Latest news from Ethiopia
On Monday we received the latest news from the federal court in Ethiopia re: travel and court dates. They have decided that instead of both parents having to travel to Ethiopia to attend court only one parent is now required to go. Also, they have changed the court process. The previous way they scheduled court dates was that once you accepted your referral you were assigned a court date that you did not have to attend. This first court date was for MOWA (Ministry of Womens Affairs) to give their opinion to the judge on whether or not the child should be adopted and for the birth family to relinquish their child, if possible. The second court date, approximately 4-8 weeks later, was for the adoptive parents to be present in court to state their request to adopt their child(ren). Now there is only one court date. MOWA, birth parents, and adoptive parents will all be in court on the same day but MOWA and birth parents will be there in the morning and the adoptive parent(s) will be there in the afternoon. This is really great news because travel is approximately 4-8 weeks quicker than it would have been!
Gladney has a conference call that they give on their Ethiopia program every month and this afternoon they gave a good explanation of the new policies as well as what to expect on the first trip to Ethiopia. The first trip is NOT a bonding trip, you do not get one-on-one time with your child, you do not get to have pictures taken with only your child and you and you aren't allowed to give them a care package. If you take one, the care center will keep it for you until you have passed court (which may or may not happen on the date that you're there) and then give it to your child. The bonding time will be on the second trip, after you have passed court, and the child is officially yours.
Brandon and I are talking about the different possibilities but right now we're leaning toward Brandon leaving for the first trip, me giving him power of attorney to speak for me in court, and returning home and then I will will travel for the second trip and he will stay home. This is not set in stone but this is what we're thinking for now.
We'll keep you posted!
Oh, and the wait list is still approximately 8 months...we're almost to month #2!!
Gladney has a conference call that they give on their Ethiopia program every month and this afternoon they gave a good explanation of the new policies as well as what to expect on the first trip to Ethiopia. The first trip is NOT a bonding trip, you do not get one-on-one time with your child, you do not get to have pictures taken with only your child and you and you aren't allowed to give them a care package. If you take one, the care center will keep it for you until you have passed court (which may or may not happen on the date that you're there) and then give it to your child. The bonding time will be on the second trip, after you have passed court, and the child is officially yours.
Brandon and I are talking about the different possibilities but right now we're leaning toward Brandon leaving for the first trip, me giving him power of attorney to speak for me in court, and returning home and then I will will travel for the second trip and he will stay home. This is not set in stone but this is what we're thinking for now.
We'll keep you posted!
Oh, and the wait list is still approximately 8 months...we're almost to month #2!!
posted by April Jones | 4:27 PM
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