Here is the background on the Ukrainian Delegation in US. Continuing on to what was said...

Let's start with the post adoption reports. Several hundred reports... more

The Ukrainian Heritage Weekend at Soyuzivka Resort happened this weekend; June 16 to June 18. Families had a chance to talk with the Ukrainian Embassy staff. I sent a list of questions with a friend who went to this weekend. I am patiently waiting on some of the responses. :)

But here is what I can share....

First is the Faces of Ukrainian Adoption. If you don't have high speed internet access,... 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

I have an email friend who gave me permission to share her story about adopting an older child from Ukraine. She went to Ukraine to adopt a child over 10 years of age.

Friday, Feb 24, 2006

There were several couples in NAC on Thursday. Today (Friday) we went to pick up the referral (at 12 instead of 3) and it was a ghost town. [Translator] says the director is "on vacation".

My friend and her husband received a referral for a 13 year old "gentlemen". They traveled on Sunday so they could visit the orphanage on Monday.

Wednesday,... more

The National Adoption Center (the primary adoption authority in Ukraine since 1996) loses authority over adoption on April 30, 2006 to the new State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child (SDAPRC). These are both Ukrainian government departments. Ukraine adoption is centralized and 100% controlled by the government.

Good-bye Scooby-Do hallway in the National Adoption Center (pictured above).........

Translation for anyone who doesn't watch Scooby-Do cartoons. A group of 4 kids (young adults) and a dog named Scooby-Do try to solve mysteries.... more

I sent an email to adoption@ukremb.com (Ukrainian Embassy in Washington DC's adoption section) and asked how many post adoption reports they had for my daughter.

Post adoption form is located here.

http://www.ukremb.com/consular/docs/adoption-report.rtf

Now in the past I have waited 2 weeks to 6 months for a reply. I received a reply within a few hours.

I filed post adoption reports for 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. You do 1 report per year for 3 years. Then you do a report every 3 years. I filed the report in 2005 because my adoption faciliator asked... more

Ukraine shut down adoptions (except for children older then 10, sibling of a child you adopted previously, handicapped children) for all countries until the "missing" post adoption reports were filed.

Well, good news for several countries. Families from Germany, Spain and Canada who adopted from Ukraine have filed all the post adoption reports. Adoption is open for citizens of these countries.

And France is not far behind. They are short about 30 reports.

It seems US adoptive parents owe about 900 reports.

Getting 100 % of post adoption reports in the US is going to be so difficult. I have heard stories already about a US family refusing to file the annual report.... more

ForUm is a source for Ukrainian news. Recently an adoptive mom named Jeri sent in a letter to the editor. I would guess that Jeri is an American.

Her letter looks like a reaction to some of the recent new stories in ForUm on Ukrainian adoption. Here is Jeri's letter. She has some beautiful pictures.

http://en.for-ua.com/letters/2006/02/07/171550.html

Here are the recent new stories. The first one is about the creation of a new government body to control adoptions in Ukraine starting in May 2005. The Adoption Center (old Ukrainian government department) will be able to process adoptions until the new... more

The JCICS (Joint Council on International Children Services) has posted a press release at

http://www.jcics.org/Ukraine%20Press%20Release_Feb06.pdf

Adoptive parents need to turn in their annual reports. Even if they adopted in 1996, the Ukrainian government wants the reports.

Ukrainian adoption is mostly shut down (there are exceptions... child 10 or older, handicapped, sibling of previously adopted child) for Americans since September 21, 2005.

http://kiev.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_notice_0921_eng.html

This... more