March 07, 2008
How does this happen
They don't know me and I don't know them but I'm trying to make sense of what has happened to an American family in Ukraine right now that had three bad referrals in a row of children mostly too sick or mentally ill to leave the orphanage. Their files did not come close to explaining their actual conditions. The family traveled across the country and back.
It is heartbreaking. They will be shown no more files. They were told it's illegal. Illegal? They were told that it must not have been God's will. There are 100,000 orphans in Ukraine and somehow there was not one child available for them to take home and raise as their own. Is that God's will? They were open to ages, gender, even siblings. This is simply devastating. They did everything exactly the same as the other families---the documents, the doctor's appointments, the home study, the updates.
Many families are arriving home in the U.S. with their new children, others are getting referrals, some are waiting to travel to Ukraine, their high hopes tangling with their fears.
And this family, emotionally drained and physically spent, was given such a raw deal that it's unimaginable how they must feel right now. But as they prepare to leave Ukraine, they are thinking not so much about themselves but of all the children waiting for families. And the one or two children that they could have taken in and raised as their own. They would have given them a good life.
Drew and Rita did all they could.
A lot of dreams were dashed today. Too numerous to count.
Posted by Laura at March 7, 2008 02:58 PMPosted to Tara's Story
That employees would fabricate and/or neglect those childrens' files is reprehensible. No one wins. Everyone comes away broken-hearted. The good workers who would like to see the children get homes should bear down on their comrades and do all they can to prevent this. What a tragedy. A ready-and-willing mom and dad come away empty handed from this ordeal, and one or more kids are denied a a family. My heart goes out to all the parties. Shame on those record-keepers.
Posted by: karen wiz at March 7, 2008 03:44 PMIncredibly sad. I read part of their blog and can't believe they've managed to endure all of that -- and be so honest and straightforward in reporting it. They've done a good service to others by sharing their story. My heart goes out to them -- and, even more than that, to all the children without families.
Posted by: Susan at March 9, 2008 10:31 AMUgh!! This is awful. Bureaucracy at it's worst and saddest. You can't even satirize this. It's just pathetic.
Posted by: sally at March 10, 2008 11:02 AM