And So It Goes...

The process of international adoption is filled with uncertainty.  From the time one starts filling out the first piece of paperwork on, so much of the process is *completely* out of an adoptive family's control.  This week, the Rwandan government announced its intention to join the Hague Convention for its adoptive process and to suspend the acceptance of new dossiers until the process of joining the Hague Convention is finished.  The process a country's government goes through to become a Hague country is a long one and the process of adoption from a Hague country is different than from a non-Hague country.  Gratefully, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion in Rwanda has announced its intent to finish the adoptive process for families with dossiers currently at the Ministry, as well as dossiers to arrive there by August 31, 2010.  Our process should proceed forward, as our dossier has been in Rwanda for a few months.  However, many families in the process of adopting from Rwanda will either have to wait the suspension out, which is very unpredictable and could take a very long time, or make the difficult decision to pull out of the process of adopting from Rwanda.  We have been praying much for these families, that God would provide clarity and peace in their decisions.  We have also been praying much for the children in Rwanda, that the Hague process would move along smoothly and quickly so that kids can be placed in families.  We know that in the long-run, Rwanda's choice to become a Hague country is a blessing for the children in need of homes.  It's a barrier of protection for them and for the families adopting them.  We also know that while we are not in control of what happens with our adoption, we serve a God who is omnipotent and magnificent, loving and powerful and the plan for our family is His to reveal.  We eagerly await its revelation.

If you are interested in exactly what it means to be a party to the Hague Convention for international adoption, you can read more about it below or go to the State Department's website (below).  The general purpose of the Convention as taken directly from the US State Department's website is as follows:

Convention Facts

• It requires that countries who are party to the Convention establish a Central Authority to be the authoritative source of information and point of contact in that country.  The Department of State is the U.S. Central Authority for the Convention. 
• It aims to prevent the abduction, sale of, or traffic in children, and 
  it works to ensure that intercountry adoptions are in the best interests of children.  
  
• It recognizes intercountry adoption as a means of offering the advantage of a permanent home to a child when a suitable family has not been found in the child’s country of origin.  It enables intercountry adoption to take place when:

1. The child has been deemed eligible for adoption by the child’s country of birth; and
2. Proper effort has been given to the child’s adoption in its country of origin.

• It provides a formal international and intergovernmental recognition of intercountry adoption, working to ensure that adoptions under the Convention will generally be recognized and given effect in other party countries.

(Source:  http://www.adoption.state.gov/hague/overview.html)