Welcoming Angels

Through Welcoming Angels, America World hopes to place older orphaned children ages 8-15 years from Ethiopia with loving Christian families for 4 weeks during the spring, summer, fall and/or winter. We are looking for adoption-minded families as well as those who are interested in advocating for orphans. Hosting is a great way to expand the community’s awareness of the needs of older orphaned children.

Adoption

At the conclusion of the hosting program period, every child must return to Ethiopia, as the Ethiopian government maintains legal guardianship of each child until the time the child is adopted. All families who wish to adopt a child from Ethiopia are required to complete an adoption dossier through an accredited agency and wait for formal approvals from the U.S and Ethiopian governments. The adoption process includes two trips to the country in order to finalize an adoption.

Children Available for Hosting

The children are selected for the hosting program by orphanage and America World staff. Unrelated children, both boys and girls ages 8 to 15 years old are able to be hosted. Sibling sets of 2 and 3 are also available for hosting on a case by case basis. All children undergo a medical exam and meet with a psychologist prior to their participation in the program. All the children in the hosting program are available for adoption, however hosting a child does not guarantee adoption. A family who hosts a child will be preliminarily screened for adoption but will need to proceed through the adoption process if adoption is the goal.

Support for Host Families

AW will provide support for all families in the Hosting program. We will have staff members on call for the entire hosting period. Your social worker will be available to answer questions and help if situations arise. Your Hosting Liaison will be available for you during the hosting period as well.

Host Parent Training

Each host family will be required to participate in Host Family training held by your AW Social worker. One training will be held for all host families in the program prior to the child’s arrival. Both parents must attend the training.