107 Italian families waiting. Block adoptions from Ethiopia: couples in alarm

107 Italian families waiting. Block adoptions from Ethiopia: couples in alarm

Viviana Daloiso Saturday 13 January 2018

The decision of the Parliament of Addis Abeba makes fear the odyssey experienced between 2013 and 2016 with the Congo. Ciai: «It was necessary to stop the first pairings and dossiers in the Horn of Africa»

Block adoptions from Ethiopia: couples in alarm

Someone already fears that it may be a new Congo, for Italian adoptions. It was September 25, 2013 when Kinshasa suddenly announced the freezing of practices: "Enough, the children stay here." It was the beginning of an endless epic for over a hundred families and children. Now it's up to Ethiopia.

Families, delays.Addis Ababa's parliamentary decision came as a cold shower at the beginning of the week: unexpected, by the international adoption committee and the adoptive bodies, given that just 24 hours earlier the Italian embassy had assured everyone of the good intentions of the local government, especially comparisons of Rome. It is, however, widely announced because the issue of the adoption of Ethiopian children has been at the center of a heated debate in the Horn of Africa since 2013, following the mysterious death of a 13 year old woman in the United States, charged with the responsibility of the adoptive parents. A hundred families involved in the decision: 22 already protagonists of a combination (therefore already in contact with a child), 85 with open dossiers on the country. "For three years we have stopped directing families on Ethiopia - explains Paola Crestani, president of the Ciai (Italian Center for Child Aid) - the situation was very delicate, the mood in the country very strong". The institution is the first, in Italian history, to have adopted a child from Ethiopia (it was 1990) and among the only seven authorized to operate in the country (along with Aiau, Ami, Enzo B, Aid Center for Ethiopia , Cifa and Icplf): "Perhaps we had to move first, even simply to recommend to the institutions not to take on new tasks and start combining in the country". A stop arrived for the first time by the Italian Commission only last November. in Italian history, to have adopted a child from Ethiopia (it was 1990) and among the only seven authorized to operate in the country (together with Aiau, Ami, Enzo B, Aid Center for Ethiopia, Cifa and Icplf): « Perhaps we had to move first, even simply by recommending institutions not to take on new tasks and start matching in the country ". A stop arrived for the first time by the Italian Commission only last November. in Italian history, to have adopted a child from Ethiopia (it was 1990) and among the only seven authorized to operate in the country (together with Aiau, Ami, Enzo B, Aid Center for Ethiopia, Cifa and Icplf): « Perhaps we had to move first, even simply by recommending institutions not to take on new tasks and start matching in the country ". A stop arrived for the first time by the Italian Commission only last November.

Five years of blackout. In the Ethiopia affair, on the other hand, the paralysis of the Cai in the last five years and the appointment - before the summer - of the vice-president Laura Laera, which only from September has resumed to reunite the organism and to dialogue with institutions and families. "We pay these years of emptiness and the total absence of dialogue with foreign countries", says Gianfranco Arnoletti, president of Cifa. The NGO, which in 2017 collected first place in Italy for the number of adopted children (139), has 30 families in the new "meat grinder" Ethiopia: "They are all anguished, they call us every day, they want to know what they are happening. And we explain it to him as we can, since to read the text of this new law we will have to wait at least a month ". Difficult, Africa. It is very difficult for Ethiopia "where while politicians are scornful and present measures when there is no opposition, as it seems to have happened in this case, institutions are overflowing with abandoned children in need of families. It is no coincidence that - continues Arnoletti - Ethiopia is also the country on which more cooperation projects of the European Union and the Italian agency are concentrated ". And that from which, between 2000 and 2015, we adopted 3,115 minors.

The open tables."The truth is that the countries that" close "are a defeat for the adoption system - is the opinion of Marco Griffini of Aibi -. There is Ethiopia, yes, but there are also Nepal and Cambodia, for example, that for some time have asked us to reopen the dialogue and the doors. And again Bolivia, with which only in the last few months we have succeeded in some combination, and the same Congo, where Italy in fact no longer adopts ". The good news is that the tables on individual countries have begun again, in these days, in the Commission: "We faced exactly the nodes of Nepal, of Vietnam, Burkina Faso", reveals Maria Teresa Maccanti Network aid assistance received (Nope) . The Cai is now planning trips, meetings, new bilateral agreements. Trash documents and decisions approved monocratically by the former vice-president, Silvia Della Monica, and submits everything to collegial decisions, as required by law. "There is much to do to share - continuing Maccanti - The numbers speak of an unprecedented crisis, in 2017 for the first time, we are stable below the 100 adoptions." The count at the national level would not have exceeded 1,200 (these estimates are almost certain), and is a historical minimum. «But we see the goodwill and the dialogue, which for too long have been lacking». 200 (these are almost certain estimates), and is a historical minimum. «But we see the goodwill and the dialogue, which for too long have been lacking». 200 (these are almost certain estimates), and is a historical minimum. «But we see the goodwill and the dialogue, which for too long have been lacking».

The appeal to politics. The adoptive bodies will soon meet, en bloc, also to launch a strong and shared appeal to politics: "It is above all the lack of a political project, in the last five years, that we find ourselves in this critical situation - continues Griffini -. If it is true that Italy needs a plan on the birth and the Europe of a Marshall plan for Africa, adoptions can not be put aside anymore ». Beyond Ethiopia - and beyond the elections - the world of adoptions calls for a breakthrough.

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