The Life2Orphans non-profit (501 c) organization was started by a couple of families who adopted from Ukraine. The group has an international flavor with adoptive families from Israel, Spain, Germany, Canada, etc... involved. If you are looking to help a child, this is a good organization to do it with.


When visiting the web site (www.life2orphans.org) make sure to use Internet Explorer as your browser. Firefox doesn't work well with the web site.


Last time I discussed this with Megan Fordenbacher (she is one of the orginal founding families) there is only one employee who is based in Ukraine. Everyone else is a volunteer.


The group has a blog (www.life2orphans.blog-city.com) and a moderated email list.


My darling daughter is from the Green Forest Orphanage. Right now we are trying to raise $2,000 to fix a roof and repair leaking raw sewage.


Recently Life2Orphans started an amazing project called Project Empty Orphanage. Many times the only thing preventing a child from being registered and made available for adoption is a photo or a document.


If a child isn't registered with the Adoption Center (starting May 1 with the new Department on Adoption and Child Rights Protection) no one can adopted them. This project gives children the chance to be adopted by Ukrainian families or international families.


Here is some more information on how Life2Orphans is tackling this problem.

Currently there are approximately 125,000 children in Ukrainian orphanages. Many of these kids are "stuck" there because of inaccurate or missing paperwork. This project was designed to help kids' paperwork problems that stand between them and a loving family.


In a pilot of this project, an orphanage of 170 children had 97 children "stuck" in the system because their parents had never legally released their children after abandoning them at the orphanage. Of these 97, we were able to resolve the paperwork issues for 27 children, thus giving them a chance to be available for adoption by loving families.


The cost to free these children is $60 per child. It is hard to imagine that for so many children, the only thing standing between them and the chance for a real family is $60 and a signature. Your donation of $60 will give a Ukrainian orphan a chance to be released from an unceratin future and give them a "fighting chance" at having a family that will love them like they have never experienced before.


from: http://www.life2orphans.org/urgent_needs.htm

If you want more information on this project contact Jim jimt@life2orphans.org