Rwanda Adoption News

Last week we learned some pretty big news in the Rwanda adoption world: Rwanda has decided to suspend all new adoptions, as of August 31, in order to work on ratifying the Hague Treaty. All dossiers that are either in Rwanda or at the Rwandan Embassy are still going to be processed. That means that our dossier, which has been in Rwanda since January 25, is still okay.

This is good news in the long-term. The Hague Treaty is basically an agreement that countries will conduct adoptions a specific way, making them safer for children and more efficient. We're glad Rwanda is taking this step! But we have no idea how long it will be before it reopens its doors. Likely, it will be years.

But this news has really been tough for many people in our adoption community. People who were in the paperchase, who thought they were on their way to Rwanda, have suddenly been brought to a halt. Please pray for them as they try to decide what to do (wait for Rwanda to re-open? switch to a different country?).

Then there are those who are so very close to being done, who are frantically trying to get their paperwork to the Rwandan Embassy in DC before tomorrow. Several are flying up personally to hand-deliver their dossiers. Pray for favor for them, and for speed!

And then there are those of us who are waiting. Although this certainly has given me some perspective in our wait (at least we are in!), we have all been waiting a long time (some far longer than us). We are praying that Rwanda will work on the dossiers they already have, and get them processed, before they start in on Hague. Our wait is even more undefined than it was before, but we are praying and hoping that we are close to the end.

"Now we know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen..." (Heb 11:1)