African Cradle Inc. Ghanian Adoption Story

African Cradle, Inc. is a Mountain View, California-based agency that has a Ghana program and is not Hague-approved. It is not a member of JCICS. Pound Pup Legacy claims a dotted-line relationship with Modesto, California-based agency Family Connections Christian Adoptions, which is a Hague-accredited agency and a JCICS member. FCCA website does not list African Cradle as a current liaison.

Previous Africa Adoption Involvement

African Cradle used to work in Ethiopia. This article discussed child abuse woes at an orphanage that they dealt with in 2000. [African Cradle responds to child-abuse reports The Reporter (Addis Ababa), March 28, 2000]

In that article, it states “On 6 January 1995, Meazanesh Wale Getahun, Amber Stime’s sister, was apppointed as “Family Connections International’s (FCI) Adoption Representative.” On 10 June 1996, Dr. Yewondwossen Kassa, Amber Stime’s husband, was appointed as FCI’s adoption representative. On 13 February 1998, Ato Tewodros Kassa, the brother of Dr. Yewondwossen, was appointed as the adoption representative. And finally, Dr. Mulumebet Shegena was appointed for the same position on 27 December 1999.

In this new article, Dryden family hosts bake sale, garage sale to raise funds for adoption [The Holland Sentinel 10/7/11 by Lisa Ermak], the family explains their Ghana adoption journey.

“Rewind to a year and a half ago when Tammi Dryden, her husband, Chad, and their four children decided to adopt an adolescent boy from Africa.

“We really didn’t need another child,” Tammi Dryden said laughing, “But we knew there was an orphan crisis.”

After doing some research, the Drydens found a match with Kadre, an 11-year-old Ghanaian boy through the California-based African Cradle adoption agency.

But after months of waiting, the Drydens started to worry when nothing was happening and suspected the agency was scamming them.

“They were just taking money and sitting on it,” Tammi Dryden said.

The Drydens ended up talking with a family going through a similar situation and decided to cut off contact with African Cradle and work through an independent adoption agency.

But they weren’t sure if through the mess, Kadre still was available for adoption.

“We thought it was done,” Dryden said. “I held my breath when I called the center and I said, ‘Is Kadre still available?’” [“the center”? Hmmmm…..]

What the Drydens didn’t know was not only was Kadre still waiting to be adopted, he also had an 8-year-old brother named Attah who was available for adoption as well.

After a day of mulling it over and praying, Dryden said they decided adopting Kadre and Attah was the right choice.

“God had other plans for us. I knew we couldn’t leave them without each other.”

The “independent” agency that they are currently using is not named.

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