With the closure of Canadian Ethiopian adoption programs, some Canadian adoptive families are lacking a viable way to get post placement reports to Ethiopia. I’m volunteering to deliver post-placement reports to the Ethiopian government from the Canadian families that don’t have another mechanism to send the reports to Ethiopia.
As an adoptive parent myself, I’m keenly aware that these reports are incredibly important: when birth families search at orphanages or the Ministry of Women, children and Youth Affairs (formerly known as MOWA for short) for information about their kids, these reports tell them how they are doing. Many other people, from social workers to orphanage caregivers to government staff, are concerned for the children’s welfare. The post placement reports give these people reassurance about the kids as well. Some adoptive families have the benefit of direct or mediated contact with their children’s birth families, but even those families still have an obligation to the Ethiopian government and other people in the chain of care who need to know about the children.
The format and frequency of reports has changed over the years, and I’m no authority on what the government expects. The last time I heard, post placement reports were due three, six and twelve months after placement, and every yearly anniversary until the children turn 18. All formats I have seen include information about how the children are doing, and photos of the kids. This is a link to one agency’s suggested format. http://www.awaa.org/forms/PostPlacementReq-Ethiopia.pdf
What format you use, who prepares the report and how often you send them is completely up to you. Not my business! I’m just the delivery service.
But whatever format of post placement report you are sending, I’m volunteering to take it to MOWA for you. I will deliver your post placement reports into the hands of government of officials, who will then distribute them to the orphanages and other offices and chains of communication, as they see fit. I will get a delivery signature, and a picture of handing over the reports.
All I ask is this.
First of all, don’t send me heavy stuff. I need to take this on a plane, and squeeze it in amongst donations and medical supplies for Vulnerable Children Society’s Love and Hope Centre, and Teenage Sex Trade Worker Retraining Program. Please send a maximum of two copies (they have photocopiers in Ethiopia,) and staple them together (no binders or duo tangs.) Please keep each report to 8 pictures maximum. Think light!
Secondly, please make a minimum $200 donation to Vulnerable Children Society. The trip I am taking these on is a volunteering trip for Vulnerable Children Society, and if I’m taking volunteering time away from the trip, I’d like this side trip to benefit our work in some way. Of course, if you are so financially strapped that you can’t donate to that amount, we will work something out. But courier costs alone would be close to this amount, so it’s a pretty good deal. https://www.canadahelps.org/dn/15435
Thirdly, you need to send the two paper copies of your post placement reports to Vulnerable Children Society’s office before Labour Day, September 7. Yes, that is just a month away. But I’m leaving shortly after that, and I need to get those reports all packed up safely. Include your return address, as well as your email, so we can stay in touch if necessary. Here is our office address:
Arnica Rowan
Vulnerable Children Society
757 Wardlaw Avenue
Kelowna, BC V1Y5B8 CANADA
Note that if for some reason I can’t deliver your package, I will send it back to you and refund your donation.
I hope this delivery service is of benefit to you and your family. I think it’s a great fundraiser for Vulnerable Children Society and a service to my fellow adoptive families, I’m certainly going to take advantage of the trip to deliver our own family’s post placement report, even though we have direct contact with our children’s Ethiopian family and the orphanage they came from. In my opinion, it’s one of those important connections between our children’s first homes and their second, between their birth country and family, and their Canadian family.
I should point out that Vulnerable Children Society has nothing to do with the process of adoption… Our organization focuses on keeping families together through community foster care and self reliance. But since many of our directors’ lives were touched by adoption, we also acknowledge the importance of the connection between birth and adoptive families.
I hope you will follow us along on our trip mid-September. I will post the pictures of delivering the reports on our blog, as well as accounts of our work at the after school centre and teenage education centre we support. We also have a new Instagram account: I hope you will follow along.
My best,
Arnica
President of Vulnerable Children Society
http://www.VulnerableChildren.ca
