It’s an exciting time for families adopting from Burkina Faso with MLJ Adoptions! Since we opened our program in November 2014, we’ve seen tremendous success. Four families have been matched with children in our Burkina Faso program, and one family has brought their son home.
No family in the program has waited longer than 12 months to be matched with a child.
Family One: Male child, 3 years old — 7 month wait
Family Two: Male child, 3 years old — 12 month wait (Child has additional medical needs)
Family Three: Male child, 7 years old — 5 month wait
Family Four: Male child, 14 years old — 1 month wait
Family One brought their son home this spring after a two and half year process!
We have three other families waiting to be matched with children, but the longest waiting family has only been waiting seven months.
While we have seen a family matched in one month, families adopting from Burkina Faso shouldn’t expect timeframes that short. We estimate that families will wait between twelve and twenty-four months from dossier submission to receiving a referral. Families open to adopting older children or children with special needs may experience expedited timeframes. MLJ Adoptions is encouraged that the central authority in Burkina Faso does process dossiers quickly. In some countries dossiers can sit for months without being processed, but we haven’t seen that to be the case in Burkina Faso.
Families adopting from Burkina Faso are referred children by the central authority in Burkina Faso. Children can live in foster families or orphanages, which are overseen by the central authority.
Earlier this summer, we received our fourth list of children with special needs who are waiting for a forever family. Many of these children are over the age of 6, several of them have additional medical needs, but for some, their primary need is simply their age. In order to pursue the adoption of a waiting child in Burkina Faso, families need to have a dossier submitted to the central authority. Unfortunately the lists don’t come with regularity, but we have had two families matched with children from the Waiting Child list.
MLJ Adoptions is thankful to serve families adopting from Burkina Faso and to be able to be a part of finding forever families for vulnerable children.
If you’re interested in adopting from Burkina Faso, contact us to learn more.
Photo Credit: SIM USA
Caitlin Snyder
Caitlin Snyder works as the Director of Marketing and Outreach for MLJ Adoptions. Working in international adoption has given Caitlin the unique opportunity to pursue both a passion to advocate on behalf of vulnerable people and a profession at the same time.
Caitlin Snyder
Caitlin Snyder works as the Director of Marketing and Outreach for MLJ Adoptions. Working in international adoption has given Caitlin the unique opportunity to pursue both a passion to advocate on behalf of vulnerable people and a profession at the same time.