This information is provided by our members (use comments to add to it):

Links to the Hague status

Check out: http://irishpinkadoptions.com/reference-material/country-information/

Link to local Adoption Authority

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Link to local Adoption Agencies

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Other useful links

Irish Ethiopian Adoption Organisation

Latest updates

NOTICE – ETHIOPIA – 1st March 2011

The AAI is in receipt of information from the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s,Children’s and Youth Affairs that it has informed the President of the Federal First Instance Court that, with effect from March 10, 2011 it will be in a position to provide opinions on a maximum of five adoption files per day. (Heretofore it was processing fifty adoption files per day). This, the MWCYA states, is due to ‘prioritization of other issues and to ensure the quality of each case.’
The AAI is currently aware of 12 PAP’s currently proposing to adopt in Ethiopia from Ireland. See NOTICES below.

NOTICE – ETHIOPIA – 28th February 2011

Further to the Notice of 25th February 2011.
Persons proposing to adopt from Ethiopia who have been allocated a Court date should contact the Adoption Authority by email as soon as possible.

Please forward the following details only to info@aai.gov.ie

Name, AAI File ref. number, Court Date, Court case no..

NOTICE – ETHIOPIA – 25th February 2011

The AAI has been informed by the Irish embassy in Addis Ababa that the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs (MWCYA) is currently undertaking a review of adoptions. The Ministry has undertaken visits to orphanages in four regions and will continue next month with visits to the remaining regions.
 
Once the review has been completed, a set of guidelines will be finalised by the Ethiopian authorities. These guidelines will address the issue of private/independent adoptions. (Irish adoptions are categorised as private adoptions in that the prospective adoptive parents deal directly with the children’s home and do not go through an accredited agency). The Ministry has advised that there shall be a ‘pause’ in private adoptions until the revised guidelines are in place.
 
Persons who already hold a valid Declaration of Eligibility & Suitability to adopt, as of 1 November 2010, and who are proposing to adopt in Ethiopia, are reminded that under Section 63 of the Adoption Act 2010 they may only proceed to adopt in a non-Hague Convention State which ‘in the opinion of the Authority, applied standards regarding the adoption concerned that accord with those of the Hague Convention’
 
The AAI must reserve the right to refuse recognition to, and entry into the Register of Intercountry Adoptions of, any intercountry adoption effected in a non-Hague Convention State which does not accord with the standards of the Convention.
 
The AAI welcomes the decision of the MWCYA to review its adoption procedures. The Authority is committed to working with the Ministry to ensure that any adoptions effected in Ethiopia comply with Ethiopian law and accord with the standards of the Hague Convention. 

How the implementation of the Adoption Act on 1 November 2010 might affect adoptions

 Ethiopia is not a member of the Hague Convention and applicants that possess a pre 1 November Declaration can complete an adoption, subject to the laws of Ethiopia being satisfied. 

The Adoption Board is in the process of reviewing the adoption law of Ethiopia to ensure that its law still complies with the definition of a foreign adoption contained in the 2010 Act, to ensure that applicants can rely on the transitional provisions contained in Section 63 of the legislation if they have they ceritificates prior to 1 Nov.

Updates are usually taken from the AAI’s website.

The information will also be updated based on the comments received.
Just in case, check the What’s new page of the AAI.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

In light of the impending commencement of the Adoption Act 2010 on 1 November 2010, the Adoption Board recently decided to seek legal advice on the implications of the commencement of the Act on the future recognition of adoptions from the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

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The enactment of the Adoption Act 2010 will bring about Ireland’s accession to the ‘Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption’ (the ‘Hague Convention’).

Article 2 of the Hague Convention states -

(1)  The Convention shall apply where a child habitually resident in one Contracting State (“the State of origin”) has been, is being, or is to be moved to another Contracting State (“the receiving State”) either after his or her adoption in the State of origin by spouses or a person habitually resident in the receiving State, or for the purposes of such an adoption in the receiving State or in the State of origin.

Persons proposing to adopt abroad should always seek independent legal advice prior to doing so.

Persons proposing to adopt abroad from a Hague Convention country AFTER

1 November 2010 should satisfy themselves

-         that their adoption complies with the terms and conditions of the Hague Convention.

-         that the Agent / Agency they have engaged is properly accredited by the Central Authority in the country of origin.

-         that the Agent / Agency they have engaged can produce a valid Article 23 Certificate from a Competent Authority in the state of origin in respect of that adoption.

Details of the Hague Convention and a list of the Central Authorities, the Accredited Bodies and the Competent Authorities are available on the Hague Convention’s website –