Blog: Ethiopia Orphanages Closures

Publication date: 21 July 2011

Ethiopia Orphanages Closures

THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011

Adoption Associates Response To Clients

Dear Families~

We have been informed that the government in Southern Ethiopia shut down 15 orphanages in the Awassa area in the last week. Obviously, many agencies, including us, have been affected by this. One of the orphanages is the Awassa location of EnatAlem. We have worked with this location for quite a while and have received many referrals from there. It is difficult to hear that they have been closed. Another orphanage that was shut down was EVADO. This is an orphanage we have also worked with for a long time, although, over the last 6 months or so, our trust level with the director has deteriorated significantly and we did not plan to continue working with this orphanage anyway.

The effects of the closings are:

1- The children in these orphanages have been moved to a different orphanage. It is so difficult knowing that after they all have already had to make adjustments, at least one time, to the orphanage, they now need to make new adjustments to a new orphanage. We are unsure if these children will be adoptable and if so, how much time it will take to proceed with their adoptions.

2-We have three families that accepted referrals in the last 3-4 weeks from Awassa EnatAlem. The government required these children be brought back to Awassa and, from the information we have now, they will not be able to proceed with the adoptions. This has been really difficult news for them to hear and, even more so, to understand. That being said, these families responded with graciousness.

3-We will not have a way to ensure that birth families will be able to access post adoption reports of children that have been adopted through these orphanages. The procedure is to send four reports to Ethiopia (for government, AAI-ET office, orphanage, & birth parent). When the reports arrive at our office in Ethiopia, one is submitted to the government office, one is filed, and the other two are sent to the orphanage. The birth parent then has the opportunity to come to the orphanage to get his/her copy of the report. If the orphanage is closed, we do not have a place to send them. In theory, birth parents could still obtain a report if they had a way to get to Addis to get one, however, it is not realistic to think they would have the means to do this.

Right now we have very little facts and lots of questions about the "whys" and the "whats" of these shutdowns. We will continue to posts any new information we learn.

One question many of you might have is "What orphanages are we currently working with?" We continue to work with a good amount of orphanages and are excited this. I plan to post a list later today to inform you of the specific names & locations of our current orphanages.

Please keep the children and families affected by these shutdowns in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks,

Posted by Cindy at 12:46 PM 0 comments

Labels: Adoption Associates, Awassa, Enat Alem, EVADO

Anon. Update from Canadian Agency Client

A Canadian agency mentioned yesterday in an update

to all families that 23 orphanages have not passed the regional reviews and have

been shut. This agency's partnered orphanages (which passed the reviews in their

regions) are in SNNP and Harar so perhaps this number of closures represents two

regions? Also, the agency stated that the review of orphanages in Addis is not

finished yet so it sounded like more closures were possible.

Also, the agency mentioned that their orphanages have suddenly had to take in

children from the closed orphanages so it does sound like kids are being moved

to orphanages that passed the regional reviews.

Posted by Cindy at 12:39 PM 0 comments

Labels: Canada

IAN Statement about Orphanage Closures

Many of you have been asking about the recent orphanage closures in the Southern region of Ethiopia. While none of the orphanages IAN works with have been directly impacted, we certainly understand the worry these things cause in adoptive parents. We want to clarify and answer some of your concerns.

· The Southern Region (or SNNPR) regional government has closed 18-20 orphanages at this time. It is possible more will be closed in the future. These investigations began more than six months ago.

· The Ethiopian government is continuing to take steps to improve adoptions. One way of doing this is to empower the regional governments and encourage them to take a greater role in overseeing orphanages in their region.

· The regional MoWA, court and police investigated all the orphanages in the southern region. They reviewed budgets, childcare, facilities, paperwork procedure and humanitarian aid provided.

· Regional MoWA made the decision to shut down several orphanages who were not meeting the standard in one or more of these areas. Most often the orphanages were not providing adequate humanitarian outreach to children in their area not being placed for international adoption.

· IAN works with Ajuuja orphanage in the Southern region. IAN followed the procedure we always use when working with orphanages. We meet with official representatives of the regional and federal MoWA, along with local police and courts to ensure the orphanage is in good standing. This was done last March with Ajuuja.

· Ajuuja has completed their investigation successfully, and remains in good standing and recommended by MoWA.

· IAN provides humanitarian aid through EVERY orphanage we work with. We provide medical supplies, school programs, library programs, older child support, or whatever need is expressed by the orphanage.

· While we are saddened by the orphanage closures, we are supportive of the Ethiopian government’s efforts to continue to improve adoptions and provide the best care for orphans and vulnerable children.

· We have been assured that all children who are currently in process with any orphanage will be moved to an approved facility and the adoptive parents will be permitted to complete their adoption.

IAN's statement can be found here.

Posted by Cindy at 12:31 PM 0 comments

Labels: IAN

Adoption Advocates International Response to Clients

Temesgen has informed us that several orphanages have recently been closed in Ethiopia, although we do not yet have details from the government as to the circumstances that led to the closures. In the last 8 months, AAI had developed a new relationship with one of the orphanages that was closed. Three AAI families received referrals from that orphanage and those families have been informed of the circumstances for their child or children. Those children have been reassigned to other licensed orphanages and it is the goal that AAI will work with the new orphanages to process the adoptions.

It is important to understand that children that are offered for adoption come to AAI via different Ethiopian orphanages that are licensed to place children for international adoption. AAI works consistently with 5 local orphanages in Ethiopia and is open to establishing relationships with other interested orphanages around the country. Currently, we work with a total of 12 orphanages.

In order to work with an orphanage it is required by law that a partnership agreement be entered into between the two parties. These agreements are usually open-ended. The relationship between the two parties must be defined in terms of responsibility. AAI’s responsibilities can include, for example, providing medical care for children offered for adoption, making monthly donations to assist the orphanage with overhead costs to provide for all the children in care, screening prospective adoptive families by way of the homestudy process, and providing copies of all required post-placements reports. Responsibilities of a licensed orphanage referring children for adoption usually include such items as providing full and complete documents for adoption processing, informing AAI of medical issues that arise with children we are placing, and maintaining contact with the biological relatives of the child regarding court appointments. Obviously, both orphanages and adoption agencies are required to comply with all rules and regulations of the Ethiopian government. As Temesgen has stated to our staff many times: “our general presumption is that both agencies and the orphanages with whom we collaborate work according to the rules and regulations of Ethiopia. If an orphanage does not work according to the rules and regulations they are sanctioned.”

Temesgen has been informed that the annual court closure will occur from August 6th through September 18th. Today we were informed that two AAI families have been assigned court dates for August 3rd. At this point, it is unlikely that more court dates will be scheduled in August. Possibly, court dates will be scheduled for late September/October before the court closure so that adoptive families will have time to organize travel plans during the court closure. Alternatively, the court may wait to schedule fall court dates until after the court is again open. We will just have to wait and see how the court will proceed with scheduling fall court dates.

Posted by Cindy at 1:58 AM 0 comments

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Labels: Adoption Advocates

Gladney Response to Closure (Initiative Ethiopia)

Dear Gladney Ethiopia Program families,

Belay Tafesse (Gladney’s in-country representative) informed us that the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNR) (one of the 11 regions in Ethiopia) is in the process of closing a number of orphanages in the Sidama and Wolayita zones within their region. He informed us that Initiative Ethiopia, an orphanage in Awasa (the capital city of the SNNR) from which Gladney has previously received referrals of children for international adoption, has been closed. The region has not issued official communication regarding the reasons why they are closing orphanages (including Initiative Ethiopia), but we have been made aware that the orphanage has shown a lack of responsiveness to the regional government regarding record keeping and improving the orphanage’s standards of care. It is our understanding that the regional government has taken children living in the orphanages that have been closed to other orphanages within Ethiopia.

There are children in the foster care centers in Addis Ababa who were referred to Gladney from the Awasa Initiative Ethiopia orphanage who have been referred to adoptive families and whose adoptions have not been finalized by the federal court yet. We do not anticipate that the closure of the orphanage in Awasa will delay the adoption process for these children because the non-governmental organization of Initiative Ethiopia is still in operation and has not been closed. Though Initiative Ethiopia will no longer run an orphanage in the southern region of Ethiopia, Initiative Ethiopia remains licensed for their operations in Ethiopia. It is our understanding that the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s, and Youth Affairs and the federal court will continue to review and process adoption cases of children referred from Initiative Ethiopia whose files were open at MOWCYA and the federal court prior to the closure of the orphanage.

Families still awaiting finalization of their adoptions or placement of their children who were referred from Initiative Ethiopia in Awasa have been contacted individually regarding this information, and they may contact their caseworker if they have questions.

We are not aware of the possible closure of any other orphanages from which we currently receive referrals of children available for intercountry adoption. These are the 5 orphanages that Gladney currently receives child referrals from:

The Bana Center orphanage in Mekele

Bridge of Hope orphanage in Gonder

Kebebe Tsehai orphanage in Addis Ababa

Kechene orphanage in Addis Ababa

Kolfe orphanage in Addis Ababa

We will discuss this announcement on our monthly conference call next Wednesday, July 27th at 4 pm CST (2 pm PST, 3 pm MST, 5pm EST). As always with program wide conference calls, the call will be recorded and later posted to your MyGladney account, so you will have access to listen to the conference call if you are unable to participate on the live call.

While the closure of this orphanage will impact the number of children that are referred to Gladney in the coming months for inter-country adoption, we still have many children in the foster care centers in Addis Ababa who have been referred to us from the other orphanages listed above, and we will continue to receive referrals from the orphanages listed above. The orphanages, local government offices, and our in-country staff are continuing to prepare paperwork for referrals of children, and our in-country staff will continue to send each child’s referral once all of the necessary documentation is complete. The Gladney Center remains committed to our Ethiopian adoption program and to finding permanent adoptive homes for orphans.

If you have any questions about this information, please contact your Africa Program Caseworker. For adoptive families who are currently working on getting through the Gladney application/approval process, please contact your Program Assistant with questions.

Regards,

Gladney Ethiopia Program Team

[Please keep in mind that government agencies in Ethiopia are aware of information that is posted by adoptive parents on public forums on the internet (blogs, chat groups, yahoo boards, etc.). Therefore, Gladney asks that you remain sensitive to the information you post on the internet and refrain from posting information and your personal opinions/interpretations as information can easily be misconstrued or misinterpreted.]

Posted by Cindy at 1:49 AM 0 comments

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Labels: Gladney, Initiative Ethiopia

TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2011

Do you have something you would like to add?

Please feel free to leave a comment and I will add any new information you feel is important. I will not publish any comments.

Posted by Cindy at 4:55 PM 0 comments

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Holt Letters to Clients Regarding Mussie Closure.

July 5

Over the course of the last several months Holt’s adoptive families have been incredibly patient and understanding as various rumors in Ethiopia have been sorted out, and worked through. We thank you for your understanding of the recent challenges and the changes.

Holt Ethiopia has informed us that Holt’s partner Mussie Child Care Center has had its license to operate revoked by the government of Ethiopia. As we understand it at this time, the reason for this revocation is that Mussie works primarily in adoption, not doing enough other humanitarian work. The revocation had nothing to do with the quality of child care provided and we understand that there have been no allegations of misconduct on the part of Mussie staff.

As a reminder, the legal framework in Ethiopia does not permit Holt to operate a child care center therefore requiring partnerships with local organizations that provide child care. Mussie is a large organization that works with a variety of partners. Holt partners with Mussie in the area of intercountry adoption and we have placed significant numbers of children from this organization’s orphanages in the last couple of years. Even though Mussie does provide other humanitarian work, some officials feel it is inadequate relative to the efforts they do in the area of intercountry adoption. As you are likely aware Holt International has a large family preservation project in Southern Ethiopia and is supporting the building of a hospital in Shinshicho. These projects are not carried out by Mussie, but are directly implemented by Holt International in Ethiopia.

Like you, our immediate concern is for your children and how this will impact the completion of your adoption process. Children who were in Mussie’s Durame orphanage and matched with a Holt family have been transferred to orphanages Holt partners with in the capital of Addis Ababa. Children who were in Mussie’s Wolayita orphanage have been transferred to another licensed child care center in Wolayita. We are still awaiting specific details regarding this new location.

As this announcement has just been made there are many unanswered questions. We will continue to update you as we receive more detailed information from our Ethiopia staff.

{*Please note that Mussie is only one of the orphanages that Holt partners with. If your child is referred originally through Help for the Needy (Halaba, Negeste Axum), or Mission of Charity orphanage this notification is not relevant to your case.}

This is what we know so far:

Adoption Processing: It is unclear at this point what the revocation means for adoption processing. Holt Ethiopia staff will be meeting with the Ethiopian authorities over the next several days to clarify the situation. At this point, however the Ethiopian authorities have stated support in working with Holt to complete adoption cases for children in Mussie’s care. We expect naturally that cases that are further along (have a Federal court decision or assigned court date) will be the least impacted. But again, we will not know for sure until the meetings have been completed with the Ethiopian authorities.

Birth Parent Meetings: During this time Holt will no longer be able to offer birth parent meetings. These meetings were arranged by Mussie and Holt is not able to facilitate these meetings independently.

Child Releases: As mentioned above Holt also partners with Negeste Axum in the North of Ethiopia, and with Help for the Needy Association in Halaba. We believe that this announcement will have no effect on children released to us from these two orphanages.

Holt regrets that this announcement may cause additional stress and anxiety for your family. We realize that you may have questions and concerns, and we are happy to speak with you anytime. Please do not hesitate to call us or email us. Families who are directly impacted by this announcement have been contacted and we will continue to keep everyone up to date as any additional information becomes available.

Warmly,

Africa Programs Staff

Holt International Children’s Services

July 8

We know that the news of the Mussie Orphanage License revocation has been upsetting, and for that we are truly sorry. Actions within Ethiopia were taken quickly and were outside of normal protocols and procedures for closing an orphanage. We are still working through what this will mean for the children and our families. We apologize that his update is coming out so late on a Friday. We have literally been on the phone all day, and we hope that the information contained here is somewhat reassuring.

This is what we know so far:

Warmly,

Africa Programs Staff

Holt International Children’s Services

July 15

We know that the news regarding Mussie’s closure has been disconcerting and we are sorry about this. This week, there have been some positive developments:

Good News:

Last week we were asked to cancel the court dates for three families who were about to travel as the courts were not certain they would be able to hear their cases. Since then, these families have been assigned a new court date and will travel soon! It was not necessary to cancel any additional trips to Ethiopia.

At this time children who are in Addis without a court decree have not been moved. We are not sure if this means that they will not be moved in the future, but it seems to be a good sign. There has been no additional talk of returning these children to Durame.

Appropriate paperwork has been filed so that children who were transferred to Kingdom Vision International in Wolayita can be moved. Our Country Representative, Dr. Fikru, is in the South currently working with authorities on transferring these children.

WHAT WE KNOW

Rumors about Mussie staff being arrested or imprisoned are false. No orphanage staff has been charged with any wrong doing. An investigation is underway and Mussie staff has been interviewed and are fully cooperative. At this time we understand informally from various sources that no evidence of unethical conduct or illegal activities have surfaced from this investigation. We have spoken with other adoption agencies who are affected by the Mussie closure and they report the same information.

Rumors that Mussie was operating without a valid license to do so are false. Mussie’s license was valid up to the moment of the forced closure

The rash actions taken in this rapid closure, including transferring the children in Mussie Wolayta to another Wolaiyta orphanage were not conducted within the context of Ethiopian law. Action was taken despite a lack of evidence of any orphanage misconduct.

It is our understanding that there is no precedent for this rapid type of closure and so this has added to some of the confusion and limits our ability to predict what will happen.

Holt was not aware that this revocation was going to happen and could not have foreseen the way in which this occurred.

INFORMATION ON THE CHILDREN’S LOCATION

Children in Wolaiyta: We have learned from our staff on the ground that children who were in the Mussie Wolaita orphanage are safe, and have been transferred to Kingdom Vision International, another licensed facility in Wolaiyta.

Children who are in Addis, but whose court decree has not yet been issued: There is some discussion that the government may choose to transfer children who are in Addis back down to Durame if a court decree has not yet been issued for their case. This is something that may or may not happen. Our staff on the ground is strenuously advocating and legally petitioning for the children to remain in Addis, since it is clearly in the children’s best interest. We will update families as we have information about transfer of children from one orphanage to another. Please note that the original transfer of children from Durame to Addis was done in a perfectly legal and proper fashion.

Who has “Legal Guardianship”? Legal guardianship of children who were originally in a Mussie-run orphanage remains with Mussie. At this time discussions are underway to determine to which agency the legal guardianship shall be transferred. We do not yet know what delays may be associated with this or when this may be resolved.

CASE PROCESSING

First and foremost we would like to share that our staff on the ground is optimistic that all cases will continue to be processed through to completion. There may however, be some delays associated with the closure of Mussie as a determination is made regarding who shall be granted guardianship of children who were in Mussie’s care.

Children who are already home: Please be assured that there is no reason whatsoever to think that the information in your child reports is inaccurate or incorrect. This closure is not a result of any unethical conduct, wrong doing, or shoddy work on the part of Mussie staff.

Cases with Court Decrees Waiting for Embassy Submission

We understand that your cases will continue to be processed as usual. If your child is currently still in Wolaiyta we anticipate that they will be transferred to one of the care centers we work with in Addis at some point. Time frame in which this will occur is not yet known to us.

Cases which have been heard by the Court but do not yet have a Court Decree

If your case has been heard in court but a court decree has not yet been issued, your case will continue to be processed as normal. Ministry letters will continue to be issued for these cases. However, it is possible that there may be some delay.

Cases that have Court Dates but have not yet traveled

Unfortunately, Holt had to ask families with court cases scheduled for next week to cancel their trip. We were very upset to have to do this and know that this was very hard on these families. The courts were unable to confirm that they could receive our families and we were not able to guarantee that these families would have been able to see their children. We do not yet know if the next group of families will be asked to postpone their travels as well, and anxiously await additional information from our staff on the ground. Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.

We are happy to answer any additional questions that you may have about your adoption. Due to a high volume of call/emails we apologize that we are not able to respond to your inquiries as quickly as we would like. We will, however, respond to your inquiry as quickly as we can and will continue to send email updates as concrete information becomes available.

Warmly,

Africa Programs Staff

Holt International

Many families have expressed concern and frustration over this recent orphanage closure and how it might affect their adoption process in general. Ethiopia and the US Embassy have implemented many changes in just the last year which have contributed to some of the unknowns and delays that we have experienced. Following are some observations regarding Ministry Letters and new releases.

Ministry Letters: Ministry letters required for the issuance of the court decree have been delayed lately. This is something that has historically been the case. Prior to adoptive families traveling to Ethiopia, court cases would be re-scheduled often 3-4 times because these letters were not available. Now that families have to appear in court, the letters are still often delayed, but the court date has remained the same.

Please remember: a delay in the issuance of the Ministry letter does not mean that something is wrong with your adoption case, rather it is reflective of the challenges the Ministry faces as they process a high volume of adoption cases with limited resources. Unfortunately, Ministry letters are not issued in chronological order of your court dates. This means some families may jump ahead of others. While it is regrettable, it is not something that is in Holt’s control.

We have heard rumors that arrangements have been underway to provide additional resources to the Ministry to help with case processing. If/when we hear more details, we will share them with you.

Releases: Many families have inquired about current wait times and what Mussie’s closure means for the wait for a referral. Holt has two additional partners that we work with in Ethiopia, and we expect more partnerships to be formed in the near future. Since these are new partnerships, we are still learning what the pace of releases will be over all.

Wait for Referral: Currently, the estimated wait time is 9-12 months for a referral. As of now, families who have waited the longest have been waiting 9 months.

We are happy to answer any questions you may have!

Warmly,

Africa Programs Staff

Holt International Children’s Services

Countries: Ethiopia

Persons: Ato Temesgen G/Salassie, Belachew Tafesse