Two weeks to court

Two weeks until our court date! Here's a step-by-step description of the process in Ethiopia, starting with the court date:

1. At the hearing, the judge reviews the case and either advises his/her decision or requests additional information.

2. A decision is made or new court date is scheduled.

3. When the decision is granted, the written court order is drafted and is usually issued within a week.

4. Once the court order is issued, a letter of support is requested and received from the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) office.

5. Once the MOWA letter is received, the birth certificate is issued.

6. When the birth certificate is issued, Children's Home Society will receive a scanned copy of it and will verify that the information is correct. At that point, Children's Home Society will advise us of a travel date. We will get approximately 3-4 weeks advance notice before traveling.

7. Children's Home Society advises Ethiopia staff that the birth certificate information is correct and they will proceed to obtain the child’s Ethiopian passport, Embassy medical exam and will prepare the final paperwork to submit to the Embassy.

8. We travel to Ethiopia.

From our side, this process mostly translates into "waiting to hear news." While we wait, we are working on getting bedrooms set up, plus the usual December activities.