Frustration

Usually we want to post/share our thoughts and feelings about the adoption when things are great, but right now things most definitely are not great. So hopefully this will just be a record of one of the deep "valleys" in this process.

Word in the blogosphere, facebook, and news is that Ethiopia is currently deciding whether or not they should slash their international adoption processing from 50 files/day to 5. There is a huge push by "aid organizations" (UNICEF particularly) to keep orphans in their home countries. They are citing isolated examples of child trafficking as one of the main reasons to make the process more "thorough," and it is not too difficult to find news articles about adoption agencies who are getting reviewed for "suspicious practices." (sorry for all of the quotes... I'll try to slow those down.)

I get that, in the ideal world, we could crank up our international aid and get these poor and starving countries the help they need. But even if that started yesterday, it would take YEARS for that to trickle down to the people who need it. And even then, there are still millions of children whose parents have died from AIDS or otherwise, and that would just get them a more comfortable bed and better food in their orphanage.

I know this is a mixture of preaching to the choir and rambling, but I am frustrated. I cannot believe how overtly evil this world is. In the name of "keeping children with their cultural heritage," we are denying THOUSANDS of kiddos each year the right to have a real bed, a real mom to kiss their foreheads, a real dad to hug them way too tightly. How dark is that? How can God stand to let us humans run this world for a single second more? I am still new to this "the world is NOT what we've been led to believe here in the suburbs" thing, and it's getting overwhelming quickly. Our adoption has been a salve for me, letting me believe that we are doing something to make a small difference. But if Ethiopia legislates us out of the picture, what then? What are we supposed to do? Move our adoption paperwork to a different country? Forget all of the stories, images, and history that we have practically lived in this past year?

Our hearts are hurting, I'm pissed pretty much constantly, and these kids might be receiving a life sentence in 2 days, March 10th.

So we'll pray, sign any petition you put in front of me, and tell everyone we know. (Who don't seem to care nearly as much as we do, judging by the FB response. but that's another blog.)

(this was Joe by the way)

UPDATE: There has been an official slowdown, but international organizations have banded together to keep the Ethiopian adoption process running smoothly, while also building increased security and protective measures to ensure that everything possible is being done "in-country" to keep the families intact and protect them from those who would try to obtain a child illegally. Our agency is still processing adoptions and the courts are moving at a reasonable pace, so we continue on...please keep praying.