Episode #3

I haven't posted in a little while because I've been struggling *again* with this stupid anxiety disorder. I hate to use the word 'remission', but I suppose that's what I've been going through since a few years ago when Episode #2 subsided. This would be Episode #3, and - knock on wood - has not seemed quite as bad as Episodes #1 and 2. I don't really want to get into much of it now because I'm trying NOT to think about it more than I already have been, but I will write more about it later.

For now, I want to post something from an e-mail newsletter I got today regarding the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs in Ethiopia's intent to reduce the number of intercountry adoptions by 90%. If you want to sign the petition asking that the Ministry consider alternate options, please click here.

I don't exactly know how I feel about this, though. I would think they would only do this for good reasons. According to the e-mail I got, the two main reasons they are planning to reduce intercountry adoptions is because 1) There is a lot of corruption in intercountry adoption and 2) they want to focus their financial efforts on children and families in-country. This makes a lot of sense to me, and I do think that it is important to focus more on keeping children and families together and in their country of origin, and also to weed out the bad agencies and individuals who are putting a bad name and face on international adoption... BUT, at the same time, there are so so many orphans in institutions throughout the country, and on the streets, and this will leave them there and ultimately have horrible consequences on their lives. I mean, we'll see I guess... again, if this is a true consideration of the Ministry, they must have good reason to believe that this will be better for children and families than intercountry adoption... and hopefully they do whatever is best.

Either way, signing the petition can't hurt... all it means is that we are hoping they will look into other options to prevent corruption and to spread out the money more evenly because intercountry adoption really can be the best thing for many of these children, and stopping these adoptions by 90% is dramatic.

Anyway, read more about it if you wish. It shocked me, needless to say.