Adoption From Africa

Africa is not traditionally one of the countries or regions with high adoption rates. For decades, Asia and Russia were the primary places from which adoptees were sought. However, over the last four years adoption in Rwanda, Nigeria and Morocco has increased. In 2010, Ethiopia was the second-most country for which orphan visas were issued by the U.S., coming between China and Russia, according to data collected by the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Children in Africa are usually made available for adoption due to poverty levels, disease as well as social unrest. Unfortunately, social unrest can also mean that the adoption processes can be interrupted at any moment and the country an adopter was working with may be closed or too dangerous to travel to. Other obstacles get in the way of African adoption, like Ethiopian laws that limit five adoptions to be processed per day. Rwanda has temporarily postponed its adoptions until its certified by the Hague Convention, which is what recently put Guatemalan adoptions in America's bad graces.

Adoption from Africa, works like any other international adoption process with a home study, visa paperwork, and travel. And as with any international adoption that mixes cultural backgrounds, the post-placement lifestyle shouldn't shy away from teaching the adoptee about his or her heritage. In fact, some African adoption agencies require the adoptive parents to live in the child's hometown so as to educate them about the child's culture.