I started AC's story in Returning Home Without Child. AC is a Canadian who very recently traveled to Ukraine with her husband. They had 2 appointments and couldn't find a child 24 months or younger.

The SDAPRC is limiting families to 3 appointments. During the appointment (1 hour meeting at SDAPRC's Kyiv office), the SDAPRC will provide information on 3 to 5 children. The family will... more

A few months ago I posted a blog about Why Do Families Return From Ukraine Without a Child. I am saddened that this continues to happen to families.

Occasionally families want to share their Ukrainian adoption experiences. But they want to stay anonymous. So they email me their story and I post it.

This blog contains quotes from AC who had an appointment at the SDAPRC... more

Ukraine is a blind referral system. The family must travel to Ukraine to receive a referral.

referral = Ukrainian government employees (SDAPRC department) met with an approved family for 1 hour to discuss specific children.

Family may not receive a referral that mets their expectations on gender, health or age. Under the old system with the NAC department, this happened to about 1% of adoptive families every year. So some families would return home without meeting a child.

2005 was an awful year. This... more

Why is everyone's adoption experience unique?

Back to the book, State and Institution Building in Ukraine... It was edited by Taras Kuzio, Robert S Kravchuk, Paul D'Anieri and was published in 1999.

While Ukrainian scholars have not applied the label post-colonial to Ukraine. Tazas Kuzio believes the label is correct. He compares Ukraine to other post-colonial countries like Zimbabwe.

Ukraine was bullied... more

So to pull this back to adoption...... Why is everyone's adoption experience unique?

Ukrainians learned to trust their social networks for support and information because they couldn't depend on their institutions.

The adoption process had just changed when I arrived in Kharkiv in 2000. Used to be, one judge handled all the adoption cases. Now the adoption cases are divided among all the district (think county) judges.

My judge didn't know anything about adoption law. He had a busy docket and didn't have time to read, so he gave me a court date... more

In the 15 years since independence, Ukraine has been inching toward democracy. But much of the institutionalized behaviors from the Soviet era remained.

I traveled to Ukraine in November 2000. Many people strongly believed Ukrainian President Kuchma was connected to the murder of a journalist, Georgy Gongadze. Georgy had been reporting on governmental corruption. Georgy's headless body was found November 3, 2000 in a field.

Then there was the 2004 election of Yushchenko. It was reported that... more

Part 1 introduced my theory that Ukrainian "institutional uncertainty" is why everyone's adoption experience is different. Part 2 was a specific example of the institutions themselves causing the uncertainty. Eventually people stop believing their government and institutions when they are lied to over and over.

So back to the Verkhovna... more

The photo was created by the Soviet Union. It shows the Sarcophogus being build around what remained of Chernobyl's reactor 4. The primary goal of the Sarcophogus is to keep all the radioactive materials (fuel, equipment, dust, etc..) contained.

In Part 1 I asked:

Why are Ukrainian adoption experiences are all unique? And why does a translator's job seem to be more then translation?

Then I discussed "institutional... more

Why are Ukrainian adoption experiences are all unique? And why does a translator's job seem to be more then translation?

I read a very heavy and scholarly book called "State and Institution Building in Ukraine". This is edited by Taras Kuzio, Robert S. Kravchuk, Paul D'Anieri and published in 1999. It was food for thought.

I believe that institutional uncertainty plays a major role in why everyone has a different experience.

Ukraine is not the only country with this issue. For an US example see the BCIS.... more