Adoption in Ethiopia Ten Years after the Civil Code

Abstract

Forms by which children born outside a family unit are taken into the family have existed since time immemorial in Ethiopia. These forms have varied depending upon the ethnic, religious and regional groupings involved. The relationships created range from rather loose affirmations of close friendship and mutual interest to complete assimilation of the outsider as if he had been born within the family. This article will be concerned only with the later type of customary assimilation, which we will term “adoption”.

Adoption Policy and Evidence‐based Domestic Adoption Practice: A Comparison of Romania, Ukraine, India, Guatemala, and Ethiopia

“…In a 2012, study of adoptions in the Oromia region of Ethiopia (Oromia Bureau of Women, Children and Youth Affairs, 2012), 1,145 children were placed in domestic adoption; 63% (n = 724) were formal adoptions, and 37% (n = 421) were guddifachaa adoptions (Bunkers, 2013). Certain ethnic groups in Ethiopia have a long-standing tradition of practicing informal adoption (Beckstrom, 1972) called guddifachaa (Beckstrom, 1972 practice of guddifachaa involves taking an oath in front of community members and leaders to assimilate a nonbiological child into the family. The term, coming from the Oromo language, was incorporated into the Ethiopian legal framework and also used to describe the formal legal process of domestic adoption.…”

Vii. Ideal Components and Current Characteristics of Alternative Care Options for Children Outside of Parental Care in Low‐resource Countries

“…An example of this type of adoption is gudifecha practiced in some parts of Ethiopia. Gudifecha is an Oromo word for adoption meaning upbringing and full assimilation of an outsider (child) into a family (Beckstrom, ; Negeri, ). There is both legal and a cultural gudifecha that involves a ceremony and oath taking in front of the community or tribal leaders (Beckstrom, ; Negeri, ).…”