EthioStork Orphan Status Verification Reunites Twins

A family who experienced how important an orphan status verification can be shares their story:


In 2013 we began our second adoption partnering with Adoption Ministry of Ethiopia and Children’s House International.  Our son Miles who is also from Ethiopia had been home with us for over two years at that point, and we were excited to grow our family even more.  By the end of May, 2013 our homestudy was approved, on July 15^th we received our I-171H.  At that point we were really starting to get excited at the idea of being matched with another child, so on July 29^th, when our agency informed us of a  six and half month old baby boy, we were thrilled!  We accepted the referral for Maranatha on August 1^st.  We were surprised and pleased that our case had been submitted to court on August 14^, 2013. 

Then everything changed when we received a phone call on October 21^st, 2013.  Through the process of our case moving forward, the details of Maranatha’s story came out.  EthioStork conducted a thorough investigation and an interview with the woman who had been involved in Maranatha’s first days of life, and the investigation and interview revealed he had a twin sister.  We were both shocked and anxious, because at this point we really didn’t know if we would be bringing Marantha and his twin sister home at all.  There were so many unknowns.  

 

It wasn’t until November 7^th that we were informed we would be adopting both Maranatha and his twin sister, Amen.  Our homestudy indicated our desire for siblings, and our I-171H had approved us to bring home siblings, so that part had not been a problem.  We had actually hoped and prayed for twins from the very beginning of this adoption.  We could not have been happier, we were not only growing our family, but we were bringing home twins!  We flew to Ethiopia weeks later and appeared in court on November 21^st, 2013; we passed.  On February 20^th, we were interviewed at the US. Embassy in Ethiopia and flew home to the US with our twins on February 22^nd, 2014. 

Our story is unique, I have never heard of anyone finding out about a twin sibling, part way through an adoption.  We are so grateful for the hard work done by the wonderful people we work with at Adoption Ministry, Children’s House International, and the investigations and interviews done by EthioStork.  If it weren’t for the diligent work of EthioStork, our twins could have been separated for life, never knowing one another, never knowing their story.  We are grateful, beyond words. Thank you.

EthioStork Now Allows You to Finance Our Services!

Do you want our help, but need to pay over time?  You can now finance through PayPal.  Email us for details today to take advantage of our latest special of $0 down for birth parent and history tracing services! info@ethiostork.org
 

An Orphan Status Verification that Saved Twins from Separating

I was in Ethiopia for my quarterly quality check visit when our local EthioStork employee called me. She was in Oromiya region, conducting Orphan Status Verifications on a number of children who were being adopted through an agency that has made it a requirement for a verification by EthioStork to be done before an adoption is finalized. 

"That two babies, A and M are actually twins" my employee said. I could hear the emotions in her voice...one being excitement. And I was feeling the same thing.  That what we do really matters, that this was a matter of life and death. A matter of siblings, minutes apart in birth order, being saved from being miles and hours apart, placed in different homes with different families.  A and M were referred to families in separate states. The agency had no idea they were twins as they had separate paperwork and the orphanage representative had told them they were brought by the police separately.   While there was relief this was discovered, much was left for the agency to resolve. They had to rush to get both cases out of court so they don't get approved separately and also make the hard decision of which family gets to take the twins.  It was heart breaking for one family, and double the joy for another.  But most importantly, twins were reunited.   I have come across such situations before, just not with good endings.  In the other situations (unfortunately I knew about them long after the adoptions were finalized and there wasn't much I could do). 

To be continued Monday May 11. Come back then and read the rest. 

How EthioStork helped a child come home...

"I do have to say many families caught up in the IAG mess were unable to bring their kids home. We hired EthioStork right away and were able to keep our case moving forward. EthioStork did our investigation, as well as our finder interview, and it was done professionally and promptly. I wholeheartedly believe that, because of EthioStork, we were able to complete our adoption and the embassy accepted all the information needed. I can't thank you enough!  EthioStork was a God send, and I'm so happy I hired EthioStork!!! "

Sherrie

Spring Special...

Get 30% off of birth parent searches if you sign up in March!  Email info@ethiostork.org for more information.  Also, let us know what webinar topics interest you! 

New Webinar to take place in March 2015.

Duni will be conducting a webinar in March.  The cost is $60/person, with a minimum of five particpants.  Let us know what is on your mind and what topics interest you....Make a comment here or check us out on Facebook. 

Who, When, Why to Have a Birth Family Search Conducted, Part II

When the “Deceased” Birth Mother Isn’t

I began to think about Aster’s birth mother long before the nanny handed her to me. It took many months for my daughter’s biological mother not to enter into my daily thoughts. I felt such a deep sadness for this child who, we were told, would never have the opportunity to know the woman who birthed her. She supposedly had no other blood relatives, so seeking out her birth family would never be an option for Aster.

I wrote the above for the epilogue of my book, and as that part of the story evolved, both solicited and unsolicited information began to arrive, clearly indicating that not only was Aster’s birth mother alive, but other blood relatives were too. Though we had come upon this surprising and comforting news in the summer of 2009, it wasn’t until the fall of 2012 that my husband and I committed to hiring EthioStork to conduct a birth family search.

* * *

With shaking hands, and tears already welling in my eyes, I pushed the DVD into the computer. Traditional music accompanied a panoramic view of Wukro, located in the north of the Tigray region, the birthplace of our daughter. We had not taken the time to travel north of Addis Ababa during our short stay back in December 2008, so this visual addition to what we thought would only be an interview felt like we had struck gold. Once the camera became still, a girl who looked to be pre-teen entered the frame (Aster’s sister, if you can imagine that!), then slowly the focus was the birth mother of our child, the woman who had allowed me to become a mother. By now, I could barely see the computer screen; tears marred my view. But the interview that was about to begin would make my initial emotions seem meaningless, for the questions and answers that were about to be revealed would bring solace as well as longing, two intense feelings that I would have to deeply experience before knowing what to do next.

*  *  *

You may ask why, after uncovering some of the facts of our daughter’s social history that we were not originally given, did it take us three years to move forward with a professional search? The reasons are many; so let me take them one at a time.

1. Back in 2009, in what now seems like the dark ages of international adoption, we did not know what a “professional birth family search” was. Without this awareness, we had to “be good” with knowing that someday we would be able to go to northern Ethiopia and find birth family on our own. Some day.

2. But … as the months, then years rolled on, my anxiety grew. What if she is ill? What if she becomes so ill, she dies before Aster has a chance to reunite with her? My worried mind would not rest; the negative thoughts accompanied my every waking and sleeping moment. And each time my three-, then four-year old daughter would mumble words about her “first mommy,” such as, “she’s probably dead anyway,” my heart shattered. I knew I could not live this way indefinitely.

3. With the publishing of my book in early 2011, my story slowly entered the ethers, with the book cover image of Aster and I tugging at others’ curiosity. I heard from a woman in Addis Ababa who wanted a copy of my book. Her daughter, by the way, just happened to be living in the USA, in Virginia. That daughter was Duni Zenaye.

4. When I made contact with Duni shortly after this communication with her mother, a glimmer of hope poked through soggy corners of my mind; perhaps my tears of frustration and grief could turn to tears of joy?

Still, another 18 months would pass before we chose to send in the deposit for a birth family search. Why? Because, What if it doesn’t work? We will be out a lot of money, and a whole lot of heartache. It was a gamble. Though we were lucky in that we did have a name for Aster’s birth mother, and we did have the city where she was born, that was it. Would the crew be able to get way up north and ask the right people and the right questions in order to help our wishes come true? And once we got the information, then what? Would this be the best thing for our daughter, to see her first mother’s image? To know that she is alive, and gave her to somebody else to raise? Would it be better if we didn’t know?

As a memoirist who has spent much of her adult life encouraging others to know thy past in order to better know thyself, there was no way in this world that I could deny our daughter the right to know from where she came.

Thus, in the fall of 2012, we made the most important financial decision of our lives: we hired EthioStork to find Aster’s birth mother.

Weeks later, the results were in. Two copies of the DVD arrived in the mail, and our lives absolutely changed for the better (such an inadequate word), forever. 

By, Dina McQueen, M.A. 

 

I hope our story will bring other adoptive parents, children, and first families an opportunity for answers and perhaps even reunification.

Who, When, Why to have a Birth Family Search Conducted

Part I – Is your child the type who would benefit from a birth family search?

By: Dina McQueen, M.A. 

I hope that in sharing our story, I can facilitate other adoptive parents and children to achieve the clarity they have been seeking, and perhaps even complete their journey with first family reunification.

Some adopted children will not express interest in knowing their past. Others will become obsessed with exploring their roots. In my experience as an adoptive mother of one daughter from northern Ethiopian, you will not know which personality your child owns until she acquires the language to tell you so.

Around eighteen months, while side-by-side in the bath, Aster began placing her tiny arm next to mine, clearly interested in the difference she saw. Her minimal language skills at the time included pointing out colors, perhaps because my husband, her dad, is an artist and art supplies fill various corners and rooms of our home. At this early age, she seemed to take some pride in correcting me when I would choose a pink crayon, call it pink, because she knew that it was “light pink,” as opposed to “dark pink.”

At the park, on rare occasions, various pale children would open their mouths and burst through with uncensored comments, such as, “Hey, why is that girl black and her mommy is white?”

My child didn’t understand. Or maybe she did.

Even though I waited it out, hoping that we might be okay living life as it was, by the time Aster approached four, I knew for sure our daughter did not belong in the “not interested” category; it was time to do something to help her know from where she came. Unfortunately, our adoption agency had given us nothing to go by. But, I did have some clues. And I knew that it was my responsibility as her mother to do everything humanly possible to find out if her first mother was alive, and if she was, I needed to continue until we made contact. If it was the last thing I ever claimed to do right as her mom, by God I was going to do it.

 

Welcoming our New Executive Director at EthioStork LLC!

As most already know, Duni Zenaye has accepted the exciting opportunity to serve as the new Ethiopia Country Representative of Children's House International.

Christa Jallorina has replaced  Duni Zenaye as the Executive Director of EthioStork LLC. Christa Jallorina has a masters in social work and has been serving adoptive families since 2005. Christa lives with her husband Jay and their children Zoe and Jase in Northern Virginia.

So as to avoid any possible conflict of interest, EthioStork will no longer contract with families adopting through Children's House International.  As their representative Duni will be able to assist families adopting through Children's House International and offer them them the same expertise. However CHI families currently in the process can no longer directly contract with EthioStork LLC.  Families who have already completed an adoption may contract with EthioStork LLC for a birth parent search for their children who are already home.

EthioStork LLC will continue to serve directly all other adoptive families who are not adopting through Children's House International 

Congo Adoption Report

Adoption Status in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Report commissioned by EthioStork LLC

Date Submitted: January 8, 2014

Adoption in the DRC Overview

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is not party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). The Congolese government states that one thousand one hundred and six children have been adopted in the Congo between the years 2009 and 2013.

Situation

On September 25, 2013, fifteen embassies in the Democratic Republic of Congo received a letter from the Congolese Ministry of Interior and Security and the General Direction of Migration (Direction Générale de Migration, DGM) announcing a suspension in international adoption. The countries affected by the suspension are the United States, Canada, Uruguay, Burkina Faso, France, Belgium, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Australia. The suspension is going to last twelve months pending ongoing investigation and review of welfare of adopted Congolese children from 2009 to 2013.

Why The Suspension?

In the spring of 2013, the Congolese embassy in Canada launched an investigation about adopted Congolese children living in Canada from information it received from an undisclosed source. It found that some of the children were no longer with their original adoptive parents but with a new family. The ambassador alerted the Congolese Minister of Interior Richard Muyej Mangez and in April of 2013, the DGM suspended temporarily some exit permits for adopted children.

The Minister tasked the DGM to verify the information received from the embassy and DGM corroborated the findings. The DGM report stated that some of the children were left homeless and others were sold/trafficked to same-sex couples. A decision from the ministry was made to suspend any and all adoptions to verify the whereabouts and well-beings of over 2000 children adopted in the Congo since 2009. On September 25, 2013 a letter was sent to 15 embassies from the Ministry. That same day, the director of the DGM, François Beya confirmed with the press that the international adoption of Congolese children has been suspended for the next 12 months, not on a legal basis but more so administrative.

What’s the difference between a ban and a suspension?

First, this is simply an administrative suspension and it does not carry the force of the law. It is not a ban. The Ministry of Interior and the DGM have stated numerous times to foreign embassies that later this year, starting September 2014, the international adoption will resume with a new adoption process in place. It is not clear if the country will sign on to the Hague Convention or not, though there are groups locally who have been pressuring the government to sign on to the Convention.

Are there events that helped in getting an inquiry on adoptions in Congo?

Since the French-Chad adoption scandal of 2007 which concluded in 2013, the Congo and other African countries have been more diligent in reviewing adoption. On February 12, 2013, French citizens Eric Breteau (founder of Zoe's Ark) and his partner Emilie Lelouch, were found guilty by a French Court for attempting to smuggle 103 children out of Chad claiming they were Darfur war orphans and dfrauding would-be adoptive parents in France who had paid large sums to “save” children in crisis. They were sentenced to two years in jail. The group was arrested in Chad in 2007 trying to load the children on to a plane bound for France, where they were to be adopted. They claimed the children were orphans from the war-ravaged Darfur region in neighboring Sudan, but Chad's government accused them of kidnapping and it later emerged the children were not Sudanese and most still had living relatives. An investigation by Unicefand the Red Cross found that at least 85% of the children still had living parents and were from Chad, not Sudan. The charity workers were arrested and sentenced to eight years' forcedlabour in Chad, before being transferred to a Paris jail and then pardoned by Chad's president, opening the way for a French trial.

What other concerns exist around adoption in the Congo?

Please read the two articles below:

1.

May 31, 2013 New York Times Article

“Eager to Adopt, Evangelicals Find Perils Abroad.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/us/moved-to-adopt-evangelicals-find-children-and-pitfalls-abroad.html?_r=0

2.

June 18, 2013 investigative reporting

“Christian Saviors and the Adoptions Industry in Congo - Exploiting Africa's Most Precious Resource: Children.”

http://www.consciousbeingalliance.com/2013/06/christian-saviors-the-adoptions-industry-in-congo/

3.

December Washington Times Article

“An American mother fights for her adoptive daughter in the Congo.”

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/heart-without-compromise-children-and-children-wit/2014/jan/8/american-mother-fights-her-adoptive-daughter-congo/

If adoption was approved before September 25, 2013, what’s next for the family?

If adoption by a couple was approved before September 25, 2013 by the Congolese Ministry of Gender and Family, the adopted children will still be able to leave the Congo with their adoptive family. The Congolese government does not accept any more adoption from single parents. More details on US process for adoption can be found at adoption.state.gov.

Additional Info

You can contact the offices below for more information regarding adoption in the Congo.

Direction Generale de Migration (DGM)

Attn: Mr. Albert Luyinu, Administrative Secretary

65, Boulevard du 30 Juin

Commune de la Gombe

Ville de Kinshasa, R.D.Congo

Tel: 243 81 030 07 55

Email: dgm@dgm.cd or dgmetatmajor@yahoo.fr

Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

1726 M Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036

Tel: (202) 234-7690

U.S. Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

310, Avenue des Aviateurs

The Wait

Are there children available for adoption in Ethiopia? There are over five million orphans! Why is the wait so long when there are so many children who need loving families?

I have wanted to post something addressing this for a while now but couldn't decide if it would benefit or discourage adoptive families. In the end, i decided it would be "unjust" to put it lightly, for me not to share what i see on the ground.

Are there children who are orphaned and need homes? Yes. Are there children who are adoptable? Not too many, at least not right now.  Let me explain why.

One reaseon is there are over fifty licensed child placing agencies operating in Ethiopia  (at least 20 of these agencies are based in the US).   Surely that shouldn't be a problem when there are so many orphans? Not true. While there are many agencies, serving many adoptive families and ready to place a child as soon as he or she enters an orphange, there are simply not many children who are ready to be placed. You may have recently gone to Ethiopia and visited orphanages overflowing with children.  Most of them are not paper ready.   But even those who are not paper ready are older children. You will not find too many available infants.

The relicensing of many agencies (after a few months of standstill) may be seen as a good sign for adoptions from Ethiopia. Here is the problem however, the process of declaring a child an orphan and adoptable has changed. This means that you will not see many infants who are ready to be placed.  So the realtly in Ethiopia right now is there are many agencies but not enough infants who can be placed.

My sincere advice to families;

1. Please be willing to wait.  I understand how painful it could be. But when there are not that many adoptable children , it simply means orphanages and agencies are not able to meet demand.  This opens a door for corruption. It will cease to be about best interest of children.  I hate to use a market analysis however, imagine what happens when demand rises but what is being demanded is few.   There simply are not many infants.  To keep the integrity of adoptions in Ethiopia, families must be willing to wait so that there are no orphans created to meet demand. 

2. Consider adopting a special needs or older  child (3 to 5 are not older children in Ethiopia as there is as much demand for children in that age range). There is always a child in this catagory.

However, if any adoptive family wants their baby girl right this minute. The family must be willing to accept that their demand is driving adoption in Ethiopia in the very wrong direction.  Unless more children become available, i urge families to understand that, while there is nothing wrong to wanting to adopt an infant,  they have to be willing to wait.   Because i know the last thing you want, is to learn that an orphan was created or bartered to meet demand. 

Anyone who knows me (or knows about me) also knows i support adoption, an adoption that is child centered and not centered to meeting the demands of the ever popular, Ethiopian adoption.

 

Join our live or Web Seminars

Here is what is covered during our seminars.

1.  The current process of Adoption in Ethiopia and what to expect.

2.  How to minimize the risks that come with adopting from Ethiopia.

3.  What to look for in referral paperwork

4.  Travel

5.  Transracial adoption and empowering your child.

 

Webinar Dates,

Wednesday May 8^th 6:00PM to 7:00PM EST

Thursday May 9, 2013^th 1:00PM to 2:00PM EST

Saturday May 25^th    11:00AM to 12:00PM EST

Cost: 100 per couple/Family.

How to sign up:  please email us with dates you are interested in.

Live Seminars

Where:  901. South Highland St.

               Arlington, VA 22204  

When: Saturday June 15^th 2013 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM (signing in starts at 10:30)

Cost: 150 per couple

*Tasty Ethiopian Lunch is provided!

Private Consultation in office or over the phone

By appointment only; adoptive families can come to our office in Arlington to get a private consultation and also cover the above topics.

Cost: 100 per couple (in person)

$50:00 per couple for half an hour consultation over the phone

 Please email us at info@ethiostork.org if you are interested in attending any of these. We look forward to serving your family.

 

Yet Another Testimony....

"When the orphanage we adopted our son through told us finding information on his birth family would be very difficult and would take a long time, we knew we wanted to engage a searcher right away. We chose EthioStork and were so happy we did. EthioStork found his family in only two days. We now have invaluable information for our son -- information he should have had all along because it is his. Making contact also reassured his family in Ethiopia that he is healthy and happy.
 
We strongly recommend EthioStork. We were thrilled at how quickly they found our son's "unfindable" family. The information they profvided for our son and the beautifully shot DVD we now treasure.

Thank you, Duni and EthioStork. We are forever grateful to you for everything you did for ou son and the connection you helped us establish with his family in Ethiopia.

-A Grateful Canadian Family

 

Give EthioStork Four Weeks!

If you are interested in doing that extra thing within your control to ensure that your process is as smooth as absolutely possible, EthioStork can help. However, you must enlist the services of EthioStork long before you might imagine would be necessary.

What then, you might ask, is the time frame we're talking about? At least four weeks.

It is a simple fact that families who assign EthioStork to conduct their Orphan Status Verification well in advance prove to pass through the embassy process faster. When given enough time, EthioStork is able to provide you, the adoptive family, with a third party Orphan Status Verification that can be submitted along with your adoptive child's documents.
EthioStork founder, Duni Zenaye, is now requesting that families sign up four weeks prior to when the documents are to be sent to the embassy.

If you don't want to wait a day longer than you have to to bring your child home, let EthioStork conduct an Orphan Status Verification. Don't wait until the last minute!

Read testmonials from previous clients.

My Two Cents to Both of You

As someone who has worked in Child Welfare both in Ethiopia and the US, I regularly am contacted by reporters from both countries. I find it interesting to see what the press, most likely influenced by what they perceive as public interest, desires to prove true, or at least report. When speaking with journalists I have gotten the impression that my responses have not been sensational enough. This post is intended for them.

Reporters in Ethiopia

Almost all the interviews I have done in Ethiopia were conducted to address organ selling and child abuse. I continuously am asked how much money adoptive families receive for the organs of the children they adopt. Those who have asked me this are convinced the selling of organs is a regular practice; why else would someone invest $20,000 or more to adopt a poor (sometimes severely disabled) African child?

My response is always: I am not aware of any organs of Ethiopian adopted children being sold.

The other question centers on the public's concern that these children are abused by their adoptive parents. A recent story about a young girl who died in Washington State served to fuel the erroneous perception of what happens to children who are adopted overseas.

My response? Even though extensive care is taken to ensure families meet the strictest guidelines, still it is true that some children may end up being abused. But just like there are abusive birth parents, there are also abusive adoptive parents. Most adoptive parents, however, and I emphasize most, are really great parents.

Reporters ask, "Isn't it just better to have children stay in Ethiopia than risk the chance of being abused overseas?"

My response: Though there are abusive dads, no one proposes that all dads be deprived of the privilege of fatherhood. As well, though great care is always taken to minimize the risk of placing children with families that may abuse their children, sometimes it happens. However, and this is vital to acknowledge and accept: adoption is a good option for a lot of orphans. 

Reporters in the US

Reporters in the US (and perhaps the public) are convinced that children are sold by poor mothers; why else would they give up their children so easily?

I have no evidence that supports this. Although it is tempting to think that if someone is poor enough they would sell their children for a goat or $20.00, most parents relinquish their children because they are unable to care for them and want them to have a better future and receive proper care.

Another question I am asked is about children being snatched from birth mothers, and adoption/child welfare professionals being paid ridiculous amount of money to "harvest" children. The biggest doubt people and reporters in the US have seems to focus on the overall adoption process in Ethiopia. They are convinced that every adoption originating in Ethiopia is completed unethically.

Well, I have seen bad practice in the world of Adoption. (For example, birth mothers who were not properly counseled, or a mother lying about being raped for fear of being denied the right to relinquish a child.) I have also seen bad practice in foster care. (Foster parents taking in children only to abuse them or use them as maids.) Further, I have seen bad practice in family reunification. (Children being reunified with birth parents who abuse them so badly that they severely injured them, or families who love but can’t or don’t want to care for their children and are forced to take them back.) 

When the focus is not the Orphan and we become religious about “only one option as best,” there is always a chance for bad practice.  
   
I have conducted hundreds of Orphan Status Verifications. Out of the hundreds I have verified, very few had falsified paperwork. Most of the cases had inconsistencies, but almost all of them had inconsistencies that were created by lack of education about the paperwork process. Cultural barriers also regularly contribute to what may appear to outsiders as bad practice.

Conclusion

So, as someone who has seen child welfare first hand both here in the US and in Ethiopia, I would like to make a public statement:

To those who voice concern about organ selling and child abuse: there is such a thing called Post Placement Visits and Post Placement Reports. There are some horrible cases, but based on the reports piled up at the Ministry Of Women Children and Youth Affairs, most of the children are doing well.

Do all adoptive families sell their adopted children's organs? NO! Are all adoptive families child molesters? NO! Are all adoptive families perfect, and thus not require home studies or post placement reports? NO! Should international adoptions be banned? Most emphatically: NO!

As the founder of an organization that conducts Third Party Orphan Status Verifications, I wish to speak to those who seem to, more and more, be labeling the children coming out of Ethiopia as non-orphans and a victims of bad practice:

Ethiopian children who are in need of families are worthy of being adopted; there is no amount of possible corruption that can alter this fact. 

However: are adoption cases from Ethiopia so clean and transparent that an adoptive parent does not need an Orphan Status Verification? NO. 

Simply put:  Adopt responsibly. 

All adoptive families should do their homework regarding the child to whom they are being referred. If nothing else, they will have the peace of mind knowing they did everything in their power to learn everything they could about their child. That way, when the time comes to pass on their child’s history, they’ll have something to share.

Our Clients Have Regrets

Our clients have regrets. Why? They regret that they didn’t hire us sooner. Seriously, if I had a nickel for every time an adoptive family calls me last minute, rushed and anxious ... Well, you get the picture.

Save yourself time, money and the fear of being sent to USCIS or getting an RFE (Request for Evidence). Allow EthioStork to help you do your homework; let us conduct an Orphan Status Verification for your adoption from Ethiopia.

Don't wait until you've wasted time and money using an “investigator” who failed to give you the information you need. Additionally, it really isn't prudent to hire us after you've passed court, even though we are happy to help at whatever stage you find yourself in. However, if you come to us first, you will save yourself time, and most likely, regret. 

Do you remember your high school or college days when you had an upcoming test? If you studied adequately prior to the test you likely had a good night's sleep before the big day. Now, do you remember how you felt when you ignored the pending test and then a couple of hours before the  you tried to cram? Stress, and perhaps failure.

If you take energy to have an Orphan Status Verification conducted, we can almost guarantee a good night sleep before you submit to embassy. Why? Because we empower you, the adoptive parents! Our team of professionals will take the utmost care in verifying the orphan status of your child. We will ensure that you know everything there is to know about your future adopted child so you can submit to embassy with your head held high and the assurance that your child is a true orphan. Most importantly, you will be prepared to answer any questions that are sure to come your way.

Don’t gamble with an “investigator” who doesn’t know Ethiopia and U.S. adoption laws, someone who does not know what to look for. Contact us at info@ethiostork.org

Submit Your Documents to the US Embassy through EthioStork

At EthioStork, we have a team of professionals with years of experience and an eye for detail. The families we have assisted by conducting Orphan Status Verifications, and then submitting their documents, have been able to avoid RFEs (Request For Evidence). Even better, these families have been able to get through the embassy more quickly because their documents are detailed and their children's status is verified.

EthioStork was founded to make the Ethiopian adoption experience more transparent and less stressful. So, do your homework! Don't take unnecessary risks with your adoption paperwork ... let EthioStirk review your documents and conduct an OSV if necessary prior to submitting your documents. Contact us at info@ethiostork.org

"We have used EthioStork for Orphan Status Verification during our adoption process. It helped us gain more information about our children's background and the I600 applications, gives us the necessary tools we needed to prove our children are true orphans. The Orphan Status Verification helped us go through the embassy process faster and help us solved necessary issues on our paperwork and avoid any delays at the embassy.Duni is an amazing and professional person to work with. My experience with them was positive" -S. Kelati

Why Have An Orphan Status Verification Conducted On Your Child?

Orphan Status Verification Testimony:

We are so glad we hired EthioStork to do orphan status verifications on our children. The background information we received on each child is invaluable information that we will be able to pass down to them in the future. EthioStork did a thorough job conducting interviews and capturing their stories beautifully on film. We were amazed at the high quality footage in the DVD we received. It was worth every penny we spent to be able to have further evidence on our cases. Because of EthioStork's work on our behalf, we felt confident in presenting our cases to the US embassy knowing that we had done everything possible to verify our children's orphan status.

- Justin & Bonnie Myers

EthioStork General Testimony:

Hiring EthioStork to assist us in our troubled Ethiopian adoption is one of the best decisions we have ever made. EthioStork's team of investigators, social workers, and lawyers are filled with integrity, persistence, and passion for what they do. Duni Zenaye's consultations with us were forthright, honest, and empowering. Her professionalism and that of her staff is exceptional. Duni knows both US and Ethiopian adoption law inside and out. Without her help, we are certain our children would not be home today. We implore anyone who is not getting the answers they need from their adoption agency to contact EthioStork's team.  

- Justin & Bonnie Myers

Adopting From Ethiopia if Your Country Does Not Have an Adoption Agency Where You Live

Do you live in Ireland, England, or any other country with no adoption agency licensed in Ethiopia? EthioStork may be able to help! Contact us at: info@ethiostork.org  

EthioStork Provides Service to Adoptive Families Responding to RFE by USCIS

Was your I600 petition transferred to USCIS by the US Embassy in Ethiopia? Have you received an RFE (Request for Evidence) in regards to the orphan status of your child adopted from Ethiopia? We may be able to assist you in compiling the evidence you need to respond to USCIS. Contact us at info@ethiostork.org