I have been without a computer so I haven't been able to update like I wanted.
The yard sale went really well, we set up around 6am but no one really started coming until about 8am and it was pretty steady til about 10:30 and then we packed up and left. Things are different now with a little one along who needs naps and lunch, but we considered it a success. We are so thankful to everyone who came out to support us and for everyone who donated their "junk" to us to sell! :) We were invited to participate in a multi-family fundraiser next month so we look forward to going and selling some more! God continues to provide the money needed to continue forward with the adoption.
We received this e-mail last month, but I wasn't able to post it. I will kind of summarize but have copied it below if you'd like to read it. Basically things are continuing to slow down and becoming harder to adopt in Ethiopia. The PAIR process which was supposed to help speed the process up has actually slowed it down tremendously. They have offered families to switch programs and move forward to adopt in other countries, we did look into the other countires but for now we will continue to wait in Ethiopia. America World continues to provide and care for the children in Ethiopia who are in need but it is becoming expensive with the wait times continuing to increase and they need help. Please check out www.awaa.org if you'd like to donate to them.
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Dear Allan & Elizabeth,
Thank
you for your continued support of America World Adoption’s Ethiopia
adoption program. As you may be aware, the environment of international
adoption from Ethiopia has dramatically changed
in the last several years and is continually changing. The U.S.
Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues publishes the adoption
statistics each year and we continue to see a sharp decline in the
number of international adoptions completed around the
world each year, as well as in Ethiopia. Yet the number or orphaned
and vulnerable children in the world continues to increase each year.
America World is committed to all of our international adoption
programs, especially our successful Ethiopia adoption
program. However, to be fully transparent, we continue to experience
increased difficulties working in Ethiopia.
Many
agencies have closed their Ethiopia programs for financial reasons and
the impact of long delays in the paperwork and referral processes. We
were deeply saddened to hear that All God’s Children
closed their Ethiopia program last week. The cost of supporting our
partner orphanages, maintaining two transition homes in Ethiopia and
providing quality care for the children in our care, has become more and
more difficult to provide. The amount of time
it takes to process adoptions in Ethiopia, including the amount of
additional paperwork that is required has increased significantly to the
detriment of the children and families. This increase also leads to
longer timelines for adoptions to be finalized
thereby increasing the timeline to care for children in our
transitional home while they wait for their adoption to be finalized.
Amidst the increased timelines and expenses in adoptions, the time and
investment needed to maintain positive partnerships with
the orphanages in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian government has increased
as well. The PAIR (Pre-Adoption Immigration Review process that was
implemented on September 1, 2013 to be an addition verification to
confirm children are truly in need of being adopted)
has intensified the amount of time and paperwork involved in processing
adoptions from Ethiopia. This process requires that even the most
common clerical mistakes made by regional offices and remote locations
of government agencies be corrected each and every
time. This is an extensive process as it relates to time, cost,
paperwork and political challenges. Many of these regional offices and
remote government agencies do not share the same sense of urgency and
need as the agencies, families and children affected
by international adoption. America World is committed to ethical and
transparent work in Ethiopia.
Currently,
America World spends roughly $1.2 million per year on our in-country
operating expenses to run our Ethiopia adoption program. With the
increased wait times of additional years to the
slowdown in the number of referrals issued each month, it is becoming
more and more challenging for us to maintain our program in Ethiopia at
the level at which we are comfortable. We come to you, with the intent
of being fully transparent with the challenges
that we are facing and our commitment to serve the children in
Ethiopia. Our ultimate goal is to not increase the already high costs
for adoptive families in our Ethiopia program, but we have come to a
time that we need to examine how we will continue to
keep transition homes open, continue to serve the families in our
program by maintaining orphanage partnerships and place children into
families. Most importantly, we are committed to serving as many children
as possible in Ethiopia that are in need of a forever
home.
Our
heart’s desire is to keep adoptions from ET as financially reasonable
as possible for adoptive families that have responded to the call to
adopt. Therefore, we come to you to ask if you would
be willing to invest in our Ethiopia program and support us fundraise
in our work in Ethiopia. Our support is an investment in these precious
vulnerable children and the families that open their hearts and their
homes to the “least of these”. Our financial
need is significant and in order to continue to run our in-country
program in Ethiopia we have set a goal to raise $250,000 by September 30th, 2015. America World will continue to be diligent to cut where ever possible within our Ethiopia program
while still maintaining high standards of work and care. Your support will allow us to continue in this critical work.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Please join us in praying for America World, their finances and their heart to love on the children until they can be placed in their forever homes, for the government to speed up the process and for these precious children who so desperately want and need to come home! We know God is in control and He has great plans!
