Ethiopian Adoption Timeline

Below is an ongoing timeline of our Ethiopian adoption process.  I am hopeful this will be helpful to other considering, just beginning or in the middle of the Ethiopian adoption process in regards to time frames, what to expect, etc.  We will try to keep this as up to date as possible.

– April 12, 2012:  Adoption case cleared from U.S. Embassy

– March 21, 2012:  Word from the U.S. Embassy that Titus’ Ethiopian Paperwork was received and the U.S. would begin their investigation of his orphan case

– March 14, 2012:  Titus’ Ethiopian Paperwork submitted to U.S. Embassy

– January 28, 2012:  Arrive Louiville, KY (via Chicago, IL via Washington, DC)

– January 27, 2012:  Leave Titus and Ethiopia to return to Louisville, KY

– January 26, 2012:  Ethiopian court date and official “approval” from the Ethiopian government that Titus is now legally ours!

– January 24, 2012:  Arrive Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and meet our son, Titus, for the first time!

– January 23, 2012:  Leave Washington, DC for Ethiopia

– January 22, 2012:  Leave Kentucky for Ethiopia (via Washington, DC)

– January 17, 2012:  Call from our Adoption Coordinator informing us that we have an Ethiopian court date scheduled for Thursday, January 26th.  We were told we needed to be in Ethiopia on Tuesday, January 24th…which means we will leave Louisville on Sunday, January 22nd.  A very exciting but hectic week this week to say the least!!

– November 30, 2011:  Referral for our new son (see 12/4/11 blog post – It’s a Boy)

– November 21, 2011:  Call to our Adoption Coordinator informing her that we were open to any number of children

– November 19 – 20, 2011:  Discussion and prayer regarding our need to relinquish control over how many children we wanted and our need to trust God completely in this process…including the number of children He has planned for our family

– November 19, 2011:  Lifeline Children’s Services’ luncheon

– July 4, 2011:  Dossier arrived in Ethiopia

– June 2011:  Dossier approved by United States

– May 2011:  Dossier completed

– May 2011:  Home study completed

– April 14, 2011:  Arise for Children merges with Lifeline Children Services

– April 2011:  Home study interview

– March 23, 2011 :  Initiated contract to partner with Arise for Children to pursue an international adoption from Ethiopia

– March 17, 2011:  Initial Meeting with home study agency to determine what all would be required

– March 4, 2011:  Ethiopia cuts foreign adoptions by 90% (see 3/5/11 blog post – Our 1st Ride on the Adoption Roller Coaster)

– February 23, 2011:  Decision to pursue adoption (see 2/25/11 blog post – Beginning our Adoption Journey)

– February 21, 2011:  Initial meeting with Arise for Children

– February 14, 2011:  Decision to research adoption