Third time may not be a charm

This is our third adoption attempt. It is looking more and more everyday that this adoption is not going to be completed either. As more information comes out it does appear that most families waiting will have their file closed by the Rwandan government. In the past few months only a very small number of children have arrived at Home of Hope. These children are held for a minimum of two months prior to being open for adoption to allow for the biological family to come forward. There are at least 20 families approved in front of us. There are a very few (less than 5) young child available at HOH. The numbers simply don't match. The Rwandan government is not opening to other orphanages. We have approximately four months until our file may be closed. Twenty families in front of us. Less than five children available. Five years, three attempted adoptions of four children and $25,000 later....we are pretty close to square one. Again.

I am very confused by the process the Rwandan government has taken with adoptions. They opted to close to international adoption in order to become a Hague country. This is great! They allowed 170 families to remain in line in order to complete their adoptions. This too is great! They made a huge effort to process all the remaining dossiers to help clear the back log. This is great! These are all huge steps towards building an international adoption program. I know that adoption is not the only way, nor should it be, to address the growing issues surrounding vulnerable children in Rwanda. It is a small piece but the government was making clear, positive steps to develop this part of the government. Now the orphanage has "run out" of children under the age of five to be adopted because they were all committed to families! This is beyond great! Clearing out the orphanage and allowing children to find forever homes is amazing if returning to their birth family is not an option. Another amazing and positive step forward for adoption in this country. Now that HOH has no children available what is going to happen?? Will the government begin identifying other children who could be available for adoption? Will the government establish relationships with other orphanages since there are families who are waiting and willing? Nope. They will stop processing files, send out letters to people approved and say your file will be closed after 6 months if no children can be found and make no visible effort to identify other children who may be available. There are over 100 families (a rough guess) who are waiting, willing and able to care for children. There are children in Rwanda who need families. I just don't understand why this is happening. There have been a lot of changes in leadership. I am not saying that this is good or bad but I am sure it impacts the process. If they are going to shift their focus to having children go to biological families (which it appears they are) then tell us that. Even if the focus is shifted there, which is a great thing, there will still be children who will not be able to return to their biological families. That is a fact. Let us wait for those children. We know that it will take time but let us wait.

The prayer group will be Monday and Wednesday at 9 pm EST. Please pray for clarity in this situation for all who are involved, whatever that may look like. I know that I don't understand. There are kids that need families. There are families waiting.