Ukraine's legislature has rejected the Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption (also known as Hague Treaty on Adoption or just "Hague").

ForUm has a short news piece about the voting.

I believe it was a vote against adoption agencies. Only 22% of the deputies (think of them as a combination of US Representative and US Senator) voted for the treaty. Many politicians have very long memories and they are anti-adoption agency due to the baby selling scandal in 1992.

There seems to be a linkage in many Ukrainian minds between Hague adoption treaty = allowing adoption agencies on Ukrainian soil. And they just won't accept it.

So what does it mean? It means nothing changes about the Ukrainian adoption process.

UPDATED: There was a rumor going around in the adoption community.... SDA was holding onto files... maybe processing slower then normal.... while they waited for the results of the Hague vote. I gather many in SDA management wanted the Hague.

They had hoped for passage of the Hague. And this is why they asked (earlier in the year) for agencies/translators to register with the SDA. This was going to be the beginning of an accrediation process.

If this is rumor (slow processing) is true.... I would expect single parents trying to adopt in Jan 2007 to run into the same issue. There is pending legislation (Legislation was voted down. Single men and women can adopt from Ukraine.) that will make single international adoption illegal. Single domestic adoption will still be legal.

So Ukraine is just picking on the international singles. Rumor is that the Rada is really focused on stopping gays from adopting from Ukraine.