Beteseb Felega - Ethiopian Adoption Connection
A grassroots effort to reunite family members separated by adoption; restoring history and relationships; giving a voice to voiceless Ethiopian parents
Mission
Beteseb Felega – Ethiopian Adoption Connection is a grassroots effort to reconnect family members separated by adoption and to provide compassionate support to adoptees, birth family members, and adoptive parents. Our mission is to restore history and relationships for adoptees and their Ethiopian birth families. Our internet database contains Ethiopian adoption information provided by adopted people/adoptive parents and birth families who are looking for each other. We give a voice to voiceless Ethiopian parents
Ruling year
2014
Founder, Executive Director, Board Chair
Andrea Kelley
Main address
PO Box 860046
Shawnee, KS 66286-0046 USA
EIN
47-2001142
NTEE code
Human Service Organizations (P20)
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
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Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Problem: Many Ethiopian families have been torn apart due to poverty and the hope of a better life through international adoption. Most Ethiopian families did not understand the meaning and consequences of adoption: that they were completely severing all ties with their children, without the hope of seeing them again. Adoptees have been given incomplete or inaccurate stories about their adoptions and their families of origin. For these reasons, it is difficult for adoptees to regain contact with their families, learn their true birth and adoption stories, and connect with their Ethiopian culture. Our mission is to restore history and relationships for this group of people, Ethiopian adoptees and birth families.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Ethiopian Adoption Database
Our internet database contains Ethiopian adoption information provided by adopted people/adoptive parents and birth families who are looking for each other.
Communication Services in Ethiopia
Beteseb Felega - Ethiopian Adoption Connection provides communication services for adoptees and Ethiopian families including family visits, wellness checks, phone call check is, vide calls, and translations. These services are provided by our full time, professional social workers.
Search and Reunion Services
Beteseb Felega provides search and reunion services for adoptees within Ethiopia. These services are undertaken by our professional social workers in Ethiopia.
DNA Database
Beteseb Felega - Ethiopian Adoption Connection maintains an Ethiopian adoption DNA database at FTDNA.
Where we work
Awards
Angels in Adoption Honoree 2020
Congressional Coalition on Adoption
Affiliations & memberships
Registered with the Ethiopian Government 2020
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Database Growth Chart for Beteseb Felega - Ethiopian Adoption Connection
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These are the numbers of new search cases added to our databases in each year.
Number of People Receiving Communication and Search Services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Services include: search, document recovery, facilitated communication, translation, wellness checks, and counseling and advising regarding the sustenance of successful reunion.
Reunions Made Through Our Databases
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The mission of Beteseb Felega - Ethiopian Adoption Connection is to reunite and reconnect Ethiopian adoptees and their birth families in Ethiopia, thus restoring history and relationships lost through international adoption. We give a voice to searching Ethiopian families through our online database. With our team in the USA and Ethiopia, we are able to support adoptees and birth family members by providing detailed search; reunion; document recovery; facilitated communication including letter delivery, photo delivery, phone calls, and video calls; translation of documents and letters; wellness checks; and counseling and advising regarding the sustenance of healthy and
successful long term relationships across vastly disparate languages, cultures, and economic statuses.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Beteseb Felega - Ethiopian Adoption Connection hosts an online Ethiopian adoption search registry, a DNA database, and has trained social workers in Ethiopia who advocate for and work with Ethiopian birth families.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our Ethiopian social workers are degreed professionals who care about their work with our families. They are not afraid of a challenge or even putting their lives at risk to find an adoptee's family. On the USA side, our volunteers have more than 75 combined years of experience in Ethiopian adoption and reunion, both personally and as a result of their work with BF-EAC. This work is done altruistically and with love.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2021, we increased our Ethiopian Adoption Search Registry Database by 20%, to a total of more
than 1200 individual search entries.
Additionally, we served over 330 separate adoptees and birth family members through detailed search; reunion; document recovery; facilitated communication including letter delivery, photo delivery, phone calls, and video calls; translation of documents and letters; wellness checks; and counseling and advising regarding the sustenance of healthy and successful long term relationships across vastly disparate languages, cultures, and economic
statuses.
The adoptees and Ethiopian family members we served in 2021 have come from the following
receiving countries and Ethiopian Regions: USA, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark,
Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Oromia, Amhara, Benishangul Gumoz, Southern Nations, South West,
Sidama, Gambella, Harari, Somali, Afar, Dire Dawa, and Addis Ababa.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Beteseb Felega - Ethiopian Adoption Connection
Board of directorsas of 08/02/2024
Andrea Kelley
Tracey Chambers
Secretary
David Kelley
Director
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 05/22/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
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