Families in the dark as adoption chief quits

By Cassie White for News Online's Investigative Unit

Earlier in the year ABC News Online revealed allegations by adoptive parents about the program, which until the end of last month was run by Ato Lakew Gebeyehu and his wife Misrak from their transition home for children, Koala House.

Families told heartbreaking stories of their time in Ethiopia - from witnessing their new baby choking on vomit, to a young boy being kept in a bucket to stop him from moving about. One family had to pay a bribe and others found their paperwork falsified with their child's age dramatically altered.

Other families discovered their new children had parents and sibilings who were still alive, when they had been told they were adopting orphans.

Adoptive familes have welcomed the news Mr Gebeyehu will no longer be in charge, but have condemned what they say is the Federal Government's "secrecy" surrounding the real reason he stood aside.

In April Attorney-General Robert McClelland lifted a temporary suspension of the program after concerns there may have been breaches of the Hague Convention, which ensures the welfare of children is the priority and that international adoptions are used only as a last resort. Australia is a signatory to the convention, but Ethiopia is not.

Mr Gebeyehu declined ABC News Online's interview request when he was in Australia last month to renegotiate a service agreement with the Attorney-General's Department.

The department said it did raise "credible and specific concerns" with Mr Gebeyehu about the problems within the program, but was "satisfied with the outcome of those enquiries".

But rather than renew his contract, it was unexpectedly announced that he would no longer continue to run the program and there would be a six-month transition period during which the Government would find someone else.

A statement from the Attorney-General's Department says the decision to end Mr Gebeyehu's employment "was mutual".

"During discussions about a new service agreement a mutual decision was made that Mr Lakew would transition from his role as the Australian representative," said the statement.

"Mr Lakew has been undertaking this role for nearly 20 years and is in his 70s."

But the decision came as surprise even to the Australian African Children's Aid and Support Association (AACASA), which is the peak support group for adoptive parents of Ethiopian children.

Its president Gaylene Cooper says she fully supports Mr Gebeyehu and his wife, and the unexpected outcome has left the organisation in the dark.

"Nobody's really saying why; there are a lot of rumours flying around that he's retiring ... but it was not his intention to go back home from Australia without signing the new service agreement," she said.

"We can only assume that something went wrong, but we don't really know. What both parties are saying is that it was a mutual agreement, so that's really the only information we've been given. It doesn't really leave things in a very good situation.

"Obviously they've both agreed to keep it behind closed doors. Our biggest concern is, what are they going to do moving forward?

"Lakew's been doing this for 20 years, as has Misrak. From what I can gather, neither party intended this, so something's obviously not gone satisfactorily and this is what they've agreed on."

The ABC has also discovered that Mr Gebeyehu was sacked from World Vision in Ethiopia before his employment with the Australian Government.

"Ato Lakew Gebeyehu was a former agricultural employee with World Vision Ethiopia. He was dismissed more than a decade ago by World Vision for failing to attend to his duties," World Vision said in a statement to ABC News Online.

Adoptive parents of Ethiopian children told ABC News Online they are glad Mr Gebeyehu will no longer be the Australian representative and hope the change will give "future adoptive parents greater confidence in the process".

"We welcome the Attorney-General's recent decision not to renew the service agreement with Lakew and Misrak. For too long there have been too many questions about the way things have been done in Ethiopia, and it is time for a clean slate," they said.

"Adopted children have the right to know about the circumstances of their early life and this is an opportunity for adoptions between Australia and Ethiopia to move forward in transparency and confidence.

"Hopefully this will give future adoptive parents greater confidence in the process and, more importantly, children adopted from Ethiopia to Australia will have greater access to information about their personal histories with full disclosure and knowledge of all the records pertinent to their past.

"We would also like to know the reasoning behind the "mutual agreement" to end the arrangement between Lakew and the Attorney-General, so soon after the Attorney-General had expressed their support for Lakew in this role.

"The secrecy surrounding this decision only reinforces the lack of transparency that has characterised the regime in the past and serves to perpetuate the innuendo and suspicion surrounding the power of attorney and makes people wonder whether there is no smoke without fire."

In response to questions on claims of corruption within the program by parents, the Attorney-General's Department said: "Any allegations of corruption or misuse of funds should be referred to the Department for investigation."

But the ABC obtained documents showing the Howard government knew of serious concerns in 2005 and that the Rudd government was warned again in 2008 by Brussels-based human rights organisation Against Child Trafficking, after Mr Gebeyehu was arrested and held on suspicion of child trafficking.

He was later cleared after it was considered to be a case of mistaken identity, but Against Child Trafficking urged the Federal Government to look further into the case. The organisation says it received little response.