Ethiopia Travel

THE REFERRAL

The call.

When CHI receives your referral from Ethiopia your Adoption Consultant will call you with the good news. Basic information will be exchanged over the phone and we will then express mail your announcement with photo(s), original medical report with translation, any other information provided by the orphanage, CHI Agreement to Adopt and various other paperwork to the address of your choice. A letter with an explanation of what to do next will be enclosed. You will receive it the next day.

ACCEPTING YOUR REFERRAL - DOCUMENTS TO RETURN

Upon accepting your referral, you will return:

A signed Confirmation Letter (We ask that your fax this to 314-427-4288 immediately upon accepting the child referred to you.)
The signed Agreement to Adopt
The International Program Fee of $7200.00 (personal checks are accepted).
Release Form
Click here to fill out the online Travel Form and submit to Sharon.Turner@ChildrensHope.net

Before You Go: Sending Your Child a Gift or Photo Album in Advance

Optional: But should be sent soon after referral acceptance if doing so.

For families who are adopting children 15 months of age or older, you may wish to send a small 4X6 soft photo album, and a small soft stuffed animal of some sort to your child(ren) at the House of Hope. For older children (3 and up), you may want to consider a t-shirt, a letter and even a disposable camera for them to take pictures of their friends and important people and places in their lives to bring to America with them. The photo album will be returned, and we will do our best to insure that all toys and blankets are returned as well, however this can not be absolutely guaranteed. It's nice if the photo album could have some type of hook (i.e. plastic rings hooked together) where it could hang on a crib or bed. Label the photo album and gifts clearly with permanent marker, and please include a picture of your future child(ren) in the album, along with you and your other children so that the child that you are adopting can see themselves as part of your family. The album should portray your immediate family, not friends, and cousins or other relatives, just the family and the home that the child will be coming home to, in order to familiarize him/her with you. The child will have lots of time to get to know members of the extended family. Please forward your gifts to Children's Hope/St. Louis; we will forward them on to Ethiopia for your child. Your items will ship in packages with our dossiers, therefore we would prefer that you send relatively small, soft items, and only 2, (unless of course you're including a letter). We request that families not send items directly to the orphanage or the HOH. Any oversized items will be returned to the family and not shipped.

To help cover shipping and handling charges of these gifts, please include a personal check with your gifts in the amount of $35 for gifts for one child, and a check for $45 when sending gifts to 2 children.

TRAVEL PREPARATION PACKAGE

While we are waiting for your Travel Date we will send the travel preparation package. The package will contain forms with written instructions and samples that will need to be completed for your trip and the adoption process. Some of the forms included will be: the Visa applications, the I-864 and I-864A Affidavit of Support forms, if needed, along with the current checklist of documents you will need to take to Ethiopia.

The following list summarizes the general sequence of events that unfold (after home study completion) in order for you to travel to receive your child.

You receive approval from CIS I-600A (I-171H/I-797C). Your dossier is sent to Ethiopia. You will wait to receive a referral of a child. Once the referral is accepted by you, your dossier is reviewed by the governmental officials in Ethiopia and approved. The adoption is finalized in the Ethiopia Federal Court.
Once the court order granting guardianship is issued (in both the Amharic original and English translation) your visa interview will generally take place 3 weeks later, after our Representative has obtained the child's birth certificate and Ethiopian passport.
Family is informed of travel dates by Children's Hope staff (sometimes given only 1 or 2 weeks prior to travel) and sends Children's Hope a copy of their travel itinerary to and from Ethiopia.
During this time, our representative begins the child's required final medical exam for the exit visa. Also, he sets up family's transportation, and lodging at the House of Hope.
The family will then travel to Ethiopia and hand-carry the final CIS paperwork (I-600, notarized Affidavit of Vaccination and I-864 packet including supporting documents and Power of Attorney for one parent traveling, if applicable). Our representative will provide transportation and accompany you to the U.S. Embassy to file in Addis Ababa during the visa interview.
Fees related to child's passport and visa preparation are sent directly by Children's Hope to our representative in Ethiopia. (The family is not responsible for paying these fees in Ethiopia.)
Child is issued US visa and can travel to the US.
Acquire transit visa for your child, if applicable. (Required for Germany. Check with your travel agent for other destinations where a transit visa may be needed for yourself or your new child). In-country staff will assist you with obtaining child's transit visa.