Good Morning Ethiopia Families,
We hope you all are well and having a good week so far! It has been so good to be jumping back into monthly calls this week and having the chance to connect with so many of our families. We know that there is a lot that has been happening over the last month with our process families so it is always just good to reconnect and make sure that you all are feeling updated and supported. Each of you, and your adoptions, are very important to us so while it may feel as though things are always shifting, we hold the value of communication very highly. Due to this, we wanted to send an update today that we received from our staff regarding Bethzatha Children’s Home Association (BCHA), one of the orphanages that we work with in Ethiopia.
First of all, we want to clarify that we have not seen this change impact any of our families thus far and do not believe that this change will have any major impact for our families in the future of the program. However it is always important to us that we share these kind of updates even if it is just to keep you in the loop. What we have been notified of is that several of the homes in the southern region of Ethiopia run by BCHA have been closed by the regional government offices. Now, BCHA as an orphanage is still open and operating, this closure has only impacted the homes in the south. Their Addis Ababa branch is continuing to care for and assign children for placement from other parts of the country including the areas surrounding Addis Ababa and the northern region of Ethiopia. Of course there are questions coming as to why these homes were closed and honestly, it is hard to know a single reason for this. This does not seem to be linked to any questionable ethics and we can assure you that Almaz and our staff, have and will continue to always use discernment when placing children through any orphanage and region in Ethiopia. You may have seen reference to other orphanage closures in the south, particularly through the US Department of State who referenced the closure of Mussie orphanage on July 21st. AGCI does not have a working partnership with this orphanage, but this could indicate that orphanage closures in the south are not exclusive to BCHA homes. You can read the notice by visiting the DoS website at: US Department of State--Notice: Orphanage Closures in Ethiopia.
Kiersten was actually able to visit several BCHA homes in the south when she traveled to Ethiopia last year. Through conversations with staff members and seeing the homes first hand it was clear there was still much work to be done in order to be able to house and care for children long term in these facilities. Although it was clear that BCHA was doing a good job with the resources they had, we know that these homes at the time did not seem to be a long term solution for children who perhaps would not be eligible to be placed for adoption. We understand that on a grander scale the government of Ethiopia is looking at long term orphan care solutions for many children in addition to adoption so it could be that these homes simply were not able to fulfill that role. Again, at this time we do not know the exact reason for these homes closing, but wanted to share this perspective to show that there could in reality be several factors that could have led to this decision.
Now again, for all the families who are currently adopting children from the southern region of Ethiopia, Almaz shared with us that she does not believe that this will have any negative impact on these cases. This has also been seen in the last week or so with the progress of all our current AGCI/BCHA cases for children from these regions. So far, in the last week (since the closure has happened) these cases have all been approved at court, assigned a court date, or their file has been opened and we are awaiting a court date. Of course, this may impact our ability, at least for a time, to place future children from the south, but again we do not foresee this impacting our current cases and we hope that this will not impact overall timelines as we continue to place children from other regions of Ethiopia.
We felt that this update was an important one though for our current program, as well as post adoptive families, due to the considerable amount of work that AGCI has done in this area of Ethiopia. This is not only limited to the advocacy and placement of children but also includes work done through missions and orphan care. We know many of you have children home now who are from this region of Ethiopia and it holds a very special place in your life and is a very important chapter of their story. This is a very unique part of Ethiopia, and if the opportunity arises for AGCI to continue to work in this region, then we will be thrilled to once again provide support and advocate for children and families in this remote part of the world.
Thanks so much to our AGCI Ethiopia family for your continued prayers, heart and dedication to these children! We’re looking forward to connecting with many of you again soon!
God bless,
~Julie, Kiersten, Toni, and Brandi
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