Pre-Adoption Training Given to Ethiopian Adoptive Families

By Meron Tekleberhan

October 25, 2011 - A first round training session for Ethiopian adoptive families was given by the KIDMIA Foundation. The first round pre-adoption training was conducted in Addis Ababa from October 07 to 08, 2011 at the Gudinea Tumsa Holistic Training Center.

The importance of expanding domestic adoption services as an alternative form of care cannot be stressed enough according to Ato Aschalew Abebe Director of Kidmia Foundation. The necessity arises from the large numbers of children left without proper care due to economic poverty and the HIV/AIDs epidemic in the country.

“The orphan crisis in Ethiopia has related to a corresponding flourish of child care institutions and adoption agencies in the country. Addressing the plight of orphans and vulnerable children through domestic adoption services is a timely issue that needs to be planned and implemented by development agencies at all levels said Ato Aschalew.

A total of 16 couples (32 people) attended the first round pre-adoption training. These participants were drawn from 5 cities and towns, including Addis Ababa, Adama, Wonji Geferssa, Zeway and Bekoje.

The first round pre-adoption training required a considerable amount of preparation according to Ato Aschalew.  

Kidimia Foundation partnered with Kingdom Vision International, Food for the Hungry Ethiopia, Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia, and Bethany Christian Services in organizing the training said Ato Aschalew.

“These partners have contributed financial and non financial resources required to organize the planned pre-adoption training for the already committed adoptive families. Kidmia foundation took the lead in organizing the training and assigning qualified and experienced professional trainers for the purpose of conducting the training” added the Director of Kidmia Foundation.

Ato Aschalew explained that the training had the primary objective of creating awareness of the current level of the orphan crisis in Ethiopia and to promote domestic adoption as valid response to this problem. The training also hoped to establish an understanding of the existing services for orphans and vulnerable children including existing policies, procedures and guidelines of the Ethiopian Government for domestic adoption.

Along with forming a common understanding of the orphan problem and domestic adoption as one of the best alternatives to responding to the crisis the training also aimed to educate potential adoptive parents. According guidelines to assess the eligibility of adoptive families, creating awareness on the major ethics of adoption and improving the parenting and bonding skills of prospective parents formed major elements of the training said Ato Aschalew.

Nine sessions were offered to the trainees encompassing: 1. The Causes and Consequences of the OVC crisis in Ethiopia, 2. Existing services for OVC in Ethiopia and the respective challenges, 3. Domestic adoption as one of the best responses to the OVC crisis in Ethiopia, 4. Ethiopian Government policies, procedures and guidelines for Domestic Adoption, 5. Major Process Steps in Domestic Adoption, 6. Parenting Skills, 7. Home Study 8. Ethics in Adoption, 9. Attachment and Bonding.

“The planned budget for the first round pre-adoption training was Birr 38,487 Birr, however a total of 24,716 Birr was actually utilized to conduct the first round pre-adoption training and the remaining 12,500 Birr from the first round training budget will be used to cover expenses related to home study, adoption application, travel and others explained the training report” explained Ato Aschalew.

The second round pre-adoption training will be organized in Nazareth at the end of October 2011.

After the first round pre-adoption training Kidmia is now prepared and looking forward to facilitating and coordinating the placement of eligible children into loving, caring and forever families domestically in collaboration with its strong partners including Kingdom Vision International, Gladney Center for Adoption and Bethany Christian Services. 

Ato Aschalew explains the next step is going to be conducting home studies for adoptive families who received the training and clearing each and every target adoptable children for adoption. This will open the way to matching eligible children with adoptive families and compiling the required legal documents for both the children and adoptive parents.

The final steps in the process include presenting the applications for domestic adoption to the relevant court, ministry and offices of the government and all ensuing procedures.

Participants of the training were given a training certificate jointly signed and stamped by KIDMIA Foundation and Kingdom Vision International. The certificate was awarded by Mr. Eyob Kolcha, who is the founder and executive director of Kingdom Vision International/KVI.

KIDMIA foundation has also provided the trainers with certificate of appreciation to acknowledge their commitment and motivation to realize the objective of, permanently placing orphan and vulnerable children in a caring, loving and forever families domestically.

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Meron Tekleberhan is Addis Ababa based reporter for Ezega.com. She can be reached by sending email through this form.