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

Natasha was adopted at 3.5 years from a Ukrainian orphanage. She came home with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A condition in which victims of overwhelming and uncontrollable experiences are subsequently psychologically affected by feelings of intense fear, loss of safety...

From: Helpful Adoption Terms to Know

Before I adopted my daughter I spent... more

If anyone asks I can paint a wonderful picture about Ukrainian adoption. I will say that we all have amazing kids. We were meant to parent these kids. Our children's issues aren't that bad. They just have challenges to overcome.

The issues are manageable.

I would leave out my fear, anger and sadness. People want to hear happy stories. Stories full of pain aren't easy to listen to... aren't easy to understand.

Or maybe you catch me on a bad day. I can paint a negative picture about Ukrainian... more

When you adopt from Ukraine your home study must satisfy 3 government entities.

The best place to start is by understanding your state's law. Who can do a home study? How are they licensed or authorized?

I... more

FRUA is still down. I miss it so much. Like many others, I use FRUA to see how dossier submission is going... and what appointment dates have been issued.

So I have decided to volunteer to gather statistics on dossier submissions and appointment dates.

Have you completed a Ukrainian adoption? Are you in the middle of a Ukrainian adoption?

I would like to ask you some questions. I will take whatever information you are comfortable with. I will respect your privacy... more

I believe the current political mess caused the adoption slow down. This is just my pet theory. I haven't seen this is print.

I wrote some blogs about Ukrainian poverty and wealth... more

The current Ukrainian political situation may be delaying the appointment of a new SDA director (or maybe not... it can be hard getting a definitive answer).

Fortunately this hasn't halted adoptions but rather slowed adoption processing.

So I decided to blog on the political standoff between the 2 Viktors.

Ukraine has a unicameral parliament called Verkhovna... more

I received confirmation that the SDAPRC is processing dossiers and handing out referrals and accepting new dossiers. They are just moving slower then expected. Dossiers are taking 30 to 40 business days to be approved rather then 20 days. They are accepting 5 new dossiers per week from American families rather than 8.

(My sources: US Embassy in Kyiv, a couple of blogs and a few emails)

We... more

This is a frustrating email from the US Embassy in Kyiv. Their signature takes up more room then the actual message. And the message lacks any specific details. Typically this type of email is sent out when they get a lot of questions and don't want to answer them individually.

The SDAPRC started accepting new dossiers again on April 16, 2007. However German families were unable to get their dossiers accepted last week. I haven't heard of any French family successfully submitted their dossier either. And I haven't heard anything... more