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

Ukraine has a very homogeneous population. Based on a 2001 census 77.8% of the population is Ukrainian and 17.3% are Russian. The remaining 4.9% are Belarusian, Moldovan, Crimean Tatar, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Jewish and Other.

The African and Korean people of Ukraine fall into the Other category.

While many people realize there are Rom children... more

This post is about Ukrainian and Russian ethnicities inside of Ukraine. FYI... I drew the Ukrainian and Russian flags in Microsoft Paint.

Ukrainian joke: Ukrainian man insists on adopting a black child. So husband and wife travel from orphanage to orphanage. And finally they find a black child at the tenth orphanage. They adopted the child and get him settled in the car to take him home. Wife finally asks, "Why did our child have to be black?". Husband replies, "This way, I am 100% certain he isn't Russian".

Ethnicity... more

I purchased a book titled The First Thousand Words in Russian to help me learn Russian in 2000. It is organized in an interesting manner. For example page 6 and 7 is a colorful picture of a kitchen. The picture is full of humor. Son number one has a pot on his head. Son number two just broke a dish. The trash can is overflowing. Dad seems to be washing dishes. One daughter is feeding bread to the dog. The cat is on the top of the cabinets knocking over a container. Mom can be seen... more

Natasha has been sick at home for the past 3 days. And since I generally follow the medical advise on the Children’s Tylenol bottle we went to the doctor today. When Natasha hears the word doctor she starts on her, "I hate shots" mantra.

If sore throat is severe, persists for more then 2 days, is accompanied or followed by fever, headache, rash, nausea or vomiting, consult a doctor promptly.

from: Children's Tylenol bottle

My poor darling has a strong grudge against shots. When she first came home to me, she was 3.5 years old.... more

I liked Aleida's post on Siblings, so I am borrowing the idea of reviewing a list and providing a different point of view.

My daughter starts the most interesting conversations while she sits in the back seat of the car and I drive. I gather from talking to other parents this is fairly common. Many of the more interesting conversations about her birth family have happened in the car.

There is a list of 30 Things Adoptees Wish They Knew About Their... more

Here is a picture of my darling when I adopted her in 2000. Her squinty eyes (crossed eyes) are easily seen in this photo.

While I was in the orphanage, I asked Natasha's caretaker what she ate during the day. This list was just a little sad; I still remember that dinner was sweet tea with bread and butter. Lunch was typically soup. The amount of food was limited and there was little variety.

The first meal that I fed to Natasha as her mother was a McDonald's Happy Meal.

Quick side note... I have heard that 40% of McDonald's profits... more

Recently a study was published and the results were as expected. Children do better in foster care environments compared to orphanages.

[Dr Dana Johnson and colleagues] did the first scientific comparison of what happens to children raised in orphanages versus those raised in foster care and children raised in normal families.

from: Orphanages stunt growth, foster care better-study

This study took place in Romania.... 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

Here is another heritage weekend being held during the father's day weekend. The other one is in Central Wisconsin.

As I mentioned in my prior blog on Heritage Weekends there are 2 basic reasons to attend this type of weekend.

1. Normalizing the adoption for your child. 2. Parent share experiences/socialize

And at some point during the weekend, families can explore Ukrainian culture.

This... more