1. There are a lot of them, somewhere between 4 and 5 million.
2. The Ethiopian people are very nurturing. They love their children. Many are unable to care for them for reasons beyond their control, such as famine and disease.
3. Both healthy and special needs children are available and needing homes. Our son will be healthy... for a 3 year old in Ethiopia. He will not have any incurable diseases, but he will likely be suffering from malnutrition. He will probably have some temporary developmental delays and/or other treatable problems.
4. Children available for adoption are either abandoned or relinquished. If they are abandoned nearly nothing is known about them. In the case of relinquishment a little more information is available, however Ethiopia is a third world country and not a lot of records are kept. Any information we are given can be shared with our son.
5. The age of an orphan is an educated guess. Children in Ethiopia are not given birth certificates or registered in any formal way. Add to that the fact that it is 2002 in Ethiopia! They have a 13 month calendar, putting them in 2002 instead of 2009. We will never know the actual birth date of our son. He will be issued a birth certificate as part of the adoptive process. Some families celebrate their child's birthday on the day listed on that certificate, others celebrate on the day they first met.
6. Our agency does not split up siblings.
7. Baby girls are the most popular to adopt. Followed by baby boys, toddler girls, and then toddler boys. Older children and sibling units are hardest to find families.
8. It will take anywhere from 9 to 15 months to complete this process.
