Ethiopian family searches for child

Sixteen years ago, R., then two years old, left for Belgium with an adoptive family. Now her Ethiopian family is looking for her.

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April 5, 2016 at 3:00 AM

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The grandmother gave the girl up for adoption in 2000. The girl found a new home with a Belgian family. But now the family wants to know what has become of her. They are making an appeal via the American website Ethiopian Adoption Connection . That organization usually helps adopted children find their biological parents. This time, it is going in the opposite direction.

Whether the family will succeed in establishing contact with the child depends on the child itself, says the Flemish Centre for Adoption (VCA). 'When we receive a request, we pass it on to the adoptive family or to the child itself, if it is old enough,' says spokesperson Frank Van Swalm. 'The child can then choose whether it has a need for that contact.'

Most likely, the child ended up with a French-speaking family. In that case, the situation is slightly different, says Walloon adoption official Didier Dehou. 'We add the request to the adoption file. If the girl wants to search for her roots, she can request that file and will find the family's request in it.'

According to the VCA, it is 'exceptional' for a family to search for a child who was given up for adoption. Last year, the VCA received five requests, one of which was from Ethiopia. Sometimes it is a brother or sister who goes looking, sometimes a biological parent. 'Because not all adopted children are orphans,' says Katrien Schryvers of the adoption agency Ray of Hope, which works in Ethiopia, among other places.

It is possible that the child stayed in an orphanage because the parents saw no better solution at that moment. In that case, it is logical that they continue to ask themselves questions.