Edited to add:  the fundraising was more offensive to the Ethiopian officials.  The family’s blog was turned in to the embassy by some vindictive person.  Oh the humanity.  I hope Karma bites that person in the ass hard…. 

There has been a new development concerning blogs/fundraising/photo posting in regards to Ethiopian Adoptions.  It is against Ethiopian policy/law to post pictures of orphans online.  That means until the child is officially yours (case has passed court) it is against the law to post photos of your children online–I posted pic of Minnow in 2006 before he was ours without incident and it wasn’t until the last 12 months or so that it has really become an issue.  I think that as Ethiopian adoption becomes more popular and Ethiopia as a country is trying to regulate adoption more it has become an issue and a life-changing issue for one particular family. 

I don’t know any details really except that there was a family using a newer agency who had photos of their referred children posted on their blog along with a place where they were fundraising.  This families blog was reported to the embassy in Addis.  The agency that this family is using received a phone call from an gentleman from the embassy and was told that this family would never be able to adopt from Ethiopia because they had broken the rules by posting a photo of an orphan.  The worker also seemed to believe that the family could not afford to raise a child if they had to raise money for the adoption so overtly.   The family had also done some writing on their blog about the sad life of Ethiopian orphans, etc. 

International adoption is a complex process and it is a privilege we are given to be able to add to our families through the benevolence of another nation.  It is our responsibility to respect the wishes and the culture of that country and to never forget that adoption is a privilege for us and not by any means a right.  I am sad for this family that their hope of adoption from Ethiopia has been squashed forever, but I am also scared that these types of things will keep happening and adoptions from Ethiopia will become more restrictive.  Ethiopians are a proud people who have allowed international adoption as they understand that they cannot for a variety of reasons care as a country for all of these children. 

If you have pictures of your referred children up on your blog–please take them down.  I know how much you want to share with the world–and by blogging you are sharing with the world even if you don’t realize it–but it puts all of our adoptions in jeopardy.  I can only imagine how hard it will be for me to not post pics when we get our referral but I will not.  Please respect the wishes of the country that is giving you their children.  It is the least we can do.