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Ethiopia: Illien Adoption Program

Kentucky Adoption Services, Inc. proudly partners with Illien Adoptions, International, a licensed child placing agency based in Atlanta, Georgia to assist Kentucky families in their pursuit of an adoption from Ethiopia.  Kentucky Adoption Services, Inc. and Illien Adoptions have created a cooperative working relationship to provide ethical, professional and quality service delivery to both children and families.

Ethiopia is one of the few countries in Africa that is favorable to inter-country adoption. U.S. agencies are licensed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MOLSA) which functions directly under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice. The MOJ oversees all of the inter-country adoption activity and the adoption process has many built-in safeguards. Illien Adoptions is licensed in Ethiopia.  KAS can assist Kentucky families with homestudies and document preparation for an Ethiopian adoption, which will be processed directly by Illien.  Families will enter a contract directly with Illien for adoption processing.   The U.S. Embassy coordinates closely with the Ethiopian government to ensure the eligibility of each child available for adoption.

General Adoptive Parent Requirements

• Both married couples and single women are allowed to adopt from Ethiopia.
• Their preference is couples be married for 5 years, but are somewhat flexible and have allowed couples with only 1 year of marriage to adopt in the past.
• There is no upper age limit for prospective adoptive parents, but do ask that there is no more than 43 years difference between the age of the child and the age of the adoptive parents.
• There is no limit to the number of children adoptive parents can have residing in their home at the time of the adoption.

Information on the Children

• Children are available from infancy to early teens.
• Sibling groups and special needs children are also available.
• All children are tested for HIV, Hepatitis B, and venereal disease. 
• The children are also tested for TB, if suspected. 
• They do receive medical care at the orphanage. 
• Malnutrition and upper respiratory illnesses are common among these children.

The Home Study

KAS will assist Kentucky families with the home study process.  If you are an out-of-state family, please contact Illien Adoptions directly to learn more about their program.  Please refer to the KAS home study page for a detailed explanation of our home study services.

Immigration Paperwork

The next step, which can be done concurrently with your home study, is to file the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS formerly INS) paperwork, form I-600A.  We will provide adopting families with specific instructions about how to obtain and submit the form I-600A in the Guide to Services that can be sent to your family upon request. This form is basically your application to Immigration to adopt a child, and in this case, specifically from Ethiopia.  After the I-600A and home study has been sent to the USCIS office, you will receive an appointment to come to the USCIS office to be fingerprinted.  The USCIS office then has 60-90 days to issue an approval or denial of your I-600A application.  Let us know when you have received your approval, called the I-171H as your case pending in Ethiopia will be ready to progress.

Dossier

The next step is to prepare your Dossier. The Dossier is a compilation of documents that require various seals at different levels of government.  These documents will be notarized, (or certified from an appropriate state court or agency), certified (by the Secretary of State from the state the document originated), and authenticated (by the appropriate Ethiopian Embassy). Adoptive families will be provided with exact directions about how to prepare their Dossier.

Referral

An adoption from Ethiopia takes approximately 6 to 9 months to complete once your dossier has been submitted. A realistic time line from the beginning to the end of the process is approximately 12 months.

Travel

By Ethiopian law, adoptive families are not required to travel to Ethiopia in order to adopt a child. Escorts are permitted to bring your child to the U.S. However, we highly encourage adoptive parents to travel to experience their child's world firsthand. The required stay in Ethiopia is approximately one week.