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

I miss FRUA. It is a great support group for families adopting from Eastern Europe. Their chat board is down while they are upgrading the software. My fingers are crossed that it will be back up Wednesday.

I have been reading blogs again. I am so HAPPPPPPPPPPY for the Schnitzel family. They have been trying to adopt from Ukraine since early 2005. They traveled to Ukraine and turned down their referral in... 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

Blog on why I accepted my daughter's referral is here.

Families' stories about accepting a referral for analytical reasons (Part 1) is here.

Families' stories about accepting a referral for emotional reasons (Part 2) is here.

As I mentioned in Part 2, I have some more stories to share on why families accepted the referral for their child. They are from my "Expectations vs Outcome... more

Part 1 is available here.

As I mentioned in Part 1, I am fascinated by why families accept a referral to a specific child. There are 2 basic stories; analytical reaction and emotional reaction.

I shared the analytical reactions in part 1. The emotional reactions are below. Since people are more likely to share their emotional reactions, I have more of of these types of stories. I will have a "part 3" tomorrow with additional reactions.

There is a story... more

Before I adopted my darling daugher from Ukraine and after I adopted, I found myself fascinated with why did a family accept a specific referral? It was something that a few families talked about in their journal but it seems to me it is a the central question.

Under the NAC from 1996 to March 2006, an adoptive parent traveled blind. They don't receive a referral until they arrived in Ukraine. No one knows if the new State Department on Adoption and Children's Rights will be handling this any differently starting in May 2006.

From... more

This is the first photo of my daughter Natasha. She was sick and in a hospital crib taking a nap. The orphanage lawyer had traveled with me and my translator from the orphanage to hear my answer. Would I accept the referral and adopt this child?

Would I adopt this squinty eyed (another word for crossed eyes), developmentally delayed, gray skin, drooling child? You cannot see in the photo but she was drooling on her pillow. *

I looked at this child and the only thought that I remember... "I can do this." There was no love-at-first-sight. I watched... more

From 2001 to 2003, I (via email lists) asked other adoptive parents to fill out a survey. The goal of the survey was to compare expectations vs outcome for Ukrainian adoption.

Over 200 families from many different nationalities trusted me enough to answer my questions. They were Australian, American, Canadian, French, Danish, German, Israeli, Irish, Russian, Spanish, Swiss, and Ukrainian. They all granted me permission to anonymously share their answers.

Here is what various families said about accepting a referral.

My Husband was in love right off from Jacob's picture in the orphange [seen at the NAC]. It was a picture of him at 3 months old. I knew... more