Ukraine Adoption

A week at home

We have all been home this week, together, the four of us. All week. It's been cold outside, the TV is on too much, it seems like I'm constantly preparing a meal or cleaning up after a meal, or a snack. I started three different projects (closet, basement, drawers) and haven't finished any of them. I haven't taken back the clothes that don't fit. I have promised a trip to the movies---maybe today?

I have accepted the fact that our house won't be picked up until after we all go back to school and work next week. Because now, it's impossible to keep up! Tara loves to gather toys in little piles throughout the house. Austin likes to drop his coat where ever he is standing.

We have all fallen into a lovely routine of, well, no routine. And wow, does it feel good!

A day of celebration

We started out the day with tradition and excitement. And we spent the day at my Mom's, a houseful of family. We had a lot of laughs, good food and new memories. And Tara loves her new ballerina outfit.

Happy Holidays to all!

It's beginning to look...

a lot like Christmas. The excitement is in the air, Tara and Austin are both wound up more than usual. Even our cat seems to have more energy and curiosity than usual. Our refrigerator is full, gifts are hidden away, the cards are mailed. There is still much to be done, and tomorrow is Christmas Eve. But we are looking forward to spending time with our family and friends. And we are (Ok, I am)looking forward to being done shopping...!

Merry Christmas to all, from our home to yours!

Ukraine will accept new dossiers!

Received this today from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. It is wonderful news for so many families waiting to submit their dossiers for adoption. We hope the restrictions on facilitators for when and how many dossiers per month they can submit for families won't have ill effects.

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine:

This information is based on the official notice received by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine from the central adoption authority of Ukraine - State Department for Adoptions and Protection of the Rights of the Child (SDAPRC), informing us of the resumption of acceptance of new adoption dossiers from all non-Ukrainian prospective adoptive parents starting December 19, 2006.

The new adoption dossiers can be submitted to the SDAPRC by the local adoption service providers having Powers of Attorney from American prospective adoptive parents. These dossiers will be checked for completeness within a period of five to ten working days. If any mistakes are found the dossiers will be returned to the person holding the family’s Power of Attorney. If the dossier conforms to all requirements, the person holding the family’s Power of Attorney will receive a confirmation of registration along with an appointment letter from the SDAPRC. The dossiers can be submitted by the local adoption service providers with Power-of-Attorneys every Tuesday and Thursday from 3 pm to 5 pm, by appointment only. To make an appointment for submission of adoption dossiers local adoption facilitators should call the SDAPRC at: 38-044-278-4045 on any working day, from 3 pm to 6 pm. Each adoption service provider can submit up to two dossiers every month. At the moment, the appointments can be made only for the period from December, 2006 to February, 2007. Please note that the U.S. Embassy cannot submit or in any way assist American adoptive parents in submission of their adoption dossiers to the SDAPRC.

The SDAPRC takes this opportunity to remind prospective adoptive parents about the paperwork requirements for the adoption dossiers. The following documents must be part of the adoption application (dossier) submitted to the SDAPRC (this list with more details is available on our website at: http://kyiv.U.S.embassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html ):

1. Application for the SDAPRC with the request to be registered as prospective adopting parents

2. Proof of income: a statement from adopting parents’ employer indicating salary or a copy of W-2 forms or tax returns. To avoid confusion, please do NOT copy blank pages of tax returns.

3. Copy of the marriage certificate (if applicable).

4. Medical form.

5. Notarized consent for adoption from a second adopting parent, if only one of the parents will be adopting the child.

6. "No criminal record" statement supplied by a competent authority for each adopting parent, attesting that he or she has no criminal record at the state level. Statements from the city or county level are not accepted by the Ukrainian authorities. If the criminal background check statement is issued by the local sheriff/police office (not state authorities), it should clearly indicate that each prospective adopting parent has no criminal record in the state of his or her residence.

7. Home Study, issued by a competent authority in the adopting parents' country, attesting to their eligibility, specifying their housing and living conditions, containing their curriculum vitae, presence of biological children and other information. If a home study is issued by a non-governmental entity (a private agency or social worker), a copy of the license authorizing this entity to conduct pre-adoption reviews must be attached.

8. Entrance and permanent residence permit for the adopted child, issued by the competent authority in the adopting parents' country. For American citizens, the Form I-171H, Notice of Approval of Advance Processing issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) serves as this document.

9. Copies of the passports or other identification papers of prospective adopting parents.

10. Commitment to register their adopted child with the Ukrainian Embassy or Consulate in their new home country within one month of the completion of adoption. Adopting parents also agree to supply information about the adopted child's living conditions and educational progress to the Ukrainian consular office at least annually during the first 3 years following the adoption. Under Ukrainian law, an adopted child remains a Ukrainian citizen until age 18, at which time the child can decide to remain a Ukrainian citizen.

In addition to these documents, the SDAPRC recommends to submit the documents to confirm that the prospective adoptive parents own a residence, or have a rental agreement. Ukrainian local courts usually request such documents in adoption cases.

All U.S. documents submitted to the Ukrainian government/court must bear the seal of the issuing office and an apostille affixed by the state's Secretary of State (an apostille is a special seal applied to a document to certify that a document is a true copy of an original). The SDAPRC requires that all the documents submitted in the adoption dossier remain valid for at least another six months from the date they are submitted to the SDAPRC (according to Ukrainian law, all official documents remain valid for 12 months; the only exception is made for I-171H or

I-797C Approval Notices, considered valid for 18 months from the I-600A approval date).

The SDAPRC will de-register all adoption dossiers, even if one document has expired without a prior notice.

To speed up the process of acceptance and checking of the adoption dossiers, the SDAPRC has requested the adoption service providers who will submit the adoption dossiers from American prospective adoptive parents to follow the following recommendations:

1) Each dossier must be submitted in a separate folder. On the outer side of the folder please indicate the country of residence, full names of prospective adoptive parents. Please indicate the list of documents being submitted on the inner side of the folder.

2) Each document should have its name, written in pencil on the top right corner (for example, medical certificate of the father, license, etc).

3) A copy of the Power of Attorney and passport of the local person named on the Power of Attorney should be added to the dossier.

4) The application of the prospective adoptive parents with the request to be registered as prospective adopting parents should contain its full address, email address and phone number.

The dossiers from U.S. adoptive parents should be submitted in the red folders.

This information is based on official information received from the SDAPRC. If you have any questions specific to your case, we recommend you to contact your local adoption facilitator or U.S. adoption service provider.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Adoption Unit/Immigrant Visa Section

Consular Section

American Embassy

Kyiv, Ukraine

Tel: 38-044-4904422

Fax: 38-044-490-4570

The spirit of Christmas

Tara is the first to notice every day that the Christmas lights outside and on our tree need to be plugged in. She is the first to notice if a bow falls down from the staircase, or a wreath isn't quite right. She sticks her button nose right into the unlit candles to get the most out of a whiff of peppermint or cinnamin oil in the wax.

Every day, she points to the decorated house around the corner that is her favorite this year; it has lighted deer on the front lawn. How cool is that. She sings parts of Christmas songs when she is playing, and sometimes meshes them together, like: "Jingle bells, jingle bells, fa-la-la-la-la-lalalala." They sound better like that.

The pure and raw excitement of Christmas, brought to you by a little girl who has come a long way from a Ukrainian orphanage in 2005 to a new home today where she brightens our holidays and all of our days.

An interview with Tara, Part IX

Tara turns four next month. Here are her thoughts on the future:

ME: Do you want to be a doctor when you grow up?
TARA: "No! I don't want to be that."

How about a nurse?
"No!"

A teacher? A soccer player? A mom?
"No! I don't want those."

What do you want to be when you grow up?
"A person."

Just a person?
"A big person."

Well, what do you want to do?
"Drive my car. My blue car. And buy things at the store."

Holiday happiness

We got our Christmas tree over the weekend, all four of us went to pick one out. John said it was his turn to find the ultimate tree...We got one that was totally wrapped up and didn't know how it would open up, but John was confident that it was the best tree in the lot. Turns out, it is pretty nice, and it's more than 7 feet tall.

This is Tara's second Xmas holiday with us and she is totally in the groove and committed to tradition. She put all the ornaments on, mostly in one spot near the bottom, but who cares? She was singing Fa-la-la-la-la as she decorated the tree. How can you not get in the Christmas spirit with her around?

She's so happy having all the bright colorful lights and garland and wreaths around the house and outside. She skips around saying, "It's SO beautiful!" Last year, Tara wanted a rocking horse. Santa brought one for her and she was thriled. This year, she doesn't seem to have one main gift request, but we think she'll be thrilled with whatever Santa brings.

De ja vu

My friend Greta and her husband are boarding a plane today for Kiev, Ukraine, to adopt a little girl they never met who has no idea that they are on their way to change her life, and theirs, forever.

Natasha, the wonderful facilitator who helped us find Tara just last year, will greet them at the airport tomorrow, just as she greeted us. They will likely be exhausted, excited, nervous, worried and hungry--all at the same time.

I have been giving Greta some last-minute encouragement and advice (hey she asked for it), like try not to act too American, don't worry if you forgot something because you can buy it there, bundle up, don't drink the water...and then I said: You have all that you need to know; the rest you will learn as you go.

Everyone has a different experience. It will be thrilling to read about their journey (see blog at right). Feel free to leave Greta a note on her blog, let her know you're following along.

Tara-isms Part VIII

--If you ask Tara what she wants for Christmas, she will tell you a little blue car, and socks for her mommy, and all kinds of stuff for her daddy and brother. She seems more concerned about what we will get. In this way, she is not so Americanized!

--Her imagination is running wild. She says, "I have to tell you something. A lion can scratch you. A lion scratched my friend." Yesterday it was a dinosaur. I asked her pre-school teacher about her tall tales and she assures me this is normal behavior for her and her friends, as they learn to fantasize. Hey, sometimes it's better than reality! Except for the lion scratching part.

--Her cousin Caroline is "Caloline" and it always sounds like she's singing it.

--If I ask John to do something and he says no, Tara scolds him: "Daddy, don't talk to my Mommy like that." We try to keep a straight face.

--Yesterday at the dinner table, she announced "I look so pretty today." And John said, what about me? She said, "Noooo, you're not pretty, you're a BOY."

In the dark

So I boiled a few eggs this morning, but I assigned Austin to keep an eye on them this time. He did good.

I am writing this in the dark, at night, because I'm waiting for my two children to Fall Asleep. It feels like we have been running since 7 a.m. today. Maybe that's because we have...!

Austin's band concert was tonight, so I hurried out of work and picked up Tara, then rushed home. Halfway home, Austin called to tell me his pants for band were too small. So Tara and I stopped at Target, darted in like crazy people at a one-hour sale, found some pants, and raced home to pick up Austin.

As we were dropping him off at the school, I remembered that I was supposed to bring 3 dozen cookies for the afterglow party. Off I went, with Tara, to the store, then rushed back in time to see the concert. Home at 8:45 p.m. OK, what's for dinner?

Did I say something about happy chaos before? Hmmmmm...

A day in the (crazy) life

I got ready for work this morning, lunches packed, snowpants packed, coffee ready for the drive, breakfast for the road. I went back upstairs to wake up little Tara and realized she didn't have a bath last night or the night before because we were all out late Saturday and I was at a church function last night.

So I suggested she take a quick shower in my bathroom and she happily stripped down to nothing and trotted through our bedroom, where John was still asleep, into my bathroom. She especially liked getting her hair blow-dried. This impromptu shower threw me off my morning routine a bit, though, so we were rushing out the door, grabbing this and that on the way.

So I get to work and send a note to dear John, who is working from home. He responds that he's been "putting out fires" all morning. I say, oh, you have been managing some business crises?

He says no, "Someone" left two eggs boiling in a pot on the stove. They exploded all over the kitchen.

Oops, that explains why I couldn't find Tara's breakfast in the car.

(When things like this happen, my Mom usually tells me: Time to slow down!)

Butterfly Girl

It's been a long time since we posted a picture of Tara (at least a month!) So here's our butterfly girl. The wings and antennae are courtesy of Auntie Karen. Tara likes to run around the house in these wings all of the time. Who needs a reason?

She will be four years old in January, she can't wait. Growing so fast.

My friend Susan

My friend Susan has been waiting a really long time for her daughter in China. A few months ago, she and her husband received a referral for a little girl. Then they had to wait for a travel date. More waiting.

Finally, today they are in China with a group of Americans who are adopting little girls. They are touring the big cities, visiting the landmarks, conducting nervous chatter with their newfound friends.

But on Monday, these parents will be anxiously waiting in a room --- and nannies will walk in, each holding a little girl. This is how they do it in China. The American families will try to spot their new daughters, since they memorized their faces from small photos they received from their adoption agencies. One by one, their names will be called off and the little girls will be handed to their new parents.

Little Rachel doesn't know it yet, but Monday will be the beginning of a wonderful new life.

Want to follow along? Here's Susan's blog: The Rachel Chronicles.