Sending Countries
Ethiopia
In January 2018, the Ethiopian Parliament voted to ban all intercountry adoptions, following an earlier suspension which had been announced several months prior,[1] and approved a new law prohibiting all foreign adoptions.[2] Lawmakers argued that the previous legal framework facilitating foreign adoptions had, in part, facilitated crimes against children.[3] The public debate on the intercountry adoptions system started in 2013, when an American couple, Carri and Larry Williams, was convicted in connection with the death under unclear circumstances of an Ethiopian girl they had adopted.[4]
For years, Ethiopia had been one of the biggest sending countries for intercountry adoptions to the United States, with high-profile cases such as the adoption by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt drawing international attention.[5] The decision to end the practice was driven by concerns within the national government that Ethiopian children adopted abroad would be subjected to abuse and neglect. These vulnerabilities, combined with scepticism about the safety of foreign adoptions, led lawmakers to prefer and promote domestic care and ultimately enact the ban.[6]
Although journalistic investigative reports into Ethiopia’s past adoption practices have emerged since the ban, no official government investigation has been conducted to examine past irregularities or potential abuses within the intercountry adoption system.[7]
An Ethiopian girl adopted by a family in the Netherlands filed suit in Addis Ababa’s Federal Court to have her adoption revoked in Ethiopia. The basis of the case was the alleged falsified documents that drove the adoption process, as well as the abuses she reported having suffered within her Dutch adoptive family. In 2012, the Court ruled in her favour, determining that the adoption had been obtained through fraud.
The adoption file of the girl, Betty Lub, was found to contain falsified and erroneous information, including incorrect birthdate and a fabricated claim that her parents had died. Betty Lub has now changed her name back to Betty Demoze, her Ethiopian last name, and is now filing her case in front of the Dutch courts. The Ethiopian Court officially revoked the Dutch adoption decree and legally restored her status back with her Ethiopian family.[8]
_______________
[1] ‘Ethiopia Adoption Notice: Latest Information Regarding Adoptions’ (Travel State Government of the US, 8 November 2017) <https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/Intercountry-Adoption-News/ethiopia-adoption-notice-08nov2017.html> accessed 16 November 2025.
[2] Amy Held, ‘Ethiopian Lawmakers Vote to ban Foreign Adoptions’ (NPR, 10 January 2018) <https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/10/577144605/ethiopian-lawmakers-vote-to-ban-foreign-adoptions> accessed 16 November 2025.
[3] ‘Ban on foreign adoption: Ethiopia vows to protect its children’ (AfricaNews, 13 August 2024) <https://www.africanews.com/2018/01/11/ban-on-foreign-adoption-ethiopia-vows-to-protect-its-children/> accessed 16 November 2025.
[4] Jonathan Kaminsky, ‘U.S. adoptive mother gets 37 years for Ethiopian girl’s death’ (Reuters, 29 October 2013) < https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/us-adoptive-mother-gets-37-years-for-ethiopian-girls-death-idUSBRE99S1DI/> accessed 1 December 2025.
[5] ‘Ethiopia bans foreign adoptions’ (BBC, 10 January 2018) <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-4263564> accessed 16 November 2025.
[6] Amy Held, ‘Ethiopian Lawmakers Vote to ban Foreign Adoptions’ (NPR, 10 January 2018) <https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/10/577144605/ethiopian-lawmakers-vote-to-ban-foreign-adoptions> accessed 16 November 2025.
[7] see for example Meseret Mamo, ‘A More Rigorous Approach to Overseas Adoption’ (Ethiopian Business Review, 16 May 2016) <https://ethiopianbusinessreview.net/a-more-rigorous-approach-to-overseas-adoption/> accessed 16 November 2025.
[8] ‘Ethiopian Adoptee Wins Legal Case to Revoke Adoption’ (VOA News, 11 February 2013) <https://www.voanews.com/a/ethiopian_adoptee_wins_legal_case_to_revoke_adoption/1601306.html> accessed 16 November 2025.