Ukraine Adoption, Eastern European Adoption - Ukrainian Adoption Law Changes

05/31/07

Ukrainian Adoption Law Changes

Posted by : Angela in Ukraine Adoption Blog at 11:58 pm , 342 words, 506 views
Categories: Politics

This evening I started poking around Verkhovna Rada's web site. Bill 2562's information has been updated.

I would love for someone to tell me that I am wrong. Someone please tell me that I am wrong. But I believe this bill has become law. The key phrase is the following.

Останній етап: Закон направлено на підпис Президенту (29.05.2007)

Status: Law is addressed on signature to President (May 29, 2007)

From: 2562 Status

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An email was posted on Adoption_From_Ukraine on May 30. It stated that President Yushchenko signed the bill on Tuesday May 29.

This means that single "foreigner" adoption is illegal. This means there can be no more then a 45 year difference between the oldest adoptive parent and adopted child.

If I translated the bill correctly Ministers have 3 months after this bill becomes law to start enforcing it. Anyone want to bet that the SDAPRC will start enforcing it on Friday?

I am single and want to adopt a second child. My darling Natasha would like a sibling too. I had ruled out Ukraine because single adoption had become so much harder. So this law doesn't directly impact me.

But my chest is hurting. I know a single woman who is in Ukraine now. I know +45 families who are waiting to file their dossier.

We all want some level of certain that our adoption will end with a child. But for a few families Ukraine just isn't possible anymore. And that really sucks.

I acknowledge that Ukraine has the right to create any laws and regulations about adoption. And I know there was a lot of warning that this might happen. But there were also signals that it might not happen. Ukraine is a country that runs on rumors.

At this point I could talk about the other adoption options for singles. I could talk about older child adoption being great. And +45 families should consider it before giving up on Ukraine.

But I would rather wallow a bit in my sadness.

If anyone has information on the implementation of this new law, please post a comment or email me at adoptukraineblog@adoptionmail.com

10 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: mikeschmitt@cox.net [Member]

Well, the age thing will "possibly" mess up our adoption. Our dossier was submitted on April 30 and we were expecting an apointment date any day now. Our adoption service told us that the law had been signed by the president. :o(
My wife and I wanted to adopt a teenager before they "age out". I am 61 so I am too old to adopt even a 16 year old.
The yung girl we wanted to adopt knows that we were "in the process", even though we tried to hide our efforts from her just in case something "happened".
We haven't given up hope, but we are crushed by this news. We are very concerned about how Katya will handle not being adopted.
Mike in Va. Beach, VA

Permalink 06/01/07 @ 04:58

Comment from: Angela [Member]

· http://ukraine.adoptionblogs.com/

I was thinking of you and a couple of other people when I wrote this.

Hopefully the SDAPRC does allows some type of grace period before enforcing the new law.

Most of the +45 families and single women are trying to adopt children that will never be adopted otherwise; older or disabled.

Permalink 06/01/07 @ 06:47

Comment from: IRIKE [Member]

Bottomline is it's not fair to people who were already part of this "process to adopt" when this "law" surfaced back in March.
The law should have taken into consideration a "grace period" to allow us the chance to realize our dream and clear the entire process A-Z before the gates closed down on a whole bunch of good people, caught by surprise with no room to maneuvre.

Things can be carried out with more consideration when the rest of people's lifes are in the balance, especially GOOD PEOPLE.
Thank You for listening....

Permalink 06/01/07 @ 07:51

Comment from: molly33 [Member]

How can we find out for sure if the bill was signed by the President? We have received an appointment in July but are not able to get any reliable FACTS about this law.

Permalink 06/01/07 @ 08:11

Comment from: Angela [Member]

· http://ukraine.adoptionblogs.com/

The Ukrainian Parliament says that the bill has been signed by the President on May 29. Now I know the translation sucks on my blog. I am using a mechnical translation. But I am pretty sure Rada is saying they have a signature.

"Law is addressed on signature to President (May 29, 2007)"

If you know someone who reads Ukrainian you can ask them for a translation of this page.

http://gska2.rada.gov.ua:7777/pls/zweb_n/webproc4_2?id=&pf3516=2562&skl=6

And you could email the US Embassy - Kyivadoptions@state.gov. I did. I am waiting on a reply.

Permalink 06/01/07 @ 14:12

Comment from: molly33 [Member]

Thanks Angela- I just wrote to them. My husband tried calling them all day yesterday and only received recorded messages... and never got to talk to a human. A friend of ours was thinking we ought to get CNN or someother news network on this..
I wonder how many people are in Ukraine right now who are adversly effected.

Permalink 06/01/07 @ 16:01

Comment from: Angela [Member]

· http://ukraine.adoptionblogs.com/

There are 40 appointments per week for referral. It we assume that on average it takes 5 weeks to complete an adoption.

There are 200 families in Ukraine now.

I know there is at least 1 single woman... maybe a few more.

I don't have any guess on how many families are impacting by the age change.

And if I read the translation correctly, the SDAPRC doesn't have to implement the new law for 3 months. But the question is... Did I translate the law correctly? And will the SDAPRC provide this grace period?

Permalink 06/01/07 @ 16:44

Comment from: molly33 [Member]

On June 1, I wrote to the Kyivadoptions@state.gov and they have replied with the following to us:

Although, the Ukrainian Parliament has already passed the bill instituting restrictions on international adoptions, this bill has to be signed by the President of Ukraine to become law. It is presently not known when the President of Ukraine will sign this bill. Dossiers from single and elderly foreign citizens are still being accepted by the SDA. The bill will become law, and come into full effect as soon as the President signs it, and it is published in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian Parliament. It is our understanding, that when the law comes into effect, it will have immediate impact on the target group of adoptive parents, and their adoption process will be stopped/ effected regardless of its stage.

It is presently not known when the President will sign the bill. However, when it is signed and published in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian Parliament, it will be enforced immediately.
We monitor the official websites for the President of Ukraine anf the Ukrainian Parliament on a regular basis to see if this bill has been signed by the President. As soon as it becomes a law, we will issue an official notice for the adoption community, and make an announcement on our web-site.

Permalink 06/04/07 @ 11:11

Comment from: molly33 [Member]

Our Adoption agency people are still telling us the bill has not yet been signed into law... They did tell us that the Ukraine has voluntarily started to "impose" the rule about singles not being able to adopt. Does anyone have any news to share?

Permalink 06/07/07 @ 12:13

Comment from: molly33 [Member]

Great News. We found out on June 13 that the Ukrainian President VETO'd the bill !

Permalink 06/15/07 @ 08:30

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