Two Trips or One?????

We heard rumor on the "forum" this week that there was a note up on the Ethiopian court door stating that the new "two trip" policy was being suspended indefinetly. Apparently, members of the court had not really thought out the legistics of the new policy - getting families there on time, etc. We find what we hear on the forum as rumor often is fairly accurate and we got this email just today:

"We have been informed that there currently are no plans in place for implementation of the two-trip requirement for Ethiopian adoptions. Although the change was originally slated to begin for April court dates, it no longer looks like this is a possibility. According to our in-country representative, scheduled implementation meetings have not taken place and key members of the group are currently out of the country. At this time we do not have any solid information about if or when the two trip requirement might come into play. Obviously, our in-country representative and staff have begun working on several scenarios for how those trips would look, depending on the final determination of the Court. For now, we will continue processing adoptions as before. We will keep you informed as we receive new information about the two trip process and any other information we have that could affect your adoption process. "

We also found out that nine different orphanges in Addis, Ababa Ethiopia we closed due to suspicious activities (unethical adoption practices, etc.). I think the adoption front in Ethiopia is very unstable - so the sooner we can go and get T-man the better. We are very much praying that the country does not close to international adoptions. I think it may be very likely in the distant future - Ethiopian adoptions have taken a lot of heat in the media lately - and with their efforts to try and improve practices not going well???? AND with 9 orphanges closing - the number of referrals going out will likely also go down. Our agency essentially contracts with several orphanges in Ethiopia to connect US families with their Ethiopian children. As far as we know, none of the orphanges our agency works with were involved in this shut down.

What a crazy ride.

I keep you posted on the number of trips as soon as we hear more.

S, K, B, and T