When our children were confiscated by the southern government in Ethiopia last summer, we were told by our adoption agency that there was a possibility we would never be able to adopt them. Wading through months of agonizing waiting while they were being held in an undisclosed location was one of the most difficult times in our lives. What made that season even more trying was the lack of support and transparency our adoption agency was providing. The more we began to research and ask pointed questions, the more things were not adding up.
One of the biggest graces to us last fall was getting connected with an adoption consulting firm called Ethiostork. It's director, Duni Zenaye, is a woman filled with the Spirit, empowered by an incredible knowledge of Ethiopian adoption law, and seasoned with years of experience in the field. God led us to Ethiostork, and we are convinced that if we had not hired its team of consultants and lawyers to fight the legal battles that we were wrapped up in that our children would not be home today.
One of the services that Ethiostork provides is orphan status verification reports. Most reputable adoption agencies provide thorough background checks and reports on the children they refer. Our agency did not provide any type of investigative report on either of our children and we learned virtually nothing about our kids' social history from them. We are so thankful that we hired Ethiostork not only to secure our children's release from the southern government, but also to provide us with orphan status verification reports. The information we received from these reports is invaluable to us and something deeply precious that we will be able to pass on to our kids when they are older. Ethiostork did thorough investigations into both of our children's social history and captured beautiful footage of interviews with eye witnesses related to their cases. We can't imagine NOT having this footage, these stories, this information!
Not only is an orphan status verification report precious to a family personally, but it is solid evidence to be able to present to the US embassy on behalf of a child's file. When the US embassy saw that we had conducted background checks on our children through Ethiostork, they were extremely impressed. In light of all the grief we had gone through with our children being confiscated and because of the thorough job Ethiostork did to present our files to the embassy, the embassy was willing to expedite Hosanna's case once it was finally ready for submission. We were so grateful to be able to present our files to the embassy after Ethiostork's work because we were confident that we had done everything we could to ensure our children's orphan status.
If you are in the middle of an Ethiopian adoption and you are looking for consultation in regards to questions that your agency has not been able to answer, we implore you to contact Ethiostork. If you are considering adopting from Ethiopia and are researching adoption agencies, we want to strongly challenge you to take into consideration all of the ethical issues that are at stake. Don't just choose an agency based on quick referral times or because you have friends who have gone through them. You are attempting to bring flesh and blood into your forever family- please do the research to make sure that the agency you sign on with is above reproach and has a long standing reputation for dealing with families with integrity. Duni from Ethiostork has written a great article here detailing questions to consider when choosing an adoption agency. We hope those considering adoption will take her words and ours to heart.
One of the biggest graces to us last fall was getting connected with an adoption consulting firm called Ethiostork. It's director, Duni Zenaye, is a woman filled with the Spirit, empowered by an incredible knowledge of Ethiopian adoption law, and seasoned with years of experience in the field. God led us to Ethiostork, and we are convinced that if we had not hired its team of consultants and lawyers to fight the legal battles that we were wrapped up in that our children would not be home today.
One of the services that Ethiostork provides is orphan status verification reports. Most reputable adoption agencies provide thorough background checks and reports on the children they refer. Our agency did not provide any type of investigative report on either of our children and we learned virtually nothing about our kids' social history from them. We are so thankful that we hired Ethiostork not only to secure our children's release from the southern government, but also to provide us with orphan status verification reports. The information we received from these reports is invaluable to us and something deeply precious that we will be able to pass on to our kids when they are older. Ethiostork did thorough investigations into both of our children's social history and captured beautiful footage of interviews with eye witnesses related to their cases. We can't imagine NOT having this footage, these stories, this information!
Not only is an orphan status verification report precious to a family personally, but it is solid evidence to be able to present to the US embassy on behalf of a child's file. When the US embassy saw that we had conducted background checks on our children through Ethiostork, they were extremely impressed. In light of all the grief we had gone through with our children being confiscated and because of the thorough job Ethiostork did to present our files to the embassy, the embassy was willing to expedite Hosanna's case once it was finally ready for submission. We were so grateful to be able to present our files to the embassy after Ethiostork's work because we were confident that we had done everything we could to ensure our children's orphan status.
If you are in the middle of an Ethiopian adoption and you are looking for consultation in regards to questions that your agency has not been able to answer, we implore you to contact Ethiostork. If you are considering adopting from Ethiopia and are researching adoption agencies, we want to strongly challenge you to take into consideration all of the ethical issues that are at stake. Don't just choose an agency based on quick referral times or because you have friends who have gone through them. You are attempting to bring flesh and blood into your forever family- please do the research to make sure that the agency you sign on with is above reproach and has a long standing reputation for dealing with families with integrity. Duni from Ethiostork has written a great article here detailing questions to consider when choosing an adoption agency. We hope those considering adoption will take her words and ours to heart.
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