1. Why don't you just adopt from here in America?
The main reason is because of the cost to adopt here.
For a regular domestic adoption the cost could be $30,000 or more. We could adopt from CPS (no cost) but the wait for
a young child is very long....could be 2 to 4 years or more. In Ukraine
the average time from start to finish is 6 months to 1 year. In Russia
and Ukraine there are literally more children
than there are parents to adopt them. In the US
about 2 million couples wait each year to adopt. There just aren't that many adoptable children so the wait is substantial.
Another big plus to Ukraine is that you get referred to a child in a particular orphanage when you get there....meet the child....if
you don't feel he/she is a good match, then you can ask for another referral. I could go on and on, but basically our
hearts are really for the millions of children that needs home in Ukraine.
2. How long will you have to travel when picking
up your children?
It could be 2 to 4 weeks. If the judge in the particular
region where our childs orphanage is doesn't waive the 30 day waiting period, then we will either have to wait that extra
time or come back for a second trip to pick them up.
3. What about the health of the children over
there?
There will be developmental delays in most children in
orphanages, but most will be overcome with time and work. Some children are healthy as a whip, some have severe health
conditions, and a lot have minor conditions such as scabies and lice or a lazy eye that can be easily corrected.
4. How young are the children who are adoptable
in the orphanages?
All infants under the age of 12 months that don't
have a major medical condition are reserved for Ukrainian citizens only. After 12 months of age they go into a
data base (usually takes a couple months). So the youngest age possible for a healthy child is usually around 14 months.
4. Why are you doing this adoption independently
and not using an agency?
It is against Ukrainian laws to have an agency assist
you while in Ukraine. You can read
the adoptions laws of Ukraine on:
http://travel.state.gov/adoption_ukraine.html. Everything done there is considered independent. Now you may higher an agency in the US to assist you. But usually they will charge 10,000 to 20,000 to tell you
how to prepare the paper work but you still have to gather it all yourself anyway! With the assistance of Cathy Harris
(having done 5 Ukrainian adoptions her self) will tell you word for word what to do and when to do it. (She only
charges 1,000 as of 2003!!) So basically if you want to save LOTS of money, you can do it your self and get just as
good of an outcome.
5. How is the process done from start to finish?
First you have to file a form called 1-600A with Immigration
(INS). You have to send a copy of an approved home study along with marriage and birth certificates. Immigration
will then send you a letter in the mail telling you to go and a get fingerprinted for an FBI clearance. Then shortly
after that they will let you know that your are approved to adopt. You would the order your visa applications for later
in the process. Then the big step is gathering things for your Ukrainian Dossier. That will include the following:
1. Home study
2 Agency license
3. Social worker license
4. Letter from Agency about Social Worker
5. I-171H approval (from INS)
6. Copies of passports
7. State police clearance letters
8. Employment verification
9. Medical certificate and photo copy of Dr.s license
10. 2 marriage certificates
11. Petition to adopt
12. Letter of Obligation
13. Power of attorney
Then EVERYTHING has to get notarized. At that time
Cathy Harris will assign a translator/facilitator who guides us through the adoption journey once in Ukraine. Then we have to get EVERYTHING apostilled by the Secretary of State. We
then FedEx our dossier to our translators in Ukraine for them to look over
and submit to the National Adoption Center in Kiev Ukraine.
They have 20 working days to approve your dossier and register you as an adoptive parent. Once they do this, they will
send you a letter asking you to send a letter to them requesting an appointment to view the children up for adoption.
They would then send you an appointment letter back state when to go to Ukraine.
At that time you would purchase airline tickets and get ready to go get your children!! Whew that was a lot huh!
Yeah, thats why it could take almost a year...LOTS AND LOTS OF PAPER WORK PROCEDURES!! But in the end it will be well
worth it!
