Ethiopia Adoptions          click here for costs    

ABOVE and BELOW: Children adopted from Ethiopia.

The trip home from Ethiopia was a long one!

International Adoption Guides has been placing children from Ethiopia and is licensed and in good standing by the country of Ethiopia. Our program has been running for approximately two years, and we have completed the adoptions dozens of children. The program is reliable and quite predictable.  Children who are in the adoption process live in one of our two foster homes. Watch a video of our Ethiopia program (you need a good high speed internet connection).

Adoptive Parent(s) Requirements: Ethiopia accepts applications for adoption from married couples and single women. Occasionally single men have been allowed to adopt male children. One parent must be over age 25 with no upper age limit for parents. Most generally the child must not be more than 40 years younger than the adoptive parents, although exceptions are made when you adopt a sibling group or a child over age four.  Ethiopia does not have income guidelines.  Families must have no more than five other children in the home. The United States government does have income guidelines, and your immigration approval will be issued if you meet those guidelines. Ethiopia does not discriminate based on religion, ethnicity or race.  Adoption Guides requires that one year has passed after a previous adoption before you apply for an adoption from Ethiopia.

Children Available: The children we place are 12 months of age and older. We may, from time to time, have younger children with special needs, and we often have sibling groups. We also have many hearing impaired children available. The beautiful children of Ethiopia tend to be a mixture of African and Arabian descent.

Timeframe: The completion of your dossier (file required for an adoption) usually takes two to four months depending on how long the home study takes. Upon arrival of your dossier in Ethiopia, an assignment of your child/ren will usually be within 90 days. Most Ethiopian adoptions are completed within six - seven months after your completed file is sent to Ethiopia, and you have a child referral.

Families will be notified after the adoption court case and U.S. visa investigation is completed  At least one parent needs to travel to Ethiopia, for a one week stay, to bring home their child.

(Right) Alisa Bivens, on left, with an adoptive couple, at Impact Ethiopia Summit meeting in Springfield, Missouri. This photo is with the president of Ethiopia, His Excellency Girma Woldegiorgis.  Alisa is the coordinator of the foreign part of our Ethiopian program, traveling back and forth, and in daily communication with the staff in Africa.

Mission Statement: International Adoption Guides embraces the philosophy that every child deserves a permanent family and the right to a safe, stable home. We are committed to improving the lives of children and families through promotion of traditional family values, humanitarian aid, and building families through adoption.