Looking back through all the posts about Africa, there are a few that certainly caught my eye; one of these was Lillian S's article on Ethiopian adoption. In this article, she tells about how in Ethiopia, there have been propositions going around about how international adoption could be illegal in Ethiopia. At the time the article was written, it was a serious controversial topic.
Now I'm glad to say that Ethiopia has abolished this proposition and is re-opened to international adoptions. This is GREAT news, not only because now orphaned children will have a home and a family, but also because Ethiopia is also estimated to have 4.6 million orphans. That's enough homeless kids to fill half of Michigan's population! Kids will have safe homes and loving families, as well as food, water, and safety.
Adoption processes are still hard; for example, possible parent choices are estimated to pay around $20,000 to adopt, cannot be a single parent adoption (You must have been married for at least a year before adoption) and if you have a criminal record, they'll look you over extremely thoroughly. But with the intact international adoption laws, thousands of lives are saved and thousands of families are made!
This is absolutely amazing! I am so glad to here that adoption is back in operation in Ethiopia! Adoption comes close to home since my own brother is adopted. It is hard to believe that 13% of the children living in Ethiopia are missing a parent or parents. Some are saying the loss of parents is due to the low life expectancy age of 58. Many children in Ethiopia have lost their parents to AIDS. This is terrible, but with adoption now children have a second chance at life. I am so glad to hear that adoption is back up and running in Ethiopia!
ReplyDelete