Ukraine Adoption

Ukraine today

A woman with the same first name as mine emailed me last year to tell me she was adopting from Ukraine and working with my facilitator. She wanted some guidance, some support, some advice. We became cyber friends. Her paperwork had to be redone many times as documents expired in the various, emotionally draining delays of the Ukraine adoption system.

When she finally received notice of her appointment, her email to friends and family contained many, many exclamation points. I remembered the same feeling from 2005.

Today, she is in Ukraine with her husband. Last week, they received a referral for three small children and planned to visit them on Monday--three days ago-- for the first time. Most children in orphanages have some developmental delays and tend to be smaller than their counterparts in the U.S. If these children had issues that were far too difficult to deal with, she and her husband would most likely request a second appointment at the Ukraine adoption center. That could take up to two weeks. Sometimes the center recommends that you come back in six months.

I have been checking my friend's blog daily, she has not written in it since last Saturday when they were preparing for a nine-hour train ride to the children's region early Sunday. Probably, they are unable to get on the Internet from the region. Or they have returned to Kyiv for another appointment. I hope that whatever is happening, that they don't give up. I'm not sure why I'm writing this now, perhaps I'm hoping our good thoughts will help move things along for her. (I have told her about the value of vodka, as well.)

UPDATE: They met the three children and are proceeding with the adoptions! You can read their blog in the right column: Laura & Ed.