Ethiopia Blog

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January Review

Please find the below statistics for the month of January. We continue to work to improve our process and provide the best possible information and service to our Bethany families! We are thankful for all of you, your patience, and your heart to help children in need of forever families.

January numbers:
Number of referrals – 23
Number of families waiting (no referral yet) – 72
        ·We are currently working on providing referrals to families who submitted their Dossiers in April of 2009. As you are aware, families that are more “open” will likely receive referrals more        quickly.
Number of families traveling for Embassy dates – 5
Number of children home - 7

Also, Sara Ruiter, our International Services Coordinator for Africa, is leaving for Ethiopia this Sunday. She will be there for 3 weeks and will continue to work with our Ethiopia team to provide quality information and updates on your children. She will also be working to gain more information on the “process” in Ethiopia so that she can better serve and communicate with branch workers and families. Please pray for her safety and for a productive trip.

Posted by Sara E. Ruiter At 08:25:37 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Today, (January 19, 2010), is the celebration of Ethiopian Epiphany. The Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany is meant to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ. The Amharic word for baptism is Timkat which can also be spelled as Timket or Timqat.  On a Leap Year, the Ethiopian Epiphany is celebrated on January 20.

This is an extremely colorful festival. The night before, priests take the Tabot (which symbolizes the Ark of the Covenant) containing the Ten Commandments from each Church. Concealed by an ornamental cloth, it is taken to a tent, close to a consecrated pool or stream, accompanied by much ringing of bells, blowing of trumpets and the burning of incense.

Our partners in Ethiopia are out of the office celebrating this holiday. They will be back to work on Wednesday January 20 to prepare families for the US Embassy interviews on Thursday January 21, 2010.  We invite you to pray for our partners and the families who are in Ethiopia at this time.

Posted by Tendai Masiriri At 03:51:28 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Good morning everyone -

Please note that if you would like a traveling family to take a picture of your child/ren while they are in Ethiopia, there MUST be a signed consent/release of information form that is sent to the National office (we will then forward the consent to Ethiopia). Your social worker will be aware of this form and how to properly fill it out.

Ensuring that we have an informed consent on file, stating that "x" family gives permission to "x" family to take photo's of "x" child, ensures that we are taking appropriate steps to protect the privacy and confidentiality of all children in Ethiopia.

Thus, we respectfully ask that you not take photo's of another family's child/ren if you do not have a signed consent.

 Thank  you so much for your attention to this matter - we greatly appreciate it as we work together to continue to strive towards ensuring the protection of Ethiopia's children!

Posted by Sara E. Ruiter At 07:32:37 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Here is a celebratory statement from the Administrative Assistant, Helina Shimeles, at Bethany Christian Services-Ethiopia office: “As Ethiopians, we have the privilege of celebrating Christmas and New Year twice; one with the rest of the world & another by ourselves. The latter gives us the chance to celebrate it in a meaningful way locally…”

Because Ethiopia follows the Orthodox Christian calendar, Christmas is on January 7 every year except during a leap year when Christmas is celebrated on January 8.  The Ethiopian calendar year is on September 11 each year. Gregorian calendar, which most of the world follow, runs approximately 7 years ahead of the Orthodox Christian Calendar. The Orthodox calendar year 2003 will begin September 11, 2010 on the Gregorian calendar.

Please let’s join our friends on the other side of the ocean in celebrating the Ethiopian Christmas.

Posted by Tendai Masiriri At 03:28:24 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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As we start the New Year, the Ethiopia team would like to acknowledge the Lord’s blessing during the past year. We want to let you know that we continue to make strategic partnerships in Ethiopia to ensure growth and the integrity of our services.
 
The Ethiopia Country Director, Ato Mekonnen, signed an agreement with a reputable orphanage in November 2009. The orphanage is called Help for the Needy. Help for the Needy Development Association has branch offices throughout Ethiopia.  Bethany is also able to work with Muse Children’s Home.  Some of families have already received referrals from Muse Children’s Home. Muse Children’s Homes are located in the towns of Hossana and Durame (Southern Region of Ethiopia). We believe these referrals will ease the backlog for our waiting families. Bethany Christian Services will continue to uplift the standards of adoption practices and make sure we “find families for children not children for families”. We are greatly thankful to all Bethany families who willingly open their hearts to ensure these children attain permanency in their lives.  

We want to remind families that children from Ethiopia are at increased risk for abnormal pre-natal and neonatal development as a result of severe famine, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.  The youngest children are most at risk as they have not yet had the time to build up their defenses and immunities.  

Our matching process continues to be affected by other determinants beyond the family’s position on the waiting list. We also consider how the family profile matches the child’s needs.  At international, we realize that predicting a family’s ability to parent a child with certain characteristics is uncertain at best. However, our Ethiopia team does a thorough and diligent job matching children and families. We continue to pray for all the families that are waiting to welcome the little ones into their forever families.

Posted by Tendai Masiriri At 12:13:01 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (HHS/CDC), published a Final Rule in the Federal Register that will remove HIV infection from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance and remove references to HIV from the scope of medical examinations for aliens.  The final rule will go into effect on January 4, 2010.

While an HIV exam will no longer be mandatory, an applicant may still request one from the panel physician. If positive (or if the applicant discloses to the panel physician that they are positive) it will be a Class B condition only.

Any cases scheduled before this date are still subject to waiver requirements. Any cases scheduled after January 4 ^th will benefit from the new ruling . This process is only for those children who are deemed HIV Positive. This does not affect the Tuberculosis Waiver process.

BCSI will monitor further implications of the rule as time goes on.

Posted by Sara E. Ruiter At 07:54:14 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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We want to give you a brief overview of how our December was in terms of referrals, placements, etc for our Ethiopia program. We are going to work hard to give you these updates monthly - hopefully that will give some additional information about how Ethiopian adoptions for BCS are moving along.

For December we had approximately:
10 referrals - mostly infants, some toddlers.
10 family's traveling this month for their Embassy appointment.
11 children coming home this month.
80 families who have submitted their Dossier and are waiting for a referral (this is a combined number, not Dossiers just submitted in December).

We continue to be in the 12-15 month time frame in terms of "wait time" from submission of Dossier to referral. Families who are currently receiving referrals have been waiting approximately 13-14 months. I hope this information is helpful to all of our waiting families - we are working hard to give you as much information as possible. Thank you and please let me know if there's additional information that would be helpful.

Thank you - and Merry Christmas!

Posted by Sara E. Ruiter At 02:20:30 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

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Stellita (Luz Stella) was a waiting child in Colombia. She was born with a cleft lip and palate.  She had been waiting since 2005.

I received an email from her adoptive mom, the other day. Stellita had 2 palate surgeries that were unsuccessful since her arrival.
Read on...


"On November 18, Stellita again had cleft palate surgery, this time on her soft palate trying to re-attach a muscle back in the palate area so it could work as God intended that muscle to work.  The goal of course, to give Stellita clear speech.  Five days after surgery a hole opened up in her soft palate.  A hole in a place that did not have a hole since her initial cleft palate surgery when she was a baby.  We all were devastated.  And admittedly did wonder why God would let this happen.  So many people were praying for Stellita.  And so much of scripture talks of God's love and care and compassion for these orphans. In fact in my prayers I claimed all God's promises to care for these dear ones. How could this have happened? And yet, our faith in a good and gracious God did not waiver, we just did not understand.  So with gratitude we gave thanks for what did work out right in the surgery and left the rest to God.

Yesterday I think I saw a miracle.  Stellita went to the doctor for a check up on her palate.  Every day I would look into her mouth to see how the 'hole' was doing.  Yesterday I did not. Her appointment was in the morning and being so busy getting kids off to school I just did not take the time to look.  We we went into the doctor and he looked into her mouth and with surprise he said, " She has closure!"  He said the top layer of tissue had closed.  We all were elated.  Not only was this unexpected news but he also looked at the "hole' that had formed from her previous surgery in 2008 on her hard palate and said that, that hole was also closed.  At this time I did not look into Stellita's mouth.  I assumed I would still see the 'hole' which was the size of 3 pencil erasers, still opened and that the tissue closing the hole was above this, out of sight.  It was not until late in the afternoon that I finally did look into Stellita's mouth and this only because our son did so first and said, "There is no hole".  

There is no hole.  The surface is not smooth or perfect as many people's palates, but it is beautiful.  So Yesterday I saw a miracle and today I am singing songs of praise to an awesome God."

Many of you prayed and advocated for Stellita. Today, Stellita will celebrate her second year with her forever family!!

GOD, in all HIS glory and grace, is celebrating with us!

I will sing about your strength, my God, and I will celebrate because of your love. Ps. 59:16

Posted by Sara E. Ruiter At 11:53:26 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Congratulations to our team in Ethiopia!

We are thrilled to announce that Bethany Christian Services in Ethiopia was re-licensed as an “Adoption Foreign Charity” yesterday! Our team in Ethiopia worked very hard to provide all the required documentation to ensure that we can continue the great work we are doing in Ethiopia! Great work, team!

More good news….

We have 10 families (yes, 10!) traveling right now to Ethiopia to bring home their son or daughter. What a great Christmas present! 5 families have recently returned home with their newest additions and we have also had several new referrals this week and are expecting more at the end of the week. We continue to be on-track for families to receive referrals within 12-15 months after their dossier is submitted.

During this special time of year, we continue to be so grateful for:
* the many families who continue to press forward in an adoption process that can be challenging.
* the many families who continue patiently wait for a referral, a court date, or an Embassy date.
* and for families who have brought their child/ren home and are now entering a new stage of the life-long adoption journey.

May you and your family have a very blessed and Merry Christmas!

Posted by Sara E. Ruiter At 04:20:32 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Our Ethiopia program here at Bethany continues to grow – and we are so thankful! During this time when we are focused on celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, we are also thankful for the “birth” of many new families – brought together through the miracle of adoption!

The year of 2009 has been a very busy one for us. This year we have sent over 100 Dossiers to Ethiopia, matched over 70 waiting children, and welcomed home over 40 children with their forever families! We have experienced so many joys, and some sorrows, along with our families over this year. We continue to be thankful for God’s sovereignty as He continues to guide all of us with providing the best possible families for children in need.

We also wanted to keep you posted on time-frames….we continue to “expect” about a 12-15 month wait for a referral once a dossier has been sent to Ethiopia. Families getting referrals right now have been waiting approximately 14 months (shorter if they are open to an older child). After referral, families are typically waiting 2-3 months for their court date. After approval in court, families can expect to wait an additional 1-2 months for their Embassy date (and invitation to travel). We will keep you posted if these estimated time-frames change.

As we wind down a very busy year, we hope each of you know how much we value you, how important your children are to us, and how much we desire to serve each of you with excellence and integrity. Please feel free to let us know if there is anything we can do to better serve you as we walk together in this process.

Posted by Sara E. Ruiter At 08:46:42 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)