Adoption Update

I received an urgent update from our adoption agency tonight stating several changes to their Ethiopian adoption process.  The change that effects our family is a major delay in the referral process (becoming matched with our children).  This is how they stated it:

"average wait time for the Ethiopia program went from 3-6 months, up to 6-10 months, 

and are currently trending at 12-24 months.   Dove recognizes that this creates an emotional hardship for families and has greatly impacted our decision to temporarily stop accepting new applications to the Ethiopia program...  Families who are currently waiting to be matched may see an additional wait time as noted above. Dove will continue to monitor the situation and notify families."

  

All of this makes us a little sad and disappointed.  When we started this journey, almost 14 months ago, we expected to wait about six months from the time we submitted our dossier (all of our legal documents) to the time we received our match.  We have currently waited 5 months since submitting and now may have another 19 months to go before receiving a match.

There are several events that have happened recently that led to these changes.  The US Embassy and US Immigration have slowed down the process and major changes at SOS EE (the organization running the orphanage) have taken place.

The adoption agency we are working with also stated that they are "placing a temporary hold on accepting new family applications to our Ethiopia adoption program."  This is of some concern to me because without new families wanting to adopt through them, their future seems very unclear.

I am hoping that all of our family and friends will help by praying for this situation.  First, for all of the children waiting to be adopted, and then for the MANY families affected by these changes.  I know God's timing and plan for our family is perfect however the wait is still hard.  I hope the saying "Good things come to those who wait." will be true for us :)

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
   bind them around your neck,
   write them on the tablet of your heart. 

Proverbs 3:3