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Organization pushing for local adoptions in Ethiopia
From Ezega.com:
It has repeatedly been said that one of the greatest problems that Ethiopia is facing as a nation is the Orphan Crisis. According to one statistics, of the estimated 143 million orphans worldwide 5.5 million live in Ethiopia. KIDMIA foundation is a non-governmental organization with the vision to see orphaned and vulnerable children released from physical, economic, and spiritual poverty, and to help them reach their highest potential. KIDMIA is a word play in Amharic for ‘priority’, clearly establishing the organizations motivation to prioritize the cause of orphans.
For years, there have been various attempts to address this issue individually and collectively. International adoption from Ethiopia, for example, has increased considerably in recent years. There are also a large number of national and International aid organizations operating and sponsoring orphanages in all parts of Ethiopia. However, at current rate, it is estimated that it would take 5.5 million families 125 billion US dollars and 2,500 years to solve Ethiopia’s orphan crisis through international adoption alone and Institutional care is understood to be a last resort by all.
A more obvious, but little utilized option to stem the orphan crisis is generally believed to be domestic adoption. Many are quick to claim that adoption, in the sense of legally and emotionally taking responsibility for adopted child, is alien to Ethiopian culture. Ato Aschalew Abebe, shown above with wife Ruth and son Fikir, who is the Country Director of KIDMIA Foundation, however firmly believes that wide spread domestic adoption is not only desirable but viable…
From May 31st to June 09, 2011, KIDMIA organized a workshop for religious leaders, predominately from the evangelical community, in Addis Ababa, Hawassa and Nazareth. The main purpose of the workshop was to create intensive awareness on the level of the Orphan Crisis in the country and design an appropriate and implementable joint response…
“There are many international adoption agencies working in Ethiopia but none are actively working in promoting or facilitating domestic adoption. Local orphanages that work with these organizations are reluctant to make children available for domestic families because of the large amount of money that is involved when children are adopted internationally. One particular director let us know in no uncertain terms that it ‘was a survival issue’ as they depended on the money from international adoptions to maintain their institutions.
There is an understanding, theoretically at least, that domestic adoption is an important element in solving the orphan crisis. The Ethiopian government strongly supports such initiatives, but there is still a need to create a supportive system and a social standard. According to Ato Aschalew, there needs to be an independent body to facilitate adoption procedures and make impartial decisions. Such an institution will have the mandate and the right to study the options available to orphaned or vulnerable children and decide on the appropriate choice on a case by case basis.
“Orphanage directors make calculated decisions primarily based on what is beneficial to the institutions and not with the best interest of the children at heart. It is only by creating and empowering a national adoption Agency that we can change the system that allows orphanages to arbitrarily decide the fate of the children. We need to be able to make changes on the policy level as well as increase the capacity of the organizations dealing with adoption both governmental and non-governmental. Policy changes that favor and facilitate the processes for domestic adoption and increase awareness within existing institutions are paramount. There is also great need for increasing the capacity of personnel dealing with and interpreting the principles of adoption. KIDMIA is currently working with its partners to influence these changes at all levels,” says Ato Aschalew.
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One Comment to “Organization pushing for local adoptions in Ethiopia”
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July 25th, 2011 at 8:26 am
“There are many international adoption agencies working in Ethiopia but none are actively working in promoting or facilitating domestic adoption.”
I’m not sure how the author was able to determine this without knowing what “all agencies” are doing. Children’s Hope is strongly pressing ‘family preservation’ as a way of keeping children in their own homes when possible. This also includes giving financial help to orphan-headed families when both parents are dead or, in other cases, enabling kinship care. In many cases it allows a mother to keep her family when her husband dies – even providing day care for her children so she can go out and work. Digging deep wells for the school and area of a leprosy affected community along with providing laying chickens and leading garden development on the grounds of the school directly influences the abilities of families to keep their families intact. It does seem small compared to the enormous need but it is one small step for family enablement and preservation. It provides a fence at the edge of the cliff rather than an ambulance at the bottom. While exposing corruption and greed, which all of us abhor, it is also good to acknowledge tremendous good being done. Better to light a candle than fume at the darkness.