Why an Anthology About Ethiopian Adoptees?
In October 2014, we (Aselefech and Kassaye) co-founded Ethiopian Adoptees of the Diaspora (EAD). Ethiopian adoptees are spread out all across the globe, and through EAD, we were able to connect with many other Ethiopian adoptees through the creation of this online community. Our decision to create a group was motivated by recent deaths of Ethiopian adoptees at the hands of their adoptive parents and from suicide. We also felt there was a lack of Ethiopian adoptee voices in many inter-country/international adoptee/adoption spaces and, in turn, little awareness of the obstacles we face as well as what can be done to help.
Through EAD, we were able to connect and speak with many adoptees living in the US, Canada, France, Sweden and elsewhere. Hearing their stories was both heartbreaking and powerful. Their resilience and strength, and their connectedness to Ethiopia, despite the distance to “home,” was incredible. We decided, along with Maureen, that giving a chance for Ethiopian adoptees to tell their own stories, in their own words, was a way to give back some power and agency over their narratives.
We also want to draw attention to the particularities of being a Black adoptee from Africa, placed in white families. Having to contend with anti-Black racism and extreme racial isolation from other Black and Ethiopian communities, significant language and culture barriers to connecting with our Ethiopian families/Ethiopian diaspora communities, and of course high costs related to traveling, searching, and reuniting with our Ethiopian families: all of this can feel dehumanizing and oppressive.
The emotional labor and time that went into adoptees taking the time to remember and recount their intimate stories cannot be understated. It needs to be honored and appreciated. It’s also worth noting that these stories were not shared “freely.” Much time and attention went into developing friendships, and into building trust, solidarity, and connection with adoptees. We did not and do not take the responsibility lightly, and we are deeply grateful to each of the writers in the anthology for their willingness to write and share their stories.
Contributors from this anthology hail from the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Australia.
And these collective stories you will read serve as an act of resistance.
Editors: Aselefech, Kassaye, and Maureen
Mission & Objectives
The goal of this anthology is to give voice to Ethiopian adoptees. We are an invisible diaspora that has been marginalized in adoption discourse, adoptee narratives, and adoption policy. By creating more awareness, our goals are the following:
Center the interests, needs, and ideas of Ethiopian adoptees
Generate more interest and action to help adoptees reconnect with Ethiopia
Help reconnect with their families through search and reunion services (including DNA)
Raise funds to support Ethiopian adoptees returning to Ethiopia to search, reunite with their families, or only to visit and reconnect with their roots
We also hope our book generates greater interest by groups in Ethiopia and in the diaspora who support:
Ethiopian families having access to information and data about their children adopted abroad
Ethiopian organizations working to reunite adoptees with their Ethiopian families
Family preservation and reunification efforts in different parts of Ethiopia
Alternative care in Ethiopia (homes as opposed to orphanages)