My earlier blog this morning left me feeling sad/mad. So I went searching for a happy story..

And I found a sweet story about a single Dad. He adopted his son, Michael, from Ukraine in 2001 at 6 years of age.

When Michael was 9 years old he started ballet class. And it seems he is a natural dancer. He is 11 years old now.

In... more

I am so torn about this... Torn between anger and sadness. The evils that man does. There are no words.

John Krueger was found guilty of molesting 3 boys in late November 2006. He is a 53 year old single man who has adopted from Ukraine several times. I believe his first adoption was in 2001.

He was charged back in April 2006. And the case immediately caught the eye of Ukrainian... more

By this time many folks have read the Alone again news story. Jeff and Michelle Bignell adopted 2 children from Ukraine in March 2001. They adopted a 7 year old boy and 4 year old girl.

Let's call the boy S.

The Bignell family felt like they couldn't cope with S's many mental/developmental issues. He broke his sister's ankles, ran away and killed pets. So we aren't talking about small issues. Feb 2005, S was... more

Here are some recent news articles..

Family looking forward to first Christmas since adopting two children from Ukraine.....

The Coughlin family adopted a 3 year old boy and 4 year old girl from Zaporizhya.

Ukrainian adoptions on average seem to be taking 4 to 5 weeks to process in Ukraine. But this time can be broken into multiple trips. After the court hearing there is a 10 day waiting period. Parents can return home and... more

My daughter, Natasha, and I went to see The Nativity Story a few weeks ago. We talked a little bit about it after the movie.

But I didn't realize the true impact of the film until the Sunday after the film.

I am a volunteer in the Sunday children's program at church. I am the cat header for the 3rd grade class (also know as guide.. I guide the children around during the church year :)) ).

The workshop leader does the teaching.

Anyway, the workshop... more

So here I am posting about the Ukrainian government body that processes adoptions again. This isn't unexpected because of the politics and the political parties.

Yuri Pavlenko, the former Ministry of Youth and Sports had his resignation accepted on November 29, 2006.... more

Based on this email, I would say that US citizens have asked for help with filing their dossiers.

40 dossiers can be filed at the SDAPRC per week.

Faciliators have to get appointments to file the dossiers. All appointments are booked for Dec, Jan and Feb 2007. And the SDAPRC isn't booking March appointments yet.

This is a very emotional... more

A person named Nat, posted a translation of SDA's recent announcement. I believe this announcement was posted on the SDA's (Ukrainian adoption authority) office wall.

The SDA asked for (according to article 252 of CPC Ukrainian law) a document that verifies a family's right to use the house. The Ukrainian government wants proof you have the legal right to live in your house.

A copy of... more

As I mentioned on Friday, Ukraine started accepting dossiers.

To make things more complex, the SDA doesn't want to deal with updating expired documents. In the past families were allowed to submit dossiers (papers are good for 1 year from creation date) and update any documents as they expire.

Now the SDA is only accepting dossiers with documents that are good for 6 months (or more).

And they... more

The answer.. NOW. They started taking them now. I just received this information from a facilitator that I trust. And I have heard from a couple other families they are hearing Dec 19 is the start date.

THEY ARE TAKING NEW DOSSIERS NOW.

The Ukraine government is still behind on getting appointments scheduled for the already approved families. So the SDA supplied the following guidance on new dossiers.

Your dossier must contain documents that are less then 6 months old.... more