Step 8 and 9 After Court/Before Travel

The last couple steps in the process remain:

Step Eight- After the adoption is complete, MOWA (Ministry of Womens' Affairs) prepares a request to the city of Addis Ababa for the issuance of a new birth certificate, and a request to the Office of Security, Immigration and Refugee Affairs for an E Country passport for each child in her new name. The U.S. Embassy needs both the new birth certificate and the passport to complete the child's U.S. immigrant visa application process.

Step Nine - The court decree must be translated into English. The original and the translation are submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for authentication. The authentication stamp, seals and signature are placed on the back of the translation. If the adoption contract was made in Amharic, it too must be translated into English and the original translation authenticated by MOFA.

A new step requires a last minute test for TB; and HIV that was already required.

After these steps have been completed, we will travel to E Country for the consulate appointment at the US Embassy and pick up the girls.

NOTE: Our agency informed us today that MOWA (note their role above) is closing until July 24 to provide training to their personnel. Our caseworker says it looks more like we will travel for an Embassy appointment later than expected perhaps in the 3rd week of August.