Timelines

This week, MOWA (Ministry of Women’s Affairs) in Ethiopia officially cut back to 5 referrals per day.  Timelines for adoptions will change, but our agency won’t have a good idea of what those changes will be for a while.  Court closes during the rainy season in Ethiopia (August and September) so referrals slow down and court cases cease during that time.  Our agency believes it can start rethinking timelines in late October/November, once the slowdown has taken hold, court has reopened, and families in the new timeline have been through the referral/court travel/Embassy travel process.  We are so stinkin’ far down on the list we would not be in the pool for a referral anyway—on the current timeline (which will change) the earliest would expect a referral would be January.  At this point, I’m really hoping for a referral before court closes again in June 2012, although I don't want to set us up for disappointment.  There isn’t a darned thing we can do about it  other than wait and hope that this change is not permanent and that the original timelines might not be so far off.  Referrals have still been coming in, albeit slowly, but something is certainly better than nothing.

We are expecting to cross the 60 degree mark on Sunday here in the Arctic Pacific Northwest, where we have been experiencing the coldest spring on record. So even if the news on the adoption front is rough, some warm(er), sunny weather is sure to lift our spirits.