Jews adopting from Ethiopia

We live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a Washington, DC suburb. My daughter, who is from China and is currently in sixth grade, attends a Conservative Jewish day school. There are quite a few Ethiopian and Eritrean Jewish children in the school. They are almost all the children of families who fled the conflicts in their countries. In general, the families went first to Israel. Then they got visas to come to the U.S. At this point, adoption from Ethiopia hasn't yet brought large numbers of children into Jewish families. However, with the country becoming very popular with families because the children receive good care and because the time frame is relatively short, I expect this to change. Within the next five years, I think that my daughter's school will be seeing children adopted from Ethiopia, much as it now sees children adopted from China, Korea, and so on. Fortunately, the "face" of the Jewish community in our area is changing. If you go to Reform and Conservative (and a few Orthodox) synagogues, you will find plenty of non-White children. Some came to their families via adoption. Others are the children of immigrants, of converts, or of transracially married parents. If you are looking for a good place to raise and educate a Jewish child of color, the Washington area is really an excellent choice. Sharon

Hello Hana, Congratulations on your progress so far! My husband and I adopted our two daughters, ages 4 and 2 1/2, in 2004 and 2006. Last April we decided to convert to Judaism. It has been an amazing experience so far, and I'm so happy with the rabbi and the congregation we've found. I was concerned, too, about how we would raise Ethiopian children as Jews, but I have seen exactly what Sharon said. Our congregation is very mixed, and very open and welcoming, not only to our children, but to us as proselytes, to couples who are mixed, to adoptive families, to anyone really, who wants to be a part of the Jewish community. My daughters love going to synagogue, and they love Tot Shabbat and the Jewish music we play in the car. They also love learning Amharic words and playing with their friends at our group of Ethiopian adoptive families. Being Ethiopian and being Jewish are just facts of life for them. They may have questions some day, but I think as long as we reinforce and support both these special aspects of their identiites, they will feel secure in being Ethiopian, Jewish, American, young women... I look forward to hearing more about your experiences so that soon I can say Mazel Tov when your child is placed with you! - Erin

My younger son's birth mother is Ethiopian. While I didn't exactly adopt from Ethiopia, it is part of his heritage. Ironically, even living in Israel, I haven't succeeded in making any contacts with the Ethiopian community. I recently found this site, though [url=http://www.iaej.org.il/index.htm]Ethiopian Jews - Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews - Ethiopian Jewry[/url] This is a website for the Organization of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, in English. Maybe you can find some helpful information there as well.

Hi. We are also adopting from Ethiopia. We already have a 2 year-old daughter who is biological and we have are about to send off our dossier to USCIS for approval to complete an adoption from Ethiopia. We are a mostly practicing Conservative Jewish family who lives in the Bible Belt (Kentucky) and I long for more connection with transracially formed families and/or Jewish families raising young children. While there are a handful of Jewish families in our area who have adopted from various Asian and Eastern European countries, as far as I know, we'll be the first in the 2 congregations in town who have adopted from Ethiopia. The Washington area sounds really nice; unfortunately we're several years away from being able to move, although we definitely would if we and our children needed more connections with others like them. Are there any other Jewish families adopting from Ethiopia living in the Ohio Valley/Bluegrass area?? In any case, it's nice to connect on the internet to provide support in any way we can for each other. Thanks!