Just days ago, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa reported that they have been informed by the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) that effective immediately, all intercountry adoptions are suspended. This is devastating to many in the process of adoption, and it is being buzzed about throughout social media. It is unclear if this is a temporary suspension or permanent or the reasons behind the suspension. On April 21st an alert was issued from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs:
On April 21, an official from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women and Children (MOWA) informed U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa that it is suspending its processing of intercountry adoption cases, effective immediately. The U.S. Department of State does not yet know how long this suspension will last. The Office of Children’s Issues and the Embassy are working with MOWA to seek more information on the terms of the suspension. We will urge MOWA to complete processing of cases that were in progress prior to this suspension.
If you have questions about your pending case, please contact your Adoption Service Provider. You may also write to ConsAdoptionAddis@state.gov if you have questions about an adoption-related visa application or immigrant petition. You may copy the Office of Children’s Issues at Adoption@state.gov on your email to the Embassy if you wish.
Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov for updated information on intercountry adoption in Ethiopia.
Please check back in with Adoption.com regularly as we will post news updates when they become available.
