Why?

I'm sure I'll be asking myself this question many more times along the way. Yesterday we received some sad news from our adoption agency. Ethiopia has decided to ban all meetings with a birthfamily for children coming from the South. I can't even begin to tell you how upset I am about this. The fact that our little girl will be denied the chance to know her roots just breaks my heart. Here these babies are usually given up due to the death of their parents (in this case there is usually family members alive, but too poor to care for them) or extreme poverty. So not only are they forced to give their baby away, they will never meet the family that will care for them. I know this will leave a void in all of our hearts. This was such a huge priority when we chose our agency (some don't encourage these meetings). So you may be asking why? Their reasoning is to eliminate coercion/child trafficking, which is huge right now. We knew this was inevitable and we're happy they are taking precaution. And unfortunately a few adoptive parents have compromised this by entering into a meeting, becoming so overwhelmed emotionally and offering to give that mother money to keep the baby and raise them herself. Obviously, this is against the law. I know this new procedure doesn't hit home to as many adoptive parents as you'd think. Surprisingly, many that I've talked to actually prefer the "closed adoption" route to eliminate the fear of losing that child someday to their birthfamily. I really don't understand that logic and frankly think it's a bit selfish. Yes, that's a bold statement, and maybe I would change my mind someday if faced with that situation. But I could get on a soapbox explaining all of the benefits of having this small bit of information/pictures as they grow up.

The good news is that the door is not completely closed. Children that originate from the orphanages in Addis Ababa are not yet under that new stipulation. So if our baby originates from Addis, we may be given the opportunity to meet the family. I just have to keep reminding myself that while I look at this as a huge setback in all of our lives, God knows the future and what it holds. He has a purpose for every circumstance and we just have to trust that.