So now that I have covered Asian adoption programs and U.S. adoption options, I am moving on to African adoptions. The first that I will cover is Ethiopia, which is a program that is close to my heart.

Ethiopia is a country near the equator in Eastern Africa, which currently has approximately 5 million orphans. Drought, famine, poverty and disease, especially HIV/AIDS, has devastated the people of Ethiopia and creates more and more orphans each year. The children are gorgeous and are tested for HIV, Hepatitis and several other diseases before being ready for adoption.

There are quite a few great things about adopting from Ethiopia. For one, it is one of the cheaper international adoption programs. Secondly, having your child escorted is an option in many situations. While traveling was an amazing part of our adoption from Ethiopia, it can be difficult for some, and having the option of having your child escorted is nice. Another great thing about adopting from Ethiopia is that there are very few restrictions placed on family size, age of adoptive parents, etc. While many programs have strict guidelines as to who can and cannot adopt, Ethiopia is very open to most adoptive family situations. The program typically moves pretty quickly (by international adoption standards).

Parent requirements- General age guidelines require parents to be between 25 and 50 years of age, but the upper age is flexible, especially with older children. Married couples should be married for at least one year (although some agencies require more) and single women are permitted to adopt. Please note that Ethiopia does not allow homosexual women or men to adopt. Everything else is fairly flexible, although certain agencies enforce additional requirements and limitations on top of these. For example, some agencies require first time parents to be open to gender, or older adoptive parents to adopt an older child.

Children Available-Children are available in all ages, from very young infants up to teenagers. Single children and sibling groups, sometimes of even four or five children or more are available. As with most programs girls are in higher “demand” than boys. There are special needs children available and Ethiopia is one of the countries that do allow HIV+ children to be adopted and there are many children with HIV and other special needs as well as many healthy children that need homes. Ethiopia does allow for two unrelated children to be adopted, but some agencies do this and others do not.

Process in a nutshell- The Ethiopian adoption process begins in the U.S. with the adoptive family completing a homestudy and a dossier after selecting their agency. A family can be matched with a waiting child early in the process or wait for a referral after their dossier is turned in. Once the dossier is sent to Ethiopia and the family has a referral, the family waits for their case to be processed in the Ethiopian courts. A representative for the agency represents the parents in court. Once the adoption is approved in court (usually one to three months after referral and completed dossier), then a new birth certificate and passport are obtained, and once a visa appointment is arranged, the adoptive parents may travel. If a child is being escorted, then the I600 visa application is filed in the U.S., and once it is approved, the child can be escorted to the U.S. For parents that travel, the trip is approximately five business days.

The wait for a referral varies and depends greatly on the age/sex being requested. For a child over two years of age, the wait is typically very short, and many parents are able to choose a waiting child almost immediately. For infants, the wait varies, but as the program becomes more and more popular, the waits get longer. Currently agencies are saying approximately 4-6 months wait for a baby girl and slightly shorter for a baby boy. Please check with agencies regarding their current wait times. With a referral, adoptive parents typically receive one or more photographs, blood test results, as much of the child's history as is known and some basic developmental and health information. Some agencies provide videos of waiting children.

Fees- Fee information can vary greatly from agency to agency and be difficult to accurately estimate, but total costs for an Ethiopian adoption average $10,000 to $12,000 without homestudy, travel and USCIS costs. Often the fees for older children are lower, and fees for second and third, etc. children are drastically reduced. Contact agencies for detailed fee information.

Here is the list of agencies that I found who claim to place children from Ethiopia. Please do your research, as Ethiopia requires all agencies to be licensed in Ethiopia and in the U.S. to place children with U.S. families.
• Adoption Advocates International
• Adoption Associates, Inc.
• Americans for African Adoptions, Inc.
• Bal Jagat - Children's World, Inc.
• Bay Area Adoption Services
• Children's Home Society & Family Services
• Christian World Adoption (CWA)
• Dove Adoptions International, Inc.
• Wide Horizons for Children, Inc.

To network with other parents and get lots of valuable information, here is the link for the large Yahoo Ethiopia adoption group. You can check out the awesome Ethiopia adoption blog here and chat with other parents on the Adoption.com Ethiopia adoption forum here. Many of the agencies also have their own email groups or forums for parents to enjoy. The U.S. Department of State offers detailed information on the process of adopting from Ethiopia here.

Please note that international adoption information can vary from agency to agency and change frequently. This information is research I have done to aid readers only, and all prospective adoptive parents should use this as general info only and contact a licensed adoption agency (or several agencies) to verify information before choosing a program.

*This post is part of a series, giving information on countries and international adoption programs that allow transracial adoption. To see all of the countries I have given information on thus far, click on the category "Transracial Adoption Options" on the right-hand side of this page.