Another Kick in the Teeth

We were told to expect about a 6 week wait from the time we approve our referral to when we travel. Here's just another "oh by the way, things have changed email." I'm starting to hate these emails. This is the email we received from our adoption coordinator. Obviously there are good reasons why it's been moved back, it just stinks when it personally effects you!

There is an important change that all Ethiopia families need to take note of. From this point forward we are asking families to anticipate an 8-12week wait after receiving a referral before traveling to Ethiopia to pick up their child/children (12-16 weeks for families whose referrals fall during the court closures). During those 8-12 weeks there are a series of steps that must be taken to receive governmental approvals, court decrees, birth certificates, passports, visas, and a plethora of other documents for the adopted child. Because receiving the court decree is especially difficult and often times not approved on the first or even second court date we have decided to now switch to a new system where we will notify families with a travel approval when all of their documents have been collected and definitive dates can be identified to schedule travel. This means that we will no longer be contacting families about when their court dates will be, or each time their court date did not go through, or has been changed. Families will be notified within 2-4 weeks before traveling to Ethiopia with their travel approval.