come to their senses and they figure out a more efficient way. We always know domestic adoption is an option for us, however, our hearts are set on Ethiopia. I will keep this blog updated with any new news.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/-Ethiopia-to-Cut-Foreign-Adoptions-by-Up-to-90-Percent-117411843.html
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/-Ethiopia-to-Cut-Foreign-Adoptions-by-Up-to-90-Percent-117411843.html
Friday, March 4, 2011
Questions
Ok- so this is my attempt at clarifying some questions that we often get asked. I will, in no way, be able to cover them all in one post, but here are some that we get asked the most….I’m sure I’ll have posts down the road to cover more :)
Why Adoption? I could go on and on with this question with statistics, the Bible, etc…and get really in-depth, but I think simply put: There are millions (147 million to be exact) of orphans in this world that need good, loving, caring homes and families. We have a house, food, and can provide this…so I think the better question is “Why Not?” I don’t get offended when people ask this, but at the same time if you just took a little time out of your day and did some research this wouldn’t even be a question. I think by now everybody knows the demand for orphans to be adopted. Once your eyes are open to this, you can hardly turn your back.
Can’t you get pregnant? I’m sure we can, but we don’t care to…at least not until we do what’s been put on our hearts.
Why Ethiopia? Again. Why not? If you read the statistics on my blog you will get more clarity, but a big reason is we have huge hearts for Africa...Ethiopia specifically. I have always had a heart for Africa ever since I was little. So, for us, it’s a no brainer. It’s an amazing country, beautiful people, and a wonderful culture. We really feel like the lucky ones here. Also- we don’t qualify for all countries…marriage, age, etc…so that also limits us as well, but even before we knew that we had already chosen ET! We considered Rwanda, Ghana…maybe our next adoption :)
Do you get to pick health, gender, age…? Yes. They don’t particularly care for you to pick gender with your first child. We are open to both gender and hoping for an infant 0-6 months at referral time. Infant girls are more sought after for some reason so we will probably get a baby boy. We are hoping to get them home less than 12 months old. Also, when you fill out forms they ask about if you willing to accept about any medical condition you can possibly imagine. We put down healthy infant. We will get whatever baby is ours.
How long, how much…? Right now we are hoping from start to finish it will be around 12 months. MOWA (Ministry of Womens Affairs) used to see 40 adoptions a day and have now cut it down to processing 5 a day. We are hoping they bump it back to 40 otherwise this could delay our first trip quite a bit! Adoption seems expensive because you’re seeing it all up front unlike biological children. It’s roughly (2 trips) $25,000-$30,000. However, there are credits, grants, etc along the way. It’s NOT as scary as it seems. Trust me...if we can do it, so can you! :)
Do you travel to ET? Yes!!! There is now a two trip requirement (different post :) So we will make our first trip to meet our baby, appear in court, and accept our referral in person (this never used to be a requirement) We can arrive the day before court and leave the day after, but I’m sure we will want to stay longer and do some sight seeing and hang with our baby! 2nd trip we pick up our baby, embassy appt, finalized up all the paperwork, baby’s visa, etc…that trip is about 5-7 days. The flights over and back are 20 hours each way! Yikes! We are really looking forward to these trips. It’s not every day you get to go somewhere as cool as Africa!!!!
How do you know your baby is healthy? Well, how do you know any baby is healthy? They do the best they can…again…3rd world country. They run tests, height, weight, etc…and then they recommend you have the referral evaluated by a International Pediatrician here in the U.S. to confirm everything and read over all the information that is given to us. The information is very minimal. We will get some blood tests, measurements, pictures, and that is about it. After that you just have to have faith that this is your baby and you deal with whatever comes after that!
Do you get to meet birth parents? Maybe. With the new rules in place we will have court the same day that the birth parents (if still living) have their court to relinquish their rights. We have talked with our agency about this and they don’t particularly care for the families to meet, but if we really want to do it and they agree to it. They will try to make it work under their supervision.
Do you pick birth parents? Do they pick you? No, this is not like domestic adoptions. Our agency matches us with the baby they think best fits what we put on our application. We are free to turn down a referral and wait for the next one if we just don’t feel it’s our baby.
So, this is a quick (if you can believe it) way to answer some questions. I LOVE questions and teaching people more about adoption so feel free to ask away!! :) As you can see I could talk adoption all day long!
Until my next post...
Tasha
Why Adoption? I could go on and on with this question with statistics, the Bible, etc…and get really in-depth, but I think simply put: There are millions (147 million to be exact) of orphans in this world that need good, loving, caring homes and families. We have a house, food, and can provide this…so I think the better question is “Why Not?” I don’t get offended when people ask this, but at the same time if you just took a little time out of your day and did some research this wouldn’t even be a question. I think by now everybody knows the demand for orphans to be adopted. Once your eyes are open to this, you can hardly turn your back.
Can’t you get pregnant? I’m sure we can, but we don’t care to…at least not until we do what’s been put on our hearts.
Why Ethiopia? Again. Why not? If you read the statistics on my blog you will get more clarity, but a big reason is we have huge hearts for Africa...Ethiopia specifically. I have always had a heart for Africa ever since I was little. So, for us, it’s a no brainer. It’s an amazing country, beautiful people, and a wonderful culture. We really feel like the lucky ones here. Also- we don’t qualify for all countries…marriage, age, etc…so that also limits us as well, but even before we knew that we had already chosen ET! We considered Rwanda, Ghana…maybe our next adoption :)
Do you get to pick health, gender, age…? Yes. They don’t particularly care for you to pick gender with your first child. We are open to both gender and hoping for an infant 0-6 months at referral time. Infant girls are more sought after for some reason so we will probably get a baby boy. We are hoping to get them home less than 12 months old. Also, when you fill out forms they ask about if you willing to accept about any medical condition you can possibly imagine. We put down healthy infant. We will get whatever baby is ours.
How long, how much…? Right now we are hoping from start to finish it will be around 12 months. MOWA (Ministry of Womens Affairs) used to see 40 adoptions a day and have now cut it down to processing 5 a day. We are hoping they bump it back to 40 otherwise this could delay our first trip quite a bit! Adoption seems expensive because you’re seeing it all up front unlike biological children. It’s roughly (2 trips) $25,000-$30,000. However, there are credits, grants, etc along the way. It’s NOT as scary as it seems. Trust me...if we can do it, so can you! :)
Do you travel to ET? Yes!!! There is now a two trip requirement (different post :) So we will make our first trip to meet our baby, appear in court, and accept our referral in person (this never used to be a requirement) We can arrive the day before court and leave the day after, but I’m sure we will want to stay longer and do some sight seeing and hang with our baby! 2nd trip we pick up our baby, embassy appt, finalized up all the paperwork, baby’s visa, etc…that trip is about 5-7 days. The flights over and back are 20 hours each way! Yikes! We are really looking forward to these trips. It’s not every day you get to go somewhere as cool as Africa!!!!
How do you know your baby is healthy? Well, how do you know any baby is healthy? They do the best they can…again…3rd world country. They run tests, height, weight, etc…and then they recommend you have the referral evaluated by a International Pediatrician here in the U.S. to confirm everything and read over all the information that is given to us. The information is very minimal. We will get some blood tests, measurements, pictures, and that is about it. After that you just have to have faith that this is your baby and you deal with whatever comes after that!
Do you get to meet birth parents? Maybe. With the new rules in place we will have court the same day that the birth parents (if still living) have their court to relinquish their rights. We have talked with our agency about this and they don’t particularly care for the families to meet, but if we really want to do it and they agree to it. They will try to make it work under their supervision.
Do you pick birth parents? Do they pick you? No, this is not like domestic adoptions. Our agency matches us with the baby they think best fits what we put on our application. We are free to turn down a referral and wait for the next one if we just don’t feel it’s our baby.
So, this is a quick (if you can believe it) way to answer some questions. I LOVE questions and teaching people more about adoption so feel free to ask away!! :) As you can see I could talk adoption all day long!
Until my next post...
Tasha
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