Update!!

I did not update the first of March because not much has happened.  Things have pretty much been at a stand still.  International Adoption has been in a negative view of some Ethiopian officials and they have not been authorizing documents.  There have been a couple meetings that have taken place recently and they have had positive results.  The Minister has confirmed that there is no plan to shut down International Adoption in Ethiopia.  The delay in documents should soon improve.  Research done by the Ministry of over 142 orphanages showed that they are dependent on the support given by the agencies to provide for the children.  The goal in all of these delays and research is to improve the integrity of the adoption process and referral process.  This is really great news!  Although none of us are thrilled about the extra wait times, we are all very happy to see the Ministry trying to improve things. The Minister assured all at this meeting that her position is in favor of international adoption as a child's last means of support, and that adoption from Ethiopia has not, and will not stop.  We have also learned of an additional step that is meant to ensure a child meets the true definition of "orphan status".  Each orphanage will be required to search for alternative means of support for each child.  The orphanage will be required to advertise each child for local adoption.  They will do everything they can to try to find local placement for the child for 2 months.  After the 2 months, the child can be approved for International Adoption.  As I understand it, this is to take place immediately.  We are assuming there will be no referrals for at least 2 months.  Again, we don't the wait to be any longer, but this is definitely a great thing.  This is what has been going on!  On a happy note we did move up a couple spots in the last two months to #34.  Our hope is that after these 2 months pass, there will be a huge month or two of referrals.  We have also decided to change our age range when we get our home study updated.  We will be asking to be able to adopt a child up to age 5.  Kian is hoping for a little brother that is 4 or 5 years old!  Kaitlyn is hoping for a baby sister.  Aden really doesn't care!