We are excited to share that we have decided to further pursue international adoption. We have changed placing agencies and countries. While it wasn't a difficult choice AT ALL to change placing agencies, it was a very difficult decision to change countries. To read about our experience with our prior agency, click here. Uganda is an amazing country with beautiful people! However, the corruption in international adoption with many cases is rampant there. I do know of a few cases that are ethical, but they are definitely not the norm.
We have a great relationship with our caseworker from our homestudy agency (Bethany Christian Services). We had kept in touch with her after our adoption fell apart last summer. When Bethany opened up a few spots in their Ghana program, she invited us to an information call. Chuck and I took some time to pray about the decision and felt that the program was a good fit for us. There are only approximately 20 families in this program.
Our dossier was officially received in Ghana on March 4, 2015 (see timeline). Our family has requested to be matched with a child aged approximately 2-6 years old at time of referral. We have been told that the expected wait time is 12-24 months for referral. After referral, we would travel within 1-3 months. The child *could* be home within 6 months after referral. These are all just estimates we have been given. However, we have learned first hand that international adoption is very unpredictable. We are just praying for God's perfect timing.
Bethany is the only U.S. adoption agency accredited by the government of Ghana to complete international adoptions. They have had an an office in the city of Accra since 2011. In 2013, the government placed a moratorium on international adoptions in an effort to centralize and strengthen their social service system. Despite the moratorium, Bethany has been able to place children with families by seeking waivers to the moratorium. The government is open to providing waivers under certain circumstances—for older children and those with special placement needs.
The waiver must be secured by Bethany from the Government prior to referral given to a family, so this provides a level of comfort for us that the child matched with our family will truly need to be adopted. The process will be slow, but we feel confident that things will be done ethically and that is very important to us.
To see where we are with adoption funds, please view our details provided in Adoption Expenses. We appreciate your prayers as we continue our adoption journey!
