Addis Ababa, November 15, 2012 (Ezega.com) - Tarikua and Girum were just two of many children abandoned as infants by parents who were either unable or unwilling to take care for them. In spite of efforts to find their parents and/or other living relatives pursued at different times by government agencies and the local adoption agency Kidmia, no one was found willing to claim either infants.Both were placed in an orphanage amongst other children like themselves.
In due time they were cleared for adoption and it was at this time they were included in the Kidimia, domestic adoption program. Both children were placed at the Kidmia transition center.
The organization immediately took on the task of placing these children with ‘their forever families’ as part of its domestic adoption agenda according to Ato Aschalew Abebe, Country Director, for Kidimia.
Kidima took care of all the required documentation and filed all the necessary while at the same time seeking the right family for these two children he said.
“Kidmia worked hard on searching for just the right family and to match with these two children as it does for all the children it places” explained Ato Aschalew. Kidimia has a considerable list of prospective adoptive parents who have committed to adoption through the organization and Captian Yohannes and Wyzero Eleni, were one of the committed adoptive families.
“The couple specifically applied to adopt a baby girl and boy from Kidmia at the same time as Tarikua and Girum were being processed by Kidimia” he said.
<‘The official processes went off without a hitch and all concerned government offices expressed thie approval of the applications for adoption for both children. The final decision however, lay with the court at Gunchire in whose jurisdiction the case lay’ explained Aschalew.
The court hearing was appointed for the second of November and the prospective parents Captain Yohannes and W/zo Eleni accompanied by friends and family all travelled to Gunchire a day earlier.
Ato Aschalew and Ato Barkeal Beyene, Kidmia’s Domestic Adoption Program Coordinator, travelled with the couple to Gunchire to render all necessary assistance said Ato Aschalew.
On the morning of 2nd November, at about 10:30 am the cases were reviewed by the president of the court. The judge evaluated all the attached supporting documents as well as interviewing the prospective adoptive family and the director of Kidimia.
The interview included a range of questions in different areas for each application according to Ato Aschalew.
The court finally approved both applications for adoption and the children were officially placed with their ‘forever family’ following the court order.
“Both children have been given the opportunity to have thier stories re-written. Now Tarkiua and Girum have a happy ending to their sad stories. Currently, both have a loving and forever family to call thier own” said a very happy Ato Ascahlew.
Kidimia is an organization working to promote domestic adoption as an important response to the orphan crisis in Ethiopia. Many are quick to claim that adoption, in the sense of legally and emotionally taking responsibility for a non-biological child is alien to Ethiopian culture. Ato Aschalew however firmly believes that wide spread domestic adoption is not only desirable but viable.
Ato Aschalew, who has a BA in Sociology and Social Administration from Addis Ababa University studied for his Masters degree in Regional Development Planning and Management, in both Germany and Chile. He has worked for World Vision and local non-profits in child focus programs for over 10 years. As the country director for KIDMIA he feels an even stronger calling to advocate the cause of the orphan and the fatherless.
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