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The Stewart family just completed their adoption.
Here is an important tidbit. For anyone who is returning through the Amsterdam Airport with their Ukrainian adopted child. The child is a Ukrainian citizen (won’t become a US citizen until they touch US soil) and needs a visa to leave the airport (which you won’t be able to quickly get).
Because of the flight times (layover is long), typically you can check into a hotel and rest. But again… you have the visa problem so you can’t leave the airport.
The solution? It doesn’t involve sleeping on airport chairs as the Stewart family did. There is a hotel inside the airport.
They have 24 hour room service, so eating isn’t an issue. And it can cost around $100 for a night.
The hotel is small with 33 rooms and is quickly booked. Call them directly for availability when your travel plans are firm. Their web site is here.
Here is the Stewart family’s time line.
- Decided to Adopt from Ukraine – November 2004
- Started Home Study – March 2005
- Dossier Registered – September 19 2005
- Sent Updated Dossier to Ukraine – June 2006
- Appointment – December 11 2006
- Met Referral (2.5 year old boy) – December 13 2006
- Adoption Completed (court hearing) – December 18 2006
- Get Passport Picture Made – December 20 2006
- Collected new birth certificate, passport and picked up child – December 29 2006
- Visa Processing at US Embassy in Kyiv – January 3 2007
- Returning Home and Stuck in Amsterdam Airport – January 5 2007
Weird.. I was recently blogging about why families return from Ukraine without a child. I didn’t realize this had already happened under the SDAPRC.
The Schnitzel family returned from Ukraine without a child. And it sounds like they may be giving up trying again (traveling to Ukraine and accepting another referral).
December 13 2006
We were asked what type of child we were looking for and when we answered that we wanted a little girl in the age of 2-4, we were told that no healthy girls were available. Our hearts just sank!
………
Although, she is older [ 6 years old ], we thought we needed to visit her.
The region is in the southern region of Ukraine – Symferopil? [simferopol]
December 22 2006
As you all know, we did not pursue the adoption of the beautiful little girl. There were a lot of tears and emotions, but we know in our hearts that we made the right decision. We believe that this subject is better to discuss offline. However, we wanted to reiterate that although it was very painful, we believe that we did the right thing for our family.
Their time line is below. The SDA was willing to give the family another referral on December 21 or 22. However the Schnitzel decided to return home. They did submit a letter asking for future appointment. The SDA said they might get one in April or May.
- Started Adoption – December 2004
- Appointment – December 14 2006
- Turned Down Referral (6 year old girl) – December 18 2006
- Returned Home – December 22 2006
