Why Ethiopia
There were so many things to consider and we wanted to be sure that it was not only our hearts, but also our heads weighing in on what is right for our family. Here are some of the reasons we choose Ethiopia:
Overwhelming Need: Due to extreme poverty, there are approximately 4.3 million orphans in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is unique in the world of adoption because most of the children in orphanages are “true” orphans, poverty and disease having left multitudes of children without parents. I know all the children available for adoption need us but we feel that Ethiopia needs us a just a little more than most.
Upbeat Culture: In spite of extreme hardship the Ethiopian culture is warm and upbeat and many of the children are loved and cared for before ending up in an orphanage. The orphanages are also very well run and children receive superior medical and emotional attention. For these reasons there are far fewer cases of attachment or other emotional disorders, unlike children in the over crowded institutional orphanages of other countries.
Babies!: How long a child experiences institutional life is critically important. I read (on http://www.drspock.com/) that children adopted before age six months usually recover emotionally, even if they have experienced severe deprivation, but after that the risk of emotional problems rises. We will love this child no matter what problems arise but being new to the world of parenting we would like to minimize our risk of long term challenges (other than the usual ones!). Ethiopia, unlike many countries, has young infants available for adoption.
Health Concerns: Ethiopian children have far fewer cases of FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) than other countries. Even though most countries test for HIV, PCR HIV testing is the gold standard for HIV testing in youngsters less than 2 years of age but the resources are limited for this type of testing in countries outside of the U.S.. Ethiopia is the only international adoption program where it is available. Malnutrition, bacterial infections, and parasites are common health issues but all of these things are treatable with minimal long term effects. Also, the renoun Doctor Jane Aronson (at least renown to those of us in the international adoption world) operates out of NYC and has an adopted son from Ethiopia. We expect that she will be a tremendous resource for us. Check her out: http://www.orphandoctor.com/
Wait Times: Unlike many countries, Ethiopia has a fairly quick turn around time. The woman I spoke with today at our agency said, “If you are an aggressive woman (and if you know me you know that I am!), it will take 11 – 12 months from today’s phone call to bringing your child home”. Eeek! So exciting! There are no guarantees in the world of adoption but Ethiopia is a fairly stable program and they have to go through 13 government agencies to make any changes so change does not come quickly.
Extended Community: We have found a few families in our area who have adopted or are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. These people have already been tremendously supportive and helpful and we love the fact that we will have a local support group of “families like us”. Thanks again to those of you who helped us get to where we are now.
Gut Feeling: Ok, all those bullets above are our “heads” weighing in. The part that I cannot put in a bullet list is just how right this feels. We are so happy and can’t stop the tears of joy at the thought of our future family (Mark will kill me for telling you that he too is crying but I think it’s wonderful!).
Why GladneyWe also did our due diligence when it came to choosing an agency. This was an even harder process than choosing a country because there are SO many agencies to choose from. We started looking at agencies in our local area, thinking that the face to face contact would be important, but ultimately we decided that reputation, experience, humanitarian efforts, how the agency responded to our questions, and wait times mattered more than having a local office. Here are some of the reasons we chose Gladney:
They have been facilitating adoptions for 120 years and are highly ethical
Their Ethiopia program is one of the oldest and largest in Ethiopia and they do more than just facilitate adoptions. They are also very active in providing for the many children who will never be adopted.
In spite of the fact they have an established Ethiopia program, they do not have a problem with wait times because they work with several orphanages and have over 80 staff living in Ethiopia. Some of the other more established agencies operating in Ethiopia were estimating wait times at 18 to 22 months (compared to Gladney’s 3 – 6 months)
They have three private care facilities in Ethiopia that the children are taken to. The children receive excellent medical care and lots of love and attention in these wait houses.
There are several families in Fairfield County who have adopted from Ethiopia through Gladney and they all rave about what a great agency it is.
They have been easy to deal with.
So that's all for now. I need to stop writing and start cleaning and baby-proofing the house so that we pass the home study!
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