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We completed our adoption of a 13 month old boy from Russia last August.
Yes, tons of hoops, ladders, pits, open manholes, man eating venus fly traps, and tears.
But, each night, when I look in his crib, and see this adorable little boy sleeping, it all goes away.
Advice? Let's see.
1. Get an agency you can trust. Check references. Are they currently finalizing adoptions? Are people getting permission to travel? In Russia, there are numerous agencies that lost the ability to do adoptions, and the in-process parents are stuck, having already paid thousands of dollars. If the agency isn't currently completing adoptions, run. If they are expecting to get their accrediation any day, run.
2. Be patient. We got hit during the moratorium on Russian adoptions, and got delayed 10 months. It was the worst time I ever went through in my life. But, in the end, it was worth it.
3. Also, be cognizant of the laws regarding adoption, and is your agency following them? For example, Russian adoptions are normally blind (in that you know nothing about the child until you arrive at the Ministry of Education). Some agencies were getting photos and information and sending them to parents. These are the agencies that were not reaccredited. Some agencies were not doing the required post-placement reports. They were not reaccredited.
4. While doing paperwork, never trust a notary. You will have to have all the notarized documents apostiled by the Secretary of State in your state. That means they will make sure the notaries are done correctly. It's amazing how many notaries have no idea how to properly notarize a document. Even when I told them how it needed to be done, they would mess it up, causing me to have to have the document re-notarized.
5. Check out adoption.com. There are some great forums there for international adoption, country specific. There are also yahoo groups for country specific (and region specific) adoptions.
6. I don't know specifically about the Ukraine, but we were told that Russian adoption is more an art than a science. We ran into problems along the way, but our agency handled them for us. The process won't go flawless, but with the right agency, it will get done.
Any specific questions, feel free to email me.
Randy Tennison
Orlando, FL
šoš Home of The Mouse!!!
"Oh, come on, guys. It's so simple, maybe you need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings nowadays!"
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