April 21, 2011

Another door closing

The trend to adopt internationally has been hot since Angelina Jolie brought Maddox home from Cambodia 9 years ago. This trend keeps growing (in part, I believe, because of celebrities) even though restrictions keep changing and programs keep closing. The most recent news is out of Ethiopia. The Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs in Ethiopia, a country with millions of orphans, has begun an initiative to reduce international adoptions by 90%. This will be devastating to the country and will certainly devastate adoptive families in waiting. A further complication of this initiative is that local adoptions are not only rare in Ethiopia; they are not very well received. According to an article on www.ezega.com written by Meron Tekleberhan, Ethiopian orphans adopted locally are not necessarily mistreated, but they are rarely considered an official member of the family…ever. Now we all know why this initiative is underway – human trafficking, fraudulent adoptions, and alleged abuse cases – all grotesque, all very real. It is a shame that changes can’t be made to help fix the problem rather than halt international adoption programs. What will come of the millions of orphaned children? What about the adoptive families in waiting? If choosing between adopting domestically or internationally comes down to a pros and cons list, it seems the “cons” list for international adoption keeps growing. If you are adopting and looking at the current trends, look away from the magazine rack because the foreign countries are starting a new trend…closing international adoption programs.