Here is current news from families who are in Ukraine now.


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Wade and Julia adopted 2 children in 2003. Then they returned and adopted 2 teenagers in 2005. And now they are returning for Katya (15 years old).


They met Katya in 2003 during their first adoption and tried to adopt her in 2005, but her paperwork was lost and had to be re-filed. Katya is from the same region that my daughter is... Kharkiv.


Wade and Julia had their NAC appointment today, March 30, 2006.

The adoption center had 15 couples on the list for appointments today. We were quickly inside the center and ushered into a room with the director.


Three American couples were asked to come in. The director started talking about recent changes in the law and that they wanted us to sign statements that we had been warned that the adoption could stop at any time because of the switch to the new Ministry.


They would try to accomodate us in April as our adoption progressed, but there were no guarantees we could complete it in April.


The Director made a comment to everyone in the room that she recognized us (returning every year for three years in a row can make you a regular) and that she was glad we were back. We smiled and from that moment all was good.

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Eric and Karen arrived in Kyiv on March 27 and had their first appointment on March 28.

Appointment day was finally here. Unfortunately we did not get a child today. We were shown very sick children and much older kids. We are told that the adoption center will be shutting down officially April 1st for a month to change over to a new department.

From their March 28 blog:

According to this blogger their application (along with 18 other families) was rejected when they asked for a second appointment. Their translator worked very hard and managed to get them another appointment. Wow..


They have another appointment on March 31. Check their blog Friday afternoon for more news on their adventure.

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Then there is Jamie & Amy who are adopting an 11 year old and 15 year old girl. They arrived in Kyiv on March 28 for a March 30 appointment at the NAC. Their translator took them into the NAC yesterday(March 29) to see if they could get the referral today since it is for older children. The GOT the referral. They are driving to Zaporizhzhya today and hope to get the paperwork started.

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And an update on Rose and Jeff. They received a referral for 2 sisters, but with the change to the State Department on Adoption Children's Rights, they lost the referral.

The government issued an official order on Wednesday that there would be no more separations of sibling groups allowed.


The girls had already chosen their "American" names and had begun to bond with Rose & Jeff. The hopeful daughters have a half sister and half brother (16 and 14 years old) who are living at a boarding school. They have never met them, but they are still considered a sibling group. Up until this order, Rose & Jeff had planned to go ahead with the separation because they children had never met, nor had the 2 little sisters any real familial ties to the older children from another father.


Because of this official order, the security administration has sent officers into all the regional and state facilities to "enhance" the seriousness of breaking the rules. They were informed there wasn't anything left to do. Favors are not to be requested to continue the process of adopting these two girls because people do not want to go to prison for breaking the official government order.

Rose and Jeff returned to Kyiv and got a second appointment today. However they didn't find a child. They are returning home. Here is a link to their blog.

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Here is a blog written by a Canadian family (Gina & Phil Fortini). They had their NAC appointment on March 28 and are traveling to Lugansk to see a 2 year old girl.

They made us write down and sign a paper saying we were aware of the adoption process having a temporary close due to the old ministry finally moving to the new ministry. This apparently will happen after this Friday. They also told us that if we didnt choose a child to meet today that it would be very difficult to obtain another. PRESSURE!!!!

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Then there is Dana and Rob... 2006 TheHofs Abroad. This is

our second attempt at our second adoption


From March 11, 2006 blog entry

They arrived in Kyiv on March 26 and had their NAC appointment on March 27. They received a referral for a 7 year old boy in Kherson. They have a nice photo of NAC's Scooby Do hallway on their blog.

We were taken into the director’s office........ They explained the current situation at the NAC that things are coming to a new authority in May. We had to write and then sign a statement saying we understand that new law. Kind of silly, but whatever. Then the director basically said this is our last shot, and if we don’t find a child today, that it was over and she didn’t want to see us again.


From March 27, 2006 blog entry

When they picked up the referral document on March 28, 2006.

they [NAC] made us sign this thing that says we understand that there will be no payment to anyone and that adoption in Ukraine requires no payment...ya ok

From March 28, 2006 blog entry

I love their March 29, 2006 blog entry on meeting their son-to-be.


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From Yahoo's Adoption_from_Ukraine email list... A family who is adopting tommorrow passed on information from their translator. The NAC office will start packing up next Monday April 3 (this matches what I have hear elsewhere) and moving files, etc.. to the new office on 14 Desyatinna Street.


This adoptive parent heard that adoptions that are in process will be supported during this move. This is good news if true.. Hope, hope it is true.

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And last but not least.... there is a rumor that the State Department on Adoption and Children's Rights will be closed for 3 months (April, May, June) to organize. I have only heard this once.

It is certain that new dossiers won't be accepted during April. And no appointments will be made during April. Beyond that I haven't heard anything from official sources.

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Please share any blogs that you are reading... As always you can email me at adoptukraineblog@adoptionmail.com