Adopting From Ethiopia

A little bit about our decision to adopt and how we decided on Ethiopia…

In the summer/fall of 2009, we started praying about adopting our next child. We were excited yet nervous about this, because we did not know where to start (and we had two kids under the age of 3!). We had always had a heart for orphans, and felt that adoption was an awesome thing, because there are so many children who are in need of a family. It’s heartbreaking that there are 147+ million children in the world who don’t have a family to love. It’s hard to even imagine what life would look like growing up without parents or 3 meals a day.

We felt drawn to Ethiopia for a handful of reasons, the first being the vast number of orphans. When we started researching the different countries open to adoption, we met all of the adoptive requirements for Ethiopia, and we really appreciated the customs and culture of Ethiopians. We also had the opportunity to meet a lot of families in our area who have adopted from Ethiopia, and were able to hear more about the process & meet their precious children. Here are some statistics on Ethiopia’s orphans and children that broke our hearts & drew us to Ethiopia.

- An estimated 6 million children are orphaned in a country twice the size of Texas

- One in ten children living in Ethiopia die before their first birthday

- One in six children die before their fifth birthday

- Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000

- Over half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school

- 88% or more will never attend secondary school

- 82% of Ethiopians live on less than $1 a day and this number is growing

- In Ethiopia, only 24% of households have access to safe drinking water

- Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa

(Sources: WHO, World Bank & UNICEF)

Ethiopia is a beautiful country with so much heart. A country that encounters a lot of hardship, yet full of amazingly joyful and grateful people. A culture that puts greatest value on faith and family. Our daughter will be blessed to have this heritage to be proud of. We can’t wait to meet you, sweet girl!