How does a child come to be in the care of an adoption agency?
Children’s Hope (our agency) currently contracts with 6 orphanages in Ethiopia. Children that are referred to CHI and those residing at the House of Hope (HOH) transition home are children who have been relinquished by a birth parent (or relative), or one who has been abandoned. All children must first be referred to an orphanage before they can be referred to an adoption agency. In the case of relinquished children, the person relinquishing the child(ren) most first complete documents with their city administrator in order to relinquish that child; once completed the child can be taken to an orphanage by the birth relative. Often if it is noted on the documentation that one or both of the birth parents are deceased, an investigation is done to confirm that information. The orphanage will then contact our representative in Ethiopia letting him know that they have children that they would like to refer to us. The child could stay at the orphanages for just a couple of days or a couple of weeks before coming to HOH. The time frame varies from orphanage to orphanage, but generally the time the child spends at the orphanage is very short.
In the case of abandoned children, they can be found at various locations around the city: churches, a police station, or just out on the street. Generally a police office will take the child, write a report on the child and take the child to an orphanage. Sometimes questions are asked in the area where the child was abandoned to try to find the birth mother, but to no avail. Often an orphanage cannot accommodate the child(ren) because they lack room - or in the case of infants, the orphanage may not have the funds to purchase all of the formula or diapers that an infant would need over the course of their stay at the orphanage. It could be very expensive to take care of several infants on a daily bases; and some orphanages are just not equipped for that, therefore the orphanage director may call our representative, let him know that he has just taken in 4 abandoned children, for example, and ask if we would like to come to pick them up, as the orphanage would like to refer them to our agency. Abandoned children are given their name, in most cases, by either the police or the orphanage director
The children are given medical check ups upon entry into the HOH, as well as blood tests. Background information is translated from the information presented from the orphanage and the city administrator, and the children are referred to a waiting family.
Children who are special needs and/or are considered hard to place will be referred to CHI, but in some cases will remain at their orphanage the entire time and the adopting family will pick them up from the orphanage upon their arrival in Ethiopia, and in other cases, the child may transfer to the HOH once they have a family. The HOH is not an orphanage and therefore it can not accommodate children who may have to live there for a prolonged period of time. The HOH is a transition home run by CHI where children stay until their adoptive parents travel to pick them up.
Happy 23rd week.
