With Loving Arms: April 2011

So remember that Irksome Immigration Notice? Well, we never received a response to our request to reschedule Isabella's biometrics appointment. I was starting to get a little nervous given that the Notice said that missing the appointment would result in cancellation of her immigration application. Of course the longer I waited, the more I dreaded calling to check.

We submitted Isabella's application for citizenship two weeks ago, which probably prompted USCIS to look at her file. Voila! We received the Welcome Notice last week. THIS is the Notice that we expected to receive in January, instead of the Irksome Notice. I guess USCIS realized that they did have all of the information and photos that they needed after all.

Today we received Isabella's Permanent Resident card with her orphanage intake photo on it. She was so very tiny! What a difference a few months of love and care can make. It seems a little silly to get the P.R. card now though: we expect to receive her Certificate of Citizenship soon, along with a request to return the P.R. card! I guess it will be helpful if she finds a job in the meantime...

Which brings me to my favorite part of the packet, the Welcome to the United States - A Guide for New Immigrants brochure. Jon started reading it to Isabella: finding a place to live, getting a job, getting involved in the community... all great ideas, I am sure she will get right on that.

Today, USCIS hosted a conference call for Ethiopian Adoptions Stakeholders. As I listened to this call and reviewed the corresponding slides, I was (surprisingly) encouraged.

MY NOTES:
Except for italicized text, this information consists entirely of direct quotes and paraphrases of statements made by USCIS and State Department speakers.

Ethiopia's adoption program "is a good one, with problems."

USCIS confirmed that most files that it reviews relate to children who legitimately meet the definition of orphan. "At the end of the day, USCIS does think the children are orphans," but how the case has been documented may be deficient, which makes it difficult to identify potential fraud (with emphasis by the speaker on "potential"). Most cases reviewed by USCIS are approved.

"The program overall is a good program . . . we feel like there is a solid baseline of cases. We thought that was a very positive aspect of [the Ethiopia adoption] program."
"We didn't find that the program is broken, we found that the program is a good one, with problems. Serious problems...that need to be aggressively pursued."
"We want to protect and preserve what is good about the program."
"What are the problems, how can we get at them, and how can we fix them? . . . That's our goal."
"Every adoption should be held to the highest of standards."
"We are trying to avoid a blanket approach to the program, like "the whole thing is a mess.""
"There are individual horror stories . . . There are a lot of wonderful stories. . . . We think that this kind of analysis, this kind of approach, gives us a different way of approaching concerns that are real."
"We don't want children to languish in institutions but we want adoption to be honest and ethical."
USCIS is seeking to support Ethiopia not only in its processing of adoption cases, but in finding better ways to assist the 5 million vulnerable children in Ethiopia through programs like foster care and school feedings.
90% of cases are processed by Hague-accredited agencies. "We think that it is generally a good idea to use Hague-accredited agencies. . . . [Ethiopia] has said that they are working towards Hague." There is only one agency processing a significant number of cases that is not Hague-accredited. [note: I think this reference is to Celebrate Children International]

The proposed USCIS pre-aproval process "is procedurally possible and desirable."

Currently, when a case is presented to USCIS, the adoption is already final under Ethiopian law: if USCIS does not approve a case, the child is unadoptable and goes back on the street. In a pre-approval process, after a referral (when a family is matched with a child), the prospective adoptive parents would present USCIS with information about the child. This would give USCIS an opportunity to complete the I-600 investigation to determine whether the child meets the definition of orphan under U.S. law, before the parents travel for court, the adoption is final under Ethiopian law, and parents are bonded with the child. The system in Ethiopia lends itself to a USCIS pre-approval process (not all systems do). “This initiative is incredibly positive and will help us… look at the good cases, [and] put the bad cases aside.” [note: towards the end of the Q&A, the suggestion was made, I think by John from the State Department, that eventually USCIS pre-approval may lead to families traveling only once, to attend court and receive the child's U.S. Visa to return home on the same trip, provided Ethiopia continues to process the Ethiopian birth certificate and passport within 1 - 2 weeks of the adoption being finalized by the court. This would procedurally be very similar to the process that already occurs in Hague countries like China. This suggestion may be overly optimistic, but at the same time it does illustrate how the current challenges may result in a more timely system, which is better for children and families alike.]

The new baseline analysis will help USCIS identify potential problems and focus its investigations.

USCIS analyzed the 4,000 adoptions from Ethipia completed by U.S. families over the past 21 months to create baseline information against which individual cases and agencies may be compared going forward. "Because 2/3rds of [Ethiopia] adoptions are relinquishments, it makes it feasible… to do the analysis that has been done. [Ethiopia] presented a really good [opportunity] to do this kind of analysis, to try to figure out the norms.”

MOWA's review and investigation process needs to be improved.

Everyone working in Ethiopia (government agencies and non-government organizations alike) has been telling Ethiopia that its adoption review processes are deficient. MOWA had one person reviewing all of the adoption files, as many as 50 files a day. The goal of USCIS is 100% ethical cases. The government of Ethiopia realized that it could not support that goal with its current staffing and case load. At the same time, the international community has offered Ethiopia technical assistance and training support to improve its infrastructure and capacity.

MOWA is slowing its review of adoption files by 90%, but this slowdown should be temporary because the international community has offered support.

USCIS learned last week that cases presented to Court before March 8 will be processed by MOWA expeditiously, probably at the same rate as before. Any cases presented after March 8 will receive more scrutiny; MOWA file review will decline to 5 files/day when they begin to process post-March 8 cases.

The government of Ethiopia is putting together a plan of what it will take for it to review files thoroughly and timely. When it presents this plan, the U.S. and other countries will have an opportunity to fund particular needs. [note: the implication was that this will result in MOWA having the resources that it needs - i.e. more than one person reviewing cases! - to improve the adoption program in all respects, including processing time.]

MY CONCLUSIONS:

1. There are many vulnerable children in Ethiopia for whom foreign adoption is the best available option.

2. The vast majority of adoptions by U.S. parents are ethical. Because of current deficiencies in documentation and review, however, it is difficult to identify and address the few but very real problem cases.

3. Ethiopia's adoption program will remain open for the foreseeable future. There will be an initial, drastic slowdown in case processing as Ethiopia improves its adoption program, but this slowdown will only be temporary, until the international community can provide (technical and financial) support.

4. The long-term goal of all stakeholders is a highly honest, ethical, and transparent Ethiopian adoption program that timely processes adoption cases in the best interests of the children.

5. For the sake of their families, the children who will be adopted, and the children will will continue to wait, adoptive parents must take more responsibility for making sure that their adoption service providers are doing their diligence and acting honestly, ethically, and transparently in facilitating adoptions.

Educate yourself. Be aware of potential problems in a country's adoption program, as well as potential problems with particular agencies.
Choose a reputable agency. Carefully review the wealth of information provided by USCIS, the State Department, and COA. Is the agency Hague-accredited and/or COA-accredited? If not, why not? What do other adoptive parents think about the agency?
Ask questions. Ask the agency to provide information regarding the adoptions that it processes, and compare this information to the USCIS baseline information. Are there anomalies? Can the agency adequately explain these red flags? Be particularly cautious if an agency is defensive or reluctant to share information.
Act responsibily. The rules are in place to protect vulnerable children and well-intentioned families. Do not ask your agency to bend the rules for you, and do not look the other way if you see your agency cutting corners. An agency like this not only puts the entire Ethiopian adoption program at risk, but will taint your adoption forever.

Adoption is worth doing, and it is worth doing right.

P.S.

As an end-of-the-day postscript, our agency just shared a lengthy statement with its families. Their conclusion says it best:

Of course, at this time there are still many details about how adoptions will be processed in Ethiopia for us to uncover in the days, weeks, and months ahead. In closing though, we were encouraged to be a part of a unique call today that continued to echo this spirit of collaboration. Truly, to hear the U.S. government in support of adoptions and to see their desire for action is great! Our prayer today is that these things will be well received by the government of Ethiopia and that we can work together to see changes implemented that better the adoption process and allow children the chance to be united with their forever families.