What the US Embassy did to us and our daughter

Writing this out is actually quite maddening to me. It stirs up anger in my heart and reminds me of the suffering that was caused to our family. So, I am writing this post just before we leave to bring E.B. home. I would like to avoid writing this yucky stuff out as much as I can when we return home with our daughter. I will just hit the "publish" button upon hitting US soil with our daughter safely in our arms.

 There has been much confusion over this and I just want to clear something up. The problem with our adoption was caused by the United States Embassy, with American citizens working in Ethiopia at the Embassy. The reason for all of our suffering was caused BY MY OWN GOVERNMENT. The country of Ethiopia has done nothing wrong in our case.

You can read all about what USE (US Embassy) junk we had experienced already in the blogs I posted earlier titled Embassy Issues part 1-4. I have now reposted the one I had taken down originally.

I'm going to take us back to those dreadful weeks where we were waiting on USCIS officers to come out to Addis and review what ended up being 65 files that were flagged by USE. I just knew there was nothing wrong with E.B.'s file. I actually had copies of what was in her file so I can write that with confidence. But, I pushed and pushed to prove this. I know many of you are just shocked at the fact that I would be bold and pushy (ha!). Finally on October 31st I was able to find the Vice Consular's direct email address at the USE in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I emailed her to ask if she could make sure that a particular police report was actually in my daughter's file before CIS got their and I also asked her if I could call her and finally find out exactly the reason my daughter's file was flagged for CIS. You see, it was clear to many involved that the USE did all of this because of a political statement or at the least because they can't do their job effectively and got backlogged. In my opinion it is likely a combination of both. But, I wanted them to admit it, and I wanted to prove when this was all done, that clearly there was no real reason her file should have been flagged.

The Vice Consular, USE in Addis wrote me back on NOVEMBER 1ST to tell me that we could talk 2 days later and set up a phone appointment for November 3rd. On November 3rd she told me that the Chief Consular, wanted to be on the call as well. She proceeded to tell me that the reason our daughter's file was flagged (remember there were 65 files flagged!) was because one of our witnesses changed her story after talking with the "interviewer" at the USE. This was a major accusation she was making. I could not refute it since I did not know about this interview, no one ever told me there was an interview which is also not at all the correct behavior. If an interview is going to be completed by anyone in your adopted child's history, the adoptive parent is supposed to know about it. That call was when I found out how harsh and unprofessional the Chief Consular was and I was completely offended by his accusations of our family's understanding of international adoption as well as his bias against all adoption agencies.

I told my agency the information about one of our witnesses and they immediately tried to contact this witness to find out what was going on. The witness was now refusing to talk with anyone. We were suspicious that the tactics that the USE used when they spoke with her was the reason and we didn't know what else to do except wait on CIS to arrive.

When CIS finally came on November 7th we bit our nails and anxiously waited. Most of the families caught in this mess with the USE formed support and we gathered together. It was great and I learned a lot. I was appalled by the stories that were being shared of the tactics the USE used in their "interviews" of birth families and witnesses. One birth father reported back that he was told by the USE "interviewer" that his son's kidney's would be harvested if he allowed his son to be adopted by this American family. The birth father then said it would be better for his son to die on the streets with him than to be sold for his organs. This situation was rectified and the father stated he really wanted his son to live and have a better life through adoption. Another family reported that the USE lied about what a birth mother said in their "interview", but coincidentally the USE does not record their interviews. I heard story after story just like these. But we all waited. One by one we saw children's cases clear.

The first day of the second week we got our dreaded email that we were not cleared. The reason? According to USCIS on NOVEMBER 1ST someone from the US Embassy called a witness in our daughter's case and stated she was really not a witness. So, our daughter's file was flagged for CIS on October 11, but the US Embassy didn't even look into her file UNTIL THE DAY AFTER I CALLED THEM SPECIFICALLY ASKING WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER FILE! This was 20 days after they originally said it wasn't clearly approvable and just 6 days before CIS was to arrive to clear these cases. The day the Vice Consular spoke with me on the phone she told me that the reason my daughter's file was flagged on October 11 was BECAUSE OF THIS WITNESS, but they didn't even "interview" this person until I contacted them on November 1.

15 of those 65 cases were given RFEs. This small group of people came together and started to get to work. Most of us hired lawyers, specifically one insanely awesome lawyer who is also an adoptive mom. God blessed us with someone who knows what she is doing and who is able to understand our emotions. Almost all of the 15 cases had some form of deceit or tampering of files done by the US Embassy. Our agency's incountry staff got busy collecting every piece of evidence for our investigation and finally on December 19th our lawyer had all she needed and sent our RFE response out to USCIS Rome.

Just to clarify USCIS is United States Citizenship Immigration Services and they are a branch of Homeland Security. The US Embassy is a part of the Department of State. They are two different governmental branches, but they sometimes work jointly. It is our understanding that USCIS are the "good guys", However, I teach my children to be kind to all the kids at school, but to stay clear of the kids who get in trouble because they may be associated with them and then be labeled a trouble maker just out of association. So, since USCIS didn't stand up for what was right and issued us an RFE they are the bad guys too in my opinion.

Our witness has now been interviewed and investigated multiple times, on top of the initial statement she made to the Ethiopian government, and she has never, not even once, changed her story except for when the US Embassy "interviewed" her. She told an investigator recently that the Embassy "interviewer" was trying to confuse her, but she did not change her story despite this. And when she was read what the Embassy said she told them she stated that they were lying. We exposed the USE in our RFE response to CIS.

So, we booked flights to Ethiopia the day our RFE response was sent to USCIS Rome for the adjudicator to clear us. We got clearance finally THE SAME DAY THEY RECEIVED OUR PAPERWORK! This was December 23.

I want to remind you that there are other families that are still waiting on CIS to clear them or are still collecting their evidence. Many of us have been in this process a long time and many of us are drained financially, emotionally, and spiritually. I am asking you to do two things in response to this post:

1. Please pray for the families behind us. They are all dear friends of mine now even if I never meet them in person. Please pray for strength, God's comforting arms, and financial blessings. And that they get their children home SOON!

2. PLEASE write your members of Congress and mine. Please let them know that you do not like what your tax money is being used for at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia/Department of State.

3. Please pray that as I continue this fight that I will guard against any bitterness in my heart. I want to have a spirit of thanksgiving. For goodness sake, I have a lot to be thankful for!

I added some information to the Embassy Issues #2 post. I think you will find it interesting and helpful in understanding what the USE agenda is in all of this adoption mess. There will be a congressional inquiry likely in the spring where many of us adoptive families will get to give our statements. But, having your voice will help greatly. Even if you don't know what to write, please just sit down and start. Get your letters written now and then send them to me via email or snail mail. I will gather them and get them where they need to go in the spring. Please, pray and do!