Forum: failed court dates

failed court dates

I have had correspondence with someone who used to be an adoption investigator
in Ethiopia. He states that both the USA and Ethiopian governments turn a blind
eye to some problems or inconsistently pay attention to some problems, but
apparently with the number of not passed court dates, other problems are not
ignored. The system is overwhelmed with the explosive growth of adoption from
Ethiopia to countries around the world.

I also have heard from multiple reliable sources that "expediting" fees or other
payments are paid by some agencies or their agents which seem to "grease the
wheels" (NOT making any accusations about any agency). If other sending
countries are any guide, this helps make smooth adoptions for those engaged in
that practice (again NOT saying this is the explanation for consistently easy
processes for ALL agencies).

There are many regional differences, problems getting birth family to be places
(remember poverty is involved and this makes it very hard for people to find the
money/time to get from point A to point B, and even one day off work can make
the difference between eating or not), homeless people move around, people
die... Rules vary across the country and so this complicates the situation.

Often people in other countries do not have the time urgency that western people
have when it comes to doing things and tend to have an "oh well/shrug" to things
having to be done again (cripes I run into that all the time in offices where I
live in the deep south right now which frustrates the heck out of me). If pushed
some people with that "shrug" mentality will submit/turn in unfinished work just
because you are pushing them to get stuff turned in now rather than later. The
response tends to be, "well fine, you want it turned it now, I will turn in
what I have even though it isn't done; though getting it done was the priority,
I guess not".

International adoption is frequently NOT a smooth, fast process.

Carolyn