Friday, March 11, 2011

Two steps back

You know how we announced on Monday that we're planning to adopt from Ethiopia? Well, on Wednesday I got an email from our adoption agency reporting that the Ethiopian government wants to take a closer look at the way adoptions are handled, so they're only going to process five adoptions each day (they have been processing 45-50/day for the last half dozen years, from what I understand). That means that our anticipated wait of about a year has the potential to stretch out to ten years. They say that the move is a temporary one, but I don't think anyone knows what temporary means. So we're reconsidering our options. There are other international adoption programs we qualify for, so we'll have to decide if we want to commit ourselves to some uncertainty with Ethiopia, if we want to investigate other countries, or if we want to rethink committing ourselves to the process altogether. I'm pretty bummed about the whole thing, but I guess it's good that it happened at this stage in the process for us. I can only imagine how heartbreaking it must be for families who are already matched with a child to have to wait so long until they can bring those children home. 

7 comments:

Blue said...

Oh Shelah, I'm so sorry! A disappointment to be sure, but I'm confident that things will work out how they're meant to in the end. You'll know what you should do. Thanks for keeping us updated. ♥

Emily M. said...

I'm so sorry. It's really hard to gear up for something and be excited for it and then have things turn out differently.

Mary said...

Layla & Kevin over at The Lettered Cottage blog are at about the same point as you with their decision to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. They had a similar post a couple of days ago.

Melissa said...

My parents adopted from Ukraine about 12 years ago now, at least back then it was one of the faster routes to go! I think it was about a year from start to finish!

International adoption can be hard-and the after effects of it lol! I know! ha ha ha. Good luck!!! (((hugs)))

gib kroff said...

What have you decided to do? If you remember me, we were in the same boat. We decided to move forward and see what happens. Our dossier just arrived in Ethiopia so we'll see what happens. Would love to know what you chose to do and to keep in touch during the process.

amy said...

the one above is my son's account. Sorry.

Shelah said...

Amy- We decided to adopt a special needs child from China instead. Good luck with the process-- I hope it goes smoothly for you!