Ethiopia: Become Part of the Solution
March 9, 2011
On March 4, 2011, the Ministry of Womens Affairs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, reported that they would be sharply reducing the number of adoption cases they would review, from 50 cases a day at present to no more than 5 per day from March 10, 2011. MoWA indicated that they were taking these steps in response to an adoption program that is riddled with fraud and coercion.
Ethica respects the Ethiopian government’s commitment to orphaned and vulnerable children and encourages all efforts to increase transparency in the adoption process. There are serious problems in Ethiopian adoptions today, and we honor the Ethiopian government’s efforts to address adoption fraud and corruption before making any decision that it has no choice but to shut down its international adoption program altogether. We are hopeful that the Ethiopian government’s commitment to its most vulnerable children will mean that its focus will be on the children who will remain in transition homes and orphanages for lengthy periods of time given this significantly diminished rate of processing.
Ethica shares the concerns of the Ethiopian government regarding fraud in the adoption process. Ethica is aware of numerous reports of fraud, coercion, and irregularities that would indicate a rampant problem, not isolated instances, and it is Ethica’s position that no amount of malfeasance is acceptable when the lives of children are in the balance.
It is Ethica’s position that the best use of the energy and efforts in the collective adoption community should not be spent on bombarding the Ethiopian government with pleas to keep business running as usual. Rather, our focus should be on joining the Ethiopian government in its efforts to stop the activities of those who perpetuate fraud. In the United States, we can contribute to these efforts by:
•Demanding that action be taken against adoption service providers that knowingly and willingly retain the services of facilitators who manipulate, coerce, or defraud families in the procurement of children for international adoption, falsify paperwork to ensure that children are seen as eligible for adoption when they are not, and/or maintain abusive conditions in transition homes.
As well as advocating for changes stateside:
•Supporting USAID and non-adoption-related NGOs in their efforts to strengthen family preservation options for families in Ethiopia
•Regulating the fees prospective parents are required to pay to adopt children from Ethiopia in an environment where the country’s per capita income is a fraction of the average foreign fees payable for the adoption of a single child from Ethiopia
•Publicizing a list of United States adoption service providers licensed by the Ethiopian government and banning agencies that umbrella and/or have a history of shoddy paperwork, suspicious/fraudulent paperwork, or inadequate due diligence, and
•Demanding that the Council on Accreditation become far more stringent in their scrutiny of Hague-accredited agencies, including revoking the Hague accreditation of agencies that umbrella or fail to fully vet the backgrounds of the children they refer.
Ethica would like to call the adoption community to speak out on behalf of the children and their families who do not have a voice. In order to ensure that adoption remains an ethical, viable alternative for children in precarious situations, including in Ethiopia, we must work for transparency and clarity. Giving voice only to the success stories will do little to highlight what needs to change today for the children tomorrow.
What can you do now?
1) Speak out!
Share your stories – not only your success stories, as some groups are requesting, but more importantly, those in which you suspect fraud has occurred. You can share your experience with us here, share with the Department of State at askci@state.gov, or report your agency’s behavior to the Hague Complaint Registry here: http://adoptionusca.state.gov/HCRWeb/ComplaintForm.aspx
2) Become part of the solution!
If you have been referred a child to adopt from Ethiopia, but have not yet adopted, please consider participating in this survey to help determine collectively the number of children who are in process, as well as the rate that referrals that continue in the wake of MoWA’s announcement. This data is non-identifying, will be collected publicly, and will be used in our advocacy efforts in the U.S. and within Ethiopia.
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