Mixed news

Courts are not closing this year! Courts are closing rumors. Courts are closing for part of the rainy season not as long as normally? ANYWAYS it is official that I'm happy/sad! It was so exciting to hear that courts would stay open this year (normally close AUG/SEPT/OCT) as that might mean we would hear something sooner and maybe travel sooner. Now with courts closing for what I think is a shorter time than normall this still is true - just not as much potential. The back & forth in this process is something! WHEW.

More good news - courts have started seeing cases of abandonment from Addis Ababa again. The concerns over people taking advantage of the children to make a profit have been investigated for the last few months and the determination has been made that some agencies (our agency was one of the first ones) are above board and so cases for adoption from these agencies are being heard again. I'm still waiting for more news on the whole issue and the problem agency.

Again its just crazy to me that in a country that has the one of the highest cases of AIDS in the world and has one of the highest numbers of orphans, that people would sell a child. This hurts so many. Still I guess I shouldn't be surprised either because there are always those willing to take advantage of any situation for their own benifit above all moral considerations. That's a reality of the world.

However the hearing of cases from Addis is good news for everyone (any delay affects us all) and YEA to those parents (referrals of children from Addis) who have been waiting, along with their children, for months for their court date to be set during this investigation. It is my ferverent hope that there are no hitches once they do go to court as the parents have been watching their child grow older without them and the children have been growing up with out a parents who love them there to take care of them, over all of this time.

Court has been getting less sure than it use to be. The requirements have been raised (remaining family must appear and relinquish thier rights to the child - paperwork is more to make sure the families/child have gone through all of the various steps required before court) - medical is more and so forth. This is all god stuff but it makes the chance that something can go wrong on the first try at court higher. There have been many more posts of not passing court the first time or at all, over the last few months.

Hoping to get a referral in the next few months and keeping our fingers (and toes!!) crossed for everyone. With a shout out to LOVE and GOODNESS in the universe in the face of it all and to the PEOPLE who are loving and caring for our KIDDOS through all of this.