Well I have been away from blogging for a while... probably lost most of my regular readers except for 1 person... a old friend from high school.

Hi Jannie..

I may discuss my blog sabbatical another day. I feel like there are at least 40 or 50 blogs just waiting to be written.

I want to chat about the new news about Ukrainian adoption. Most of the news is about single men/women adoption. And about adopting a child that a family has hosted.

First lets start with background. There is a Ukrainian delegation in the US. Their trip is fully or partly funded by the US State Department via the International Visitor's Leadership Program. It is a cheap way for the United States to try to form relationships between middle tier bureaucrats in other governments.

Olen Remen is the director of International Adoptions of the SDA. Ms. Ludmyla Volynets, the director of the SDA, is her boss. And at this point Yuri Pavlenko is still Ludmyla Volynets's boss. Mr Pavlenko is the Minister for Family, Youth and Sport but has turned in his resignation. He is waiting to see if the Rada will accepted it. An interesting difference... In the United States a "Minister" is called Secretary and serve at the pleasure of the President.

Anyway, Ms Remen, a Ukrainian journalist, a few woman from regional guardian councils are in the Ukrainian Delegation. Several different types of meetings took place in Washington DC during the week of November 12.

3 women who I greatly trust share their notes about these meetings with various email lists.

1. Cathy Harris - Around 15% to 25% of Americans adopting from Ukraine use Cathy Harris to help with their independent adoption. It varies from year to year. And Cathy is a single mom who adopted from Ukraine. She is blunt. I used her when I adopted my darling Natasha in 2000 from Ukraine.



2. Ann Potthast - She adopted from Ukraine in 1993. This was prior to a centralized adoption system. So she adopted via the oblast (state system). She was living in Ukraine at the time she adopted. I think she adopted a second child under the NAC in 1998. She is also a lawyer and I find her thinking very analytical. She and Cathy Harris are friends.



3. Norma Brinkley-Staley - She adopted from Ukraine in 2000 like me. She is also an analytical person and I enjoy her writing.

The Ukrainian Delegation set their agenda (who they would met and where) before they left Ukraine. The average person cannot met with them. And by the way, this isn't the first delegation from Ukraine. It seems like we see one a year. One year they were investigating our foster care system.

No information from a government source (Ukrainian or US) will be released on the various meetings. The whole point of this trip is for the delegation to learn and build relationships. Cathy, Ann and Norma have made their notes available via the Adoption_From_Ukraine email list. They are message 36106, 36100, 36095, 36062, 36061

Ukrainian Delegation in US
Background
Post Adoption Reports
Adopting Hosted Child Part 1
Adopting Hosted Child Part 2
Adopting Hosted Child Part 3
Single Parent and Older Parent Adoption
When Will Ukraine Accept New Dossiers?