Here is an email from the US Embassy in Kyiv on the July 3 press conference. It confirms what I heard from various translators.... and it has some more information.

Ukraine is focusing on domestic adoption. Every year a thousand or more Ukrainian citizens adopt children, but it has been decreasing. The number of disrupted domestic Ukrainian adoptions has been increasing.

And the government is trying to get rid of any corruption from the adoption system.

And a very interesting change..... Adoptive parents can no longer bring their own translator with them... more

Yuri Pavlenko is the Minister for Family, Youth and Sport. The State Department on Adoption and Children's Rights (SDA) is in this Ministry. SDA has all authority over Ukrainian adoption. Everyone was hoping he would announce when adoptions will start up again.

Pavlenko held a press conference this morning about adoption and future plans to reduce the number of homeless children.

For anyone who is wondering.... Pavlenko is safe and won't be leaving. With the coalition government forming this means that some Ministers will be replaced.

Ukrainian... more

There is going to be a press conference tomorrow June 29 July 3 with the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports. Topic is the opening of the SDA to the public.

For anyone new to Ukrainian adoption.

All Ukrainian adoption has been shutdown for the last few months (April, May and June). This is to allow Ukraine to transition their adoption processing from the Education Ministry to the Family, Youth and Sports Ministry. Child protective services are already under the Family, Youth and Sports Ministry. The new adoption... more

Here is the SDA's web site. Unfortunately they don't have an English version yet. It is in Ukrainian. But email friend has translated part of the information.

Director: Volinets Ludmila Semenivna

First Vice Director: Balym Ludmila Volodymyrivna

Vice Director: Hrischenko Fedir Volodymyrovych

Vice Director: Savchuk Inna Victorivna.

Address: Desiatynna Street #14, Kyiv 01025

Fax: 278-37-54

The rumor part... Staff are working in the... more

First the old rumor.. The SDA was suppose to open to adoptive families today. It didn't. No one is surprised. Staff is working at the SDA building. I have hopes that it will open to adoptive parents in July. (sigh...........)

I wrote about becoming a volunteer coordinator for my daughter's Ukrainian orphanage 2.5 weeks ago. I am working with the Life2Orphans charity, which is based in the United States.

I just realized that I didn't share my stories... more

I know that families are switching from Ukraine to Guatemala, China and South Korea. These countries have fairly consistent processing and it is possible to adopt young children/babies.

When I sat down I noticed the lady across from me had an asian boy, about 5 years old, with her. Neat!

So then later after she and the boy go back to see the dr., her hubby comes around the corner (had been talking on his cell) and sits down across from me. After about 5 minutes he asks me if we are adopting from China. I say yes....blah blah blah....

Come... more

Several people have emailed me (adoptukraineblog@adoptionmail.com) and asked if I have heard any more rumors. Or when will the SDA accept dossiers? Or will the restrictions on Americans who are filing new dossiers (only allowed to adopt child 10 years or older) be removed?

My last post on this subject was May 22, 2006.

I have heard the SDA is moving forward at a good pace. The new employees need to finish their training. The SDA building's security needs to be... more

There are between 1,000 and 500 American, French, Canadian, Italian, Ukrainian, Israeli and Spanish families waiting for appointments to adopt Ukrainian children. There are different guesses floating around from Ukrainian faciliators, people who visited the NAC, past adoption numbers, etc....

Guesses based on guesses. Ukraine is a country that runs on rumors. And often the rumors are accurate. Unless they are completely wrong. :)

There are rumors that the SDA is hiring more... more

Many families trying to adopt from Ukraine are getting very emotionally tired. I know that I would be. Ukrainian adoption used to be more predictable for families. They could be completed from start to finish within a year. There are people waiting for an appointment who were registed in Feb 2006.

Current rumor is that the SDA will open at the end of June.

Sending everyone who is waiting a virtual hug.

(((((((((((((((((( hug ))))))))))))))))))

*************************************************************************

Here are some... more

Before I get to the rumors, I want to review what we have been told via official channels about the SDA and Ukrainian adoptions starting again.

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

Resolution Number 367

March 25, 2006

..... within the period of one week, the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports, should develop a transition plan for the transfer of all paper and electronic data from the NAC to the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Children’s Rights

From: American... more