Posted on August 27, 2010 - by Megan

Adoption Update: Doors open to Uganda after all

Just when you think you know what is going on, things change—at least this is the case with adoption. Last week, we thought the door to Uganda had closed. It was a hard reality to accept, as our hearts are drawn to this country.

Early this week, things began to change when I had lunch with a new friend who is i the process of adopting from Uganda. The next day, she emailed me with the link to a blog written by one of her friends who is starting a pilot adoption program in Uganda for an established and reputable agency. The new program focuses primarily on placing special-needs children, but will be able to place a limited number of healthy children as well.

Salem Richards, the director of the new program, was delightful and extremely helpful when we talked. She recently adopted her first son from Uganda, so she is personally invested in the outcome of the program. After much conversation and prayer, Joel and I have decided to join the program as one of the first families.

Salem will go to Uganda in September to finalize relationships with several orphanages she’ll be working with and identify adoptable children. It looks like there will already be a list of waiting children when she goes, so the referral process could be very quick for us.

In the meantime, Joel and I will work to quickly finish our homestudy, and get our I71H approval (Immigration approval from the US government), as well as passports, etc. We will give our paperwork to the adoption agency and receive our referral at that time. After submitting our dossier—all of the paperwork required by Uganda for adoption, including the above—we will wait for a court date in Uganda. This could take several months. After attending our court date in Uganda, Joel will most likely come home. I will stay until the US Embassy issues the visa for our new child, at which point we will be allowed to travel home.

There are many variables when adopting from Uganda, and there have been some big challenges in the last year for families trying to bring their children home. It looks like the issues are being resolved and things are moving smoothly once again. However, we know that one of the liabilities of being in a pilot program is that we will be the guinea pigs—there may be a few bumps along the road. However, we feel like that is a risk we are willing to take, trusting that God will lead us through whatever we face along the way.

After such a tumultuous 8-9 months trying to get our adoption process going, we are gratful that God has clearly set our path before us. Thank you for your prayers thus far. We humbly ask that you continue to join us in praying for our journey.