From Ethiopia... to your home

Beautiful children… a bright opportunity for you…
to bring a son or daughter into your family and to provide belonging and love for a child in need of a home.

After five decades of service to children and families overseas, in 2007, Holt International came to Ethiopia – a country rich in culture and history, but also among the world’s most impoverished.  Years of civil war and drought have robbed many Ethiopian people of their livelihoods, while famine and illness have robbed children of their parents.

Today, Ethiopia has an estimated 5 million homeless children.

But not every child we serve in Ethiopia lives without a home or a family.

Keeping families together…
Many vulnerable children in Ethiopia have loving parents or relatives to care for them. But often, families struggle to meet the basic needs of every child in their care – placing many at risk of separation. 

In Ethiopia, we provide the resources families need to give their children a safe, stable home.  In addition to food, clothing and shelter, we support education for young children, and vocational training or income-generating projects for heads of household. Through these efforts, we help families work toward self-reliance – and ultimately, lasting stability.

Improving medical care…
In recent years, Holt has made significant strides in improving healthcare for Ethiopia’s rural poor.  In 2009, Holt renovated a maternal-child health clinic and, a year later, began construction of a hospital in Shinshico, a district capitol. In both 2009 and 2010, we also sent medical/surgical teams to provide specialized care in underserved communities, while growing the capacity of local medical staff.

Finding homes for children…
Efforts to keep or reunite children with their birth families are not always successful.  For these children, adoption is often the best avenue to a permanent, loving family.  Since 2007, Holt has placed approximately 500 children from Ethiopia with adoptive families in the United States.

An evolving process…
The number of children from Ethiopia joining adoptive families abroad has grown rapidly in recent years.  In the U.S., the numbers have tripled from 731 in 2006 to over 2500 in 2010 – a rise that has also brought increased scrutiny from media, NGOs and government officials.
Adoption officials in both U.S. and Ethiopia – including Holt International – continue to support international adoption as an important solution for homeless children. But we do recognize: as the rate of adoption has grown, so has the task of ensuring important protections for children and their birth families.  Officials in Ethiopia and the U.S. are working to strengthen these safeguards, while also carefully reviewing a high volume of applications. Although slower than before, the process to adopt a child from Ethiopia now moves at a pace comparable to other popular country programs, such as China and Korea.

A continuing need…
Holt will continue working with the Ethiopian government to develop practices that are ethical, protect children and families, and ensure adoption for every child who truly needs it.

Holt’s Ethiopia program is currently accepting applications.  Families should be flexible and open to common unknowns in international adoption.

For more information, please register for a webinar, request an adoption packet, or contact Holt’s adoption counselor.