Ethiopian Adoption Update
Michael Rey is a CBS News producer based in New York.
Citing "concerns about recent media reports," the U.S. Department of State has made a key change to the process of adopting Ethiopian orphans to the U.S.
(Meya, left, told CBS News that her father was paid to give up his kids in Ethiopia.)
Until now that investigation was at the discretion of consular officers on the ground. The new rule change will likely add several weeks and in some cases months to the adoption process in Ethiopia which takes US families on average about nine months to complete.
Dated March 5, the memo said, "The Department of State shares families' concerns about recent media reports alleging direct recruitment of children from birth parents by adoption service providers or their employees."
CBS News reported on February 15th the complaints of several families against Christian World Adoption, a South-Carolina based agency involved in adoptions in Ethiopia. The Bradshaw family, among them, claimed local employees of the agency had been involved in recruiting their children even paying their biological father.
ABC Australia produced an in depth piece on
Christian World Adoption and the Bradshaw family that aired March 2.