sigh

As I alluded to in my last post, and as you may have heard by now, the adoption process in Ethiopia is undergoing changes. I have not posted much about this, since there has not been much detailed information about the changes (and we do not wish to post inaccurate information or to speculate), and, anyway, we really do not know yet how the changes will affect us.

What the US State Department has reported is that the government agency in Ethiopia that reviews all pending intercountry adoption cases has indicated that it will reduce the number of cases it processes on a per day basis. We believe this decision was made in order to enable that agency to focus on improvements to the adoption process and the overall welfare of children in Ethiopia, and so we will trust that things will happen the way they are supposed to.

Of course, that isn't much to go on, and I won't pretend that it is easy to wait to see how things do play out. Especially since we might be waiting a loooooooooong time. But that is the way international adoption goes.

So just a quick update for everyone. I know there a lot of opinions out there about a lot of things related to international adoption, and I imagine that some of you would like to hear more about our opinions, but I hope you will respect our decision to keep those private and not to engage in the "political" (for lack of a better word) side of things. International adoption is a deeply complicated subject, one with many questions and challenges and not always as many clear answers, one that evokes many emotions and passions, and one which is an integral and very personal part of our lives.