I am still waiting on clarification from someone at the US Embassy in Kyiv about Bill 2562. Has it been signed by the Ukrainian President? Is it really the law of the land?

I know two adoption facilitators who say it is. But I cannot find anyone else who is saying this.

I went through current ... more

I love the Building a family article. It renews my faith that good people outnumber the bad behaving people. The Stahlke adopted 5 bio-siblings in 2005 from Ukraine.

I have known families who adopted 3 or 4 children from Ukraine before. Asking to adopt 5 children... Wow!

And their costs to adopt the 5 children were very reasonable; $35,000.

And now they are fund raising for their 6th adoption. There is another... more

Steven Spielberg's company has completed and released a documentary film on Babi Yar. It appears to only be available in Ukraine right now.

Babi Yar is where the Nazis killed and buried about 100,000 people. 30,000 Jews were killed in just 2 days. I have a longer blog about it here.

.... more

I am in shock.... Diane Sadovnikov is dying from cervical cancer. I wrote about Diane in my How to Select a Ukrainian Adoption Facilitator - Options blog. She founded Sense Resource Center, a business based in Virginia in 1999. Later in 2003 she changed it from business to adoption agency.

I just know her via a couple of emails and her web site. I also purchased a Ukrainian dossier guide from her in 1999.

And the cancer was preventable. Her pap tests in 2003,... more

Sasha is an 13 year old boy who was adopted from Ukraine by Americans. The child was diagnosed with RAD. And the family tried an alternative placement before they put him into a Ukraine Psychiatric Hospital. US child welfare workers arranged for Sasha to return to the United States in December 2006. There were some additional stories.

So the update... Washington... more

The title of this news article says it all. A Ukrainian drunk escapes dolphin gang drowning attempt in the Black Sea.

But what really made me giggle was the statement below. And do the dolphins really enjoy their "love" reputation? I guess the poorer nations get assigned the mean dolphins? Wealthy nations get the cuddly ones? ... more

Continuing from part 1.

Here is another paragraph that was a problem for me.

In some cases, reform campaigns are coupled with skepticism toward foreign adoption, including concern about occasional cases of abuse. Romania has banned adoptions by foreigners except for relatives; Ukraine and Kazakhstan insist that foreign parents submit regular reports on adoptees.

From: Tightened rules lower adoptions of foreign babies

Oops.. someone didn't fact... more

The news media has jumped all over the 2006 visa numbers from the US State Department. These visas numbers reflect the number of children adopted internationally by Americans.

I think the stories are puff pieces... over blown... generalizations... too simple.

After tripling in the past 15 years, the number of foreign children adopted by Americans dropped sharply in 2006, the result of factors that have jolted adoption advocates and prompted many would-be adoptive parents to reconsider their options.

From: Tightened... more

I found an interesting "letter to the editor". It is dated December 25, 2006.

In July, Friends of Our Orphanages brought eight children from Orphanage No. 9, Krivoy Rog, Ukraine. It was very difficult to get them out of the country and took us nearly two years from the first time we applied.

Few people thought we could actually do this

.......

I have struggled to find a way to thank all [donors and helpers]

.......

Jote' Thompson,... more

Hope is a 5 year old girl. The Randle family adopted her from the Republican Children's Hospital in Crimea under the SDAPRC. They recently returned home on November 20, 2006.

Based on the news article, the Randles were doing an independent adoption (without an adoption agency). And they were using a lawyer to facilitate the adoption.

They... more