I spent over an hour on a conference call with our adoption agency today (along with over 100 other people). The call was to inform us of some brand new changes to Ethiopian adoption. Basically it comes down to the fact that we will travel to Ethiopia twice rather than once. While this will affect the cost and timeline (and that kind of makes me sad), I ultimately think the changes are in the best interest of the children. Once we get to the referral stage (where we are presented with a child/children and given pictures, medical information, etc.), we will both travel to Ethiopia to see the child/children and sign the acceptance contract in person (until now, a verbal acceptance was permitted & a power of attorney was appointed in Ethiopia). We will stay in Addis for about a week and then have to return home without our kids and hopeful that we pass court (the first time). A court date will be appointed, and we’ll eventually be given a second travel date to go get the kids and bring them home. I think one of the hardest things for me is the fact that we’ll get to meet them and then have to leave them. Will they understand? Will they trust that we’re coming back for them? That’s pretty tough. One of the positive things is that we’ll get to go to Ethiopia two times and have more time there to learn about the culture and people. Ultimately I want what’s best for the children (not just ours – all of them), but it’s hard to hear that the wait time will be extended another couple of months.
I will say, though, that I’m very thankful to have chosen AGCI as our placing agency. They’re very thorough, and they have been great at communicating all of this information to the families in the Ethiopia program. I have another call tomorrow with Julie, our newly appointed case worker at AGCI. Brad and I will also be heading downtown in the morning to have our FBI fingerprint cards completed. Moving right along….one step closer…….
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