Locals hurt by new adoption plan

MASON, Ohio - A decision made thousands of miles away is causing heartbreak here in the Tri-State.

The Ethiopian government declared it will process only five adoptions a day, which is a 90 percent reduction. It leaves local families, like the Ewing's of Mason, waiting longer to adopt than expected.

Brad and Chris Ewing had three children before they adopted their youngest, Asher, from Ethiopia five years ago.

They have started the process to adopt a second child from Ethiopia and recently learned their wait will not be about one year as expected. It could be several years because of Ethiopia's new adoption policy.

"As an adoptive mom, I was really heartbroken," said Chris Ewing.

Brad said, "I was just not prepared for that long of a wait but for us, it's just an inconvenience. For the kids, it's their life. It really impacts every orphan that doesn't get adopted."

The Ewings said a slowed process will mean not as many children will be adopted.

According to the U.S. State Department, the Ethiopian government has cut international adoptions to work on quality and cut down on fraud.

All God's Children International is an adoption agency that handles adoptions from several countries, including Ethiopia. Mariah Gray Kolpek, of West Chester, is on the agency's board. She said this change will have a dramatic impact on families.

"Children who could have been adopted at the age of 6 to 9 months, it will take five to seven years for those children to be adopted," said Gray Kolpek.

"Can you imagine those kids in orphanages for five, seven years? The developmental problems that happen from that kind of housing are monumental for a child," she said.

There are more than 5 million orphans in Ethiopia because of HIV. Under the previous adoption policy about 4,000 were adopted each year. Approximately 2,500 of them were adopted by families in the United States.

More than 100 families in the Tri-State have adopted children from Ethiopia. About 40,000 people have signed a petition to sway the Ethiopian government on the issue.