Timelines

I know what you’re thinking. At least I think I do. WHEN?

Perhaps the most frequent question we get when we tell people the news of our referral is So when is it happening? When are you bringing him home? We wish we knew! We have no dates to report, but here’s an overview of estimated timelines as of how things stand right now. Mind you, these are estimates and things are apt to change without notice (much as we have experienced since this whole process began in 2008).

The first thing you should know is that Ethiopia recently changed to a two-trip process. Ironically, one of the reasons why we chose Ethiopia is because it only required one trip of about one week. That has changed last summer. The Ethiopian government announced that it was going to require adoptive parents to attend the court date in person. In the past, a representative who works with our agency was given Power of Attorney to do the court business. But now they require adoptive parents to be there in person (only one need go, but there’s no way Bekah or I would do it without the other). Formerly, adoptive parents only needed to go to the Embassy date, when they would come to pick up their child.

According to our local agency, this change was made because the Ethiopian government wants to ensure that adoptive parents are committed. Apparently, there had been some occasions when adoptive parents would arrive in Ethiopia to pick up their child and then bailed, leaving the child in legal limbo. They had already passed court, so the child was theirs. But they arrive and perhaps they didn’t get what they thought they signed up for. This is why it is so important to have a reputable agency that represents the truth of the situation. We’ve heard of instances where adoptive parents think they’re getting a healthy child (or reasonably healthy) only to find upon arrival that the child has special needs.

So when is this first trip? It all depends on when we can get a court date. Now that our paperwork is all in place, our agency sends it to Ethiopia, and they work to set us a court date. The estimated wait time for that is 18-20 weeks, so we don’t expect to go until May. There is a slim chance we could get a court date for April, but more likely that it would go later (into June) than earlier.

After the first trip, then it’s another 8-12 weeks until the second trip for the Embassy Date. And that’s assuming we pass the court on our first try. Passing court has nothing to do with how we ‘perform’ in court or whether or not they deem us as good parents-to-be, but rather it’s a paper-chasing, organizational issue on the part of the Ethiopian courts, and yet another thing we have no control over. There is no reason to believe we won’t pass the first court date, but it happens and things can change without notice. We’ve heard of families getting caught in the midst of change too late to do anything about it. So they go to Ethiopia as planned for the court date but do not pass. If a family does not pass court, they are not required to return for subsequent court dates.

So what happens in the first trip? You’ll have to stay tuned for another blog entry! But I can tell you this much: We’ll finally meet our baby boy Bedilu.