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Many families trying to adopt from Ukraine are sitting in limbo with paperwork that is aging every day. Your dossier is only good 1 year from the document’s creation date. It can be so hard to decide when to move on to another country. During the last 6 months things have been ever changing. And most adoption agencies had closed down their Ukrainian adoption program.
Here is some background…
On September 21, 2005 the Government of Ukraine informed the U.S. Embassy in Kiev that the National Adoption Center (NAC) of Ukraine was suspending the acceptance of new adoption dossiers from U.S. citizens and citizens of several other countries.
from: http://kiev.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_notice_0921_eng.html
They shutdown adoptions because the post adoption reports were missing for hundreds of children. The Ukrainian government didn’t shut down adoptions for just Americans. Adoption was shut down for any country that has missing reports (France, Germany, Canada, etc..)
Ukraine was allowing pipeline cases (approved dossiers) to continue with the adoption process. Ukraine is just shutting future adoptions down.
Then
On November 23, 2005 the National Adoption Center of Ukraine (NAC) officially informed the Embassy that the Center had resumed acceptance of new adoption dossiers under limited circumstances. The NAC advises that it will now accept dossiers from U.S. citizens who are applying to adopt the following categories of Ukrainian children only:
* Older children (10 years old and older);
* Siblings of previously adopted children;
* Handicapped children.from: http://kiev.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_notice_1123_eng.html
But then 1 month later adoption was shut down completely. No pipeline cases, no older children adoption…. Ukrainian families couldn’t adopt either.
On December 20, 2005, President Yushchenko signed the law transferring authority over adoptions from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports. This law came into effect on December 22, 2005, upon its publication in Parliament”s official newspaper “Holos Ukrainy”.
According to the new law, the Family Code of Ukraine will be amended to give authority over domestic and international adoptions to the Ministry for Family, Youth and Sports. The new central authority will be called the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Children, under the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports.
According to information from the National Adoption Center (NAC), although the NAC under the Ministry of Education has not yet been dissolved, the Ukrainian Supreme Court has determined that the NAC no longer has legal authority to process adoptions. This decision effectively creates a processing gap, with no Ukrainian ministries’ having the authority to handle adoptions at this time.
from: http://kiev.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_notice_1228_eng.html
Then the lobbying began. American adoptive parents contacted their Senators and US Representatives. People (Canadians, French, etc..) emailed the Ukrainian President to find an interim solution.
On January 31, 2006 President Yushchenko signed the law giving interim authority over adoptions to the Ministry of Education’s National Adoption Center (NAC) until the new adoption authority is legally established under the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports. This law will go into effect upon its publication in Parliament”s official newspaper “Holos Ukrainy,” which should occur in a matter of days. According to this law, the NAC will have full authority to process adoptions in Ukraine until May 1, 2006 – the final date by which the new adoption central authority must be established under the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports. The NAC has stated that they will now resume normal processing – not only of the suspended cases, but also of the cases that had been previously scheduled through the end of January.
from: http://kiev.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_notice_0201_eng.html
Then there was a news story (in Ukrainian) on Feb 6, 2006 based on a press conference. Yuri Pavlenko, Minister for family, youth and sports, discussed the new Department on Adoption and Child Rights Protection. This was the new central government body that would process all dossier acceptance, provide referrals and approve adoptions (process the paperwork).
Here is my blog on this subject.
Pavlenko announced that on April 4, 2006 families would start dealing with the Ministerium of Family once they were in the oblast instead of the Inspectors (Education Ministry). There will probably be some chaos with this change but it should be sorted out fairly quickly (my fingers are crossed). This impacts paperwork that needs to be done before an adoption can be completed.
So pipeline cases (approved dossier) started forward again. People started getting appointments and posting informtion about their referrals. People are adopting a 22 month old girl or a 3 year old boy.
I heard that the NAC is focused on getting the pipeline cases completed. And they are working on transfering the adoption documentation to the new adoption department by May 1.
If I had a pipeline case (approved dossier), I would stay with Ukraine and try to get the adoption completed. I would keep updating my dossier.
There are rumors on how the adoption process will change on May 1. For example adoptive families used to receive a referral to an orphanage rather then a specific child. This is how the system used to work when I adopted. However nothing official has been announced, so I wouldn’t make any decisions based on rumors.
If I wanted a child under 10 years of age and wasn’t a pipeline case (approved dossier), I would explore other adoption options. The Ukrainian government has been clear that adoptions won’t be processed for Americans (except for the exceptions) until the 900 or so post adoption reports are turned in.
Best of lucky to everyone on their adoption journey.
