Organization : Ministry of Women, Children & Youths Affairs
Type of Facility : Adoption Procedure
Country: Ethiopia
Website : http://www.orphanportal.gov.et/English/Pages/AdoptionProcedures.aspx
Adoption Procedures
MOWA identifies orphans in need of a permanent family placement through international adoption. In general, Ethiopian orphans identified for intercountry adoption have been abandoned by their parents or have lost their parents to disease or other misfortune.
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MOWA places abandoned or orphaned children in orphanages or foster homes, pending adoption. When a child is abandoned, by law it comes into the custody of the government. When a child is found to have two HIV/AIDS-infected parents, or one living HIV/AIDS-infected parent, the government routinely declares that the child is an orphan and assumes legal guardianship of the child.
Please be aware that it is common practice for the Government of Ethiopia to require that a child be resident in an orphanage for three months before they can be adopted.
MOWA has responsibility for all activities regarding children in the country, including welfare, fosterage, in-country and international adoption, and investigation of neglect and abuse. When an orphaned or abandoned child comes into the custody of the government, the police and MOWA create the child’s dossier.
Note :
An adoption agency’s of the Adoptive Parent and Ethiopian-based staff manages the adoption process in Ethiopia.
Step One :
Prospective adoptive parents must take or send all of the required documents already certified and authenticated, to the Ethiopian Embassy in the Adoptive Parent country for additional authentication. Once the Embassy has completed its authentication, the completed packet is returned to the adoptive parents.
Then the prospective adoptive parents forward the documents to:
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs
Children Rights and Wellbeing Protection Directorate
Tel: +251-111-545-676
P.O.Box 1293
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
MOWA reviews the documents for completeness and creates a dossier on the adoptive parent(s).
Note on private adoptions :
Parents who have received MOWA permission to adopt privately must come to Ethiopia to complete adoption requirements. Only one parent has to appear, but, if married, must bring a power of attorney from the other parent.
Note on relative adoptions :
who are adopting orphaned relatives do not have to come to Ethiopia to process their adoptions. They can have a representative with a power of attorney represent them in court. Married adoptive parents need to make sure that both parents have given the representative a power of attorney so that both parents’ names appear on the adoption decree.
Step Two :
The parents’ dossier is taken to the Claims and Authentication Section of the Protocol Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ethiopia to be authenticated. There is a fee for authentication stamps; the stamps are affixed to the dossier. The fee is 300 Ethiopian birr per document.
Step Three :
The parents’ dossier is returned to CYAO. CYAO will then affix a summary sheet, on which will be noted items such as court decisions, background data on the adopted child or children, and the names of Adoption Committee members who will complete the form at a later date (see below). At this point, for private adoptions only, MOWA usually asks the adoptive parents Embassy to provide a letter of support for the adoptive parents.
Step Four :
CYAO submits the parents’ dossier to the Adoption Committee for review and approval to adopt. The Adoption Committee meets periodically, sometimes as often as every week, to review cases. The Committee either approves or rejects the prospective adoptive parent(s), based on Ethiopian guidelines for international adoptions.
Given the volume of work before the Committee, it can take weeks before the Committee reviews a dossier. Further investigation into the parents’ qualifications is done if deemed necessary, and a recommendation is made. Only if all the members of the committee agree, and sign the recommendation, is the request approved.
Step Five :
Once the Committee has approved the parents’ dossier, a child is selected and referred to the prospective parents to adopt, according to the parents’ preferences for age and sex. The child selected must have its own dossier at MOWA. That dossier describes the child, the child’s history, how the child came to be an orphan, and who has legal guardianship of the child. Once a referral is made, the prospective adoptive parent may accept or refuse the referral.
Step Six :
Upon acceptance of the referral, a Contract of Adoption is signed between the child’s legal guardian and the adoptive parent(s), or the agency representative. If the legal guardian is also the agency that is processing the adoption, another licensed orphanage can sign on behalf of the child.
This contract is the basis for the issuance of the adoption decree, which shows that the guardian or the orphanage has relinquished their parental or guardian right in regard to the adopted child. The contract must be taken to the Inland Revenue Administration office to be stamped. There is a nominal fee.
Step Seven :
CYAO opens a file at the Federal First Instance Court to apply for an appointment date for the adoption hearing. The court date could be one to two months from the date of filing. The Court generally is closed between three and twelve weeks between July and October. The dates change every year.
Step Eight :
A notice seeking any other claimants to the child is published in the local press stating the child’s name and the name of the adopting parents. Anyone opposed to the adoption is requested to appear at MOWA by a certain date and time.
Step Nine :
When the appointed court date arrives, the prospective parents or their agency’s local representative will be asked to appear in court. Final decisions can be handed down quickly, but delays of weeks are not uncommon.
Adoptive parents must obtain at least two originals of the court decree. One will be retained by MOWA and one must be submitted to the Adoptive parents country Embassy for the visa application. The original submitted to the Embassy will be returned to the parents.
Note – Adoptions are final. All Ethiopian adoptions are full and final and irrevocable under Ethiopian law.
Note – Legal guardianship versus adoption. Ethiopian orphan adopters should note that the court decrees one receives for adoption are very similar to those granting legal guardianship. In order to receive an orphan visa, adoptive parents must ensure that the decree is one of adoption and not simply the granting of legal guardianship.
Note – Effective date of the adoption. Usually, the adoption decree confirms the adoption contract; thus, under Ethiopian law, the effective date of adoption is usually the date the adoption contract was signed. However, under Adoptive parents country immigration law, legal custody begins at the date of the official court decree (this point is important for petitioners attempting to show two years of legal custody, not for typical intercountry adoptions).
Step Ten :
After the adoption is complete, MOWA prepares a request to the city of Addis Ababa for the issuance of a new birth certificate, and a request to the Office of Security, Immigration and Refugee Affairs for an Ethiopian passport for the child in its new name.
Both of these are best facilitated if the requests are hand-carried to the relevant offices. The Adoptive parents country Embassy needs both the new birth certificate and the passport to complete the child’s Adoptive parents country immigrant visa application process.
Step Eleven :
The court decree must be translated into English. The original and the translation are submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for authentication. The authentication stamp, seals and signature are placed on the back of the translation. If the adoption contract was made in Amharic, it too must be translated into English and the original translation authenticated by MOFA.