Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Great News!

We got a great letter from our agency today! Thank you all so much for praying with us during this time, we are so happy to say that Ethiopia remains OPEN! Praise the Lord! We are thrilled and will continue to wait as we have been for a referral. Keep the prayers coming for that!

Dear Andy & Erin,

We are thrilled to share positive news from Ethiopia.  Earlier today Minister Zenebu, along with other high level MOWCYA officials, met with agency network representatives.  In this meeting it was clearly expressed by Minister Zenebu that she does not plan to work to stop adoptions, but desires to focus on eliminating bad practice and continue to invest in good practice of Ethiopia adoptions.  She reiterated that neither MOWCYA nor the Ethiopian Government plan to shut down adoptions within Ethiopia, and went on to encourage agencies to continue their work as normal.

We know this news comes as relief for many adoptive families in process.  America World will continue to work on behalf of Ethiopia’s orphans and vulnerable children to place them into Christian homes.  We expect MOWCYA will likely hold more meetings in the weeks to come and will continue to keep families updated with any new information.  We are seeing several regions issue clearances for children to be adopted and are hopeful more will start soon.

America World is in full support of improvements to uphold the most ethical practices in adoption. We care deeply about adoptions operating with integrity and transparency.  We will continue to support MOWCYA in their efforts to implement better parameters around adoption processes and safeguards against fraudulent practice.

We are glad to hear this news today, and know it has been a long few weeks for families since Ethiopia’s first statement about adoptions. Thank you for your perseverance throughout this month. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions about this.


Blessings,

Thursday, January 9, 2014

More waiting

Looks like we will be waiting another week. Thank you for continuing to pray with us! We will let you know when we hear more, but for now here is our latest letter from our agency.

Dear Andy & Erin,

As we know families are eagerly awaiting news from Ethiopia’s Parliament, we want to share any updates we receive with you. America World has been seeking clarity and any updates on the time frame for Parliament’s response.  We are now anticipating news from Parliament on Thursday, January 16th. Due to Ethiopian Christmas this week and a Muslim holiday next week, these days will not be counted in the 10 business days originally estimated by Parliament for a response.  Our agency is fasting and praying over the next 3 days for the children in Ethiopia, and we invite you to join us in this.

By Thursday, the 16th, we will send an update unless we receive any news earlier. We do encourage families to hold loosely to the time frames given. Thank you for joining us in prayer.