Recap!!!

O.k. I decided that it is time to recap! Time to go back to when this all started and give a timeline of this ridiculous, yet marvelous journey.

2/2004 Decided to adopt on our 1st anniversary
4/2004 Studied up on various Countries and decided to adopt from Ukraine
5/2004 Had fundraiser raise money for the homestudy
8/2004 Found an agency and started homestudy
2/2005 Agency finally got their stuff together and completed/approved homestudy
3/2005 submitted our complete application to Ukraine
7/2005 Ukraine registered us as adoptive parents and assigned us a registration number
9/2005 Ukraine "closed" down to adoption due to the lack of compliance by Americans for the filing of the post placement reports. No new adoptions. Also announced that there would be changes for the adoption center including directors.
12/2005 Adoption Center closed their doors to switch control over to the new department (known as the State Department of Adoptions; SDA)
1/2006 SDA announced that they would reopen in March
3/2006 SDA understaffed, cannot open until June
6/2006 SDA will open but will not be "working" until July
7/2006 SDA announced that appointments will start in September
8/2006 Letters went out to few families for September appointments
Here we are today....Waiting for our letter of invite for October. Supposely the 23rd. I am praying, but incase you haven't noticed from the timeline above - nothing is predictable.

We are hoping for a girl... Sophia (name is chose)
ages 15months to 5 years

We will get an appointment to go to the SDA, we will meet with officials and they will show us binders of children that meet our request. We will chose one to meet based on history and medical information. We will travel to the orphanage that the child is at and meet her. After spending time with her we will decide to a) adopt her or b) not adopt her and go back to the SDA to chose another. **this is only something that would happen if for some reason she was not available or maybe a lot unhealthier than we were lead to believe**
Once we decide to adopt we will move forward with the paperwork and court dates. During this time we will visit her in the orphanage everyday. Spend time getting use to her, and her, to us. Once we go to court we will then need to stay for 10 more days. After the 10 days we can finally take her out of the orphanage, back to Kiev, visit the US embassy to get her VISA and then HOME!!!

OCTOBER!!!!!!

Orange and black.....maybe that is a sign Aunt Jennifer. Your "favorite" colors right? Also the color of October! October is the month we are bringing Sophia home!!! Before you die of heart attack right now, no we did not get our letter of invite. BUT we did hear from our translator and he said that we fall under the October appointments.

Here is the list that is at the SDA right now....
September - Registration no. 9913-14507
October - Registration no. 14511-15196
November - Registration no. 15196-15717
December - Registration no. 15718-16099

We are number 151**...so that puts us in October. Our translator said that they are suppose to be mailing out the letters for October appointments on August 23rd. I am trying my best to keep my cool because things are known to change in Ukraine at a drop of a hat so I am somewhat reserved about what I hear. Yet my heart is dying with excitement! The 23rd is only next week so pray to God that we get this damn letter. I AM TIRED OF WAITING!! UKRAINE HERE WE COME!!

Poem!

I found this on one of the adoptions chat boards today. Thought I would share it with you..yes my eyes did tear up a little!

Our Miracle
"When they placed you in our arms and we looked into your face,
We felt our hearts melt into one ~
a miracle took place.
Our prayer was finally answered, Though delayed, 'twas not denied ~
The pain of love unanswered, in a moment's time subsides.
God's plan seemed hard to understand.
The circle's now complete.
He placed the heavens in our arms, so precious and so sweet.
Though you grew within another, our souls and yours were one.
We united in God's loving heart before life had begun.
We received a priceless treasure ~
this adopted child we love...
A gift of joy and happiness to us from God above."

No Aunt Jennifer, there is no new news !!! Check back in about 2 weeks!

HAHA.....
No new news yet... but August is just around the corner. Everyone in the Ukrainian adoption world is buzzing about chatting about "When the first appointment letter will come?" "Who will be the first to go?". According to the SDA press release they were going to start mailing out the appointment letters the 1st of August. We'll see how true to their word they are this time around. I will post the second I get some news, though I will probably be on the phone jumping up and down screaming to all of the family anyway.
My heart is skipping a beat just thinking about it....I just can't wait for our "due day" it will finally happen for us.

Finally some progress!!!

Here is the latest about the opening of the new State Department of Adoption (aka SDA) this may sound frustrating to you because we still have a few months to wait, but actually this is great news.

Opening of New Adoption Authority in Ukraine - July 3, 2006

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine: On July 3, 2006 the Minister for Family, Youth and Sports, Yuriy Pavlenko, held a press conference to announce the official opening of the new adoption authority, to be known as the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child (SDAPRC), and to outline his ministryÂ’s policies related to the protection of childrenÂ’s rights. Minister Pavlenko reported that the previous central adoption authority (the National Adoption Center under the Ministry of Education) had been dissolved, and stressed that the SDAPRC is completely separate from the previous system.

The Embassy has assembled the following information for Americans who wish to adopt in Ukraine. Americans with more detailed questions should contact us directly at: adoptionskiev@state.gov

Q: When will the new adoption authority start accepting new adoption dossiers?
A: Pavlenko made clear that the SDAPRC will accept NO new adoption dossiers from non-Ukrainian adoptive parents before January 1, 2007. This applies to ALL intercountry adoptions, including applications for biological siblings of previously adopted children. According to Pavlenko, this is not a moratorium but a temporary suspension to allow complete reform of Ukraine’s child welfare and adoptions system. If a prospective adopted child is about to “age-out” (i.e., the child will turn 16 years old in 2006), please contact our office at: adoptionskiev@state.gov


Q: We have one of these NAC registration numbers. What should we do now?
A: All registered families are asked to submit new applications to affirm their intention to adopt in Ukraine. This application should be done in the same way as the one previously submitted to the NAC with their original dossiers, but should now be addressed to the new adoption authority and sent via regular or courier mail service directly to the following address: Ms. Ludmyla Volynets Director State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports 14 Desiatinna Street Kiev 01025 Ukraine Only original, notarized and apostilled applications, accompanied by a Ukrainian translation, will be accepted. An English-language sample application will be posted on the Embassy web site soon.

Q: When will the families who registered with the old adoption authority have their appointments?
A: During July and August of 2006 the new adoption authority will complete the scheduling of adoption appointments for registered families that have confirmed their intention to adopt from Ukraine. The appointments for registered families will begin after September 1, 2006.

Q: Is there any new information about the availability of children for intercountry adoption?
A: According to the Ministry, only 16% of all adoptable Ukrainian children are under five years old and relatively healthy. At the same time, 50% of all the U.S. prospective adopting families have indicated specific interest in this category of children.

*Our registration number is 15101. Supposedly they will be starting with family 14300 and will be seeing 75 families per week. If you calculate this and assume that there are no families missing in-between (which I will explain in a minute) that will put us 10 weeks into the scheduling which starts September 1.
Now because of the old corrupt center.... Families were not seen in order of thier registration number, they were seen in the order of who had the most money realisticaly there will be some families who have registration numbers between 14300 and (ours) 15101 who have already traveled. Also there are several families who have pulled out during this exhausting wait.

I am HOPING and thinking maybe early October :O) This couldn't be better news!!!

When o' when

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine:

The Embassy has received a diplomatic note dated June 6, 2006 from the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noting the new adoption authority, the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child will open in July 2006. The Embassy will continue to track the transition and other adoption-related issues closely, and will provide updates as appropriate by e-mail and on our webpage: http://kiev.usembassy.gov/. Any American adopting parents who would like to be added to our e-mail list are welcome to contact us at adoptionskiev@state.gov.

expect delays....

The new National Adoption Centre in Ukraine is moving slowly in terms of getting their administrative functioning under control. They are definitely "under construction" as far as staffing is concerned. The new administration did not re-hire any of their old staff, so there will be a need for training their new employees. At present, the Adoption Centre in Kyiv is not accepting any dossiers. The news that we received yesterday is that they will start accepting dossiers (including updated dossiers) in July 2006 and will most likely start allocating travel dates for September,and as late as January 2007. The AC stopped accepting dossiers in April. I am sorry to say that we should expect delays....

Wait...Wait...Wait!!!

LATEST NEWS ON UKRAINE ADOPTIONS
Posted May 16, 2006
NEW DEPARTMENT PROJECTED TO OPEN ON JUNE 20
The new State Department for Adoption is still currently closed forpublic. It is technically open – they are hiring and training newstaff and setting up their internal procedures, but it is still closedto the public. No new dossiers are being registered and no travel appointments arebeing scheduled. The good news is that an unofficial date has beenannounced for when it will re-open to the public, and that date isJune 20, 2006. The new State Department for Adoption projects that on that date theywill begin accepting new dossiers and assigning travel appointments.At this time there is still no information whether the new office willalter any of the policies that the old National Adoption Center had.We will have to wait for the new office to open to receive thatinformation.This was posted onhttp://www.commonwealthadoption.org/international-adoption-ukraine.php

Remembering Chernobyl 20 years later.

On April 26, 1986, reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, 100 km north from Kyiv, exploded during a routine daily operation.

In the early morning hours of April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 was operating at very low capacity (6 - 7 percent) during a planned shutdown. Plant personnel intended to monitor the performance of turbine generators, which supplied electric power for the plant's own operation, during a changeover from standard to a backup source of power.

The reactor's design made it unstable at low power, and the operators were careless about safety precautions during the test. After a sudden power surge, two explosions destroyed the reactor core and blasted a large hole in the roof of the reactor building. Radioactive debris moved up through this hole to heights of 1 km (0.6 mi), carried by a strong updraft. Fires caused by the explosion and the heat of the reactor core fed the updraft.

Nearly 9 tons of radioactive material - 90 times as much as the Hiroshima bomb - were hurled into the sky. Over the following days, winds that were blowing mostly north and west, carried the fallout into Belarus, as well as Russia, Poland and the Baltic region. The radioactive fallout affected 23% of Belarus, with 4.8% of Ukrainian territory and 0.5% of Russian land exposed. About 200,000 people were evacuated from a 30-km radius around the plant, with the peripheral areas remaining at a high risk of radioactive exposure. The reactor was enclosed in a concrete-and-steel sarcophagus. Over the following years about 600,000 people known as "the liquidators" worked on the clean-up operations inside the 30-km zone.Although scientists agree that there is no risk of the sarcophagus exploding, the status of the estimated 180 tons of radioactive material trapped inside the nuclear power plant is still unclear.There are many commemorative events scheduled during the month of April which I encourage all of you to participate in. If you have any information that you'd like to share with the group, please list your info here!

New director appointed!

As expected, a new director has just been appointed for the newly created SDA (State Department of Adoption and Defense of Children ' s rights):
Her name is Ludmila Volinets
Address of the SDA:Desiatinna street nr 14, 01025 Kyiv
The vice directors of SDA are : Mr Hritsenko Fedir Volodimirovitch Mrs Duchaeva Ludmila Gnativna (responsible for the Departement of Custody and family placement of children)

Here is some more information about Mrs Volinets, the newly appointed SDA director....
She has been working for the NGO "Hope and Home for Children", which has been trying to establish family type homes for abandoned children in Ukraine, with the help of British ONG.

Mrs Volinets is from Odessa and holds a PhD in Political Sciences and is coming from Odessa. Her PhD research was on the demographical crisis during the transition in Ukraine.

She is well known in Ukraine for her project with this ONG, and her efforts to try to build a Center that helps young mothers who are determined to abandon their children in Kherson. As you imagine, maternity wards in Ukraine don't even have a psychologist on the premises, so young mothers are really left alone with this decision and have no help. Also women have their first child much younger than in Western Countries so we are talking about young girls with often unwanted pregnancies.

In 2002 Mrs. Volinets coordinated an inquiry about the mothers who abandon their children in the Kherson region. This is the only such inquiry in Ukraine. Thereafter she planned this Center to help them.

She is known to be very professional and well informed about child abandonment in Ukraine. She wants to change things and certainly try to prevent children to be abandoned.

don't forget the new SDA is a State department for adoption but also for the Defense of children's Rights and she certainly will work on less children be abandoned in Ukraine. You can find material on her and the ONG on the internet and on Ukrainian media. This is a choice that is in favor of the children and against corruption. Let's welcome the decision of the government to nominate such a person as the head of SDA.

Ukraine in the Summer

Looks like we might be enjoying the beautiful Ukrainian summers. We still do not have an appointment but the NAC is not suppose to be giving out any new appoint dates until after the opening of the new Center in May. If I want to take a guess at when we might be going, I am going to say June! Hopefully not much later than that. I can barely deal with Michigan summers without my central air. I do not want to experience a foreign country with out air or screens in the windows. YIKES!!! I suppose I should quit my bitching and just be happy at the fact that I get to go. We have had to redo all of our paper work, just like we are starting our adoption for the first time again. What fun! We will keep you posted as information comes in, but do not look for anything any time soon!

Things are moving forward

Well here is the lastest in the Ukrainian Adoption World. Hopefully this will mean we will get an apppointment letter soon.

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine:On January 31, 2006 President Yushchenko signed the law giving interim authority over adoptions to the Ministry of Education’s National Adoption Center (NAC) until the new adoption authority is legally established under the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports. This law will go into effect upon its publication in Parliament"s official newspaper "Holos Ukrainy," which should occur in a matter of days. According to this law, the NAC will have full authority to process adoptions in Ukraine until May 1, 2006 - the final date by which the new adoption central authority must be established under the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports. The NAC has stated that they will now resume normal processing - not only of the suspended cases, but also of the cases that had been previously scheduled through the end of January.The NAC has not yet released a notice to the international adoption community explaining details regarding processing of adoptions during the transition period. Absent NAC written guidance, we cannot confirm processing plans or details. The information below, keyed to frequently asked questions on the part of adoptive parents, reflects our understanding of likely procedures, based on preliminary discussions with the NAC administration.

For case-specific information or clarification, contact the NAC or your adoption service provider directly.
Q: We are currently in Ukraine, waiting for the NAC to issue the consent letter required by the court (or waiting for the referral letter/second appointment/etc). When can we expect to have our document issued/case processed?
A: The NAC requests that all American adopting families currently in Ukraine contact the Center directly or through their representatives to obtain case-specific information, such as new appointment date or the official consents required by Ukrainian courts. The NAC has stated that the consents for the courts will be issued immediately on the day the law becomes effective.
Q: Due to the suspension, we missed our scheduled appointment with the NAC in January. When can we travel to Ukraine for a new appointment?
A: According to the NAC, adopting families who had been scheduled for appointments in January will now be rescheduled in February on the same (or closest working day) to their original date (for example, January 24 would be shifted to February 24). Contact the NAC directly or through your local representative to confirm your appointment date prior to traveling to Ukraine.
Q: We are registered at the NAC and were supposed to receive an appointment this year. When can we expect our appointment?
A: The NAC has advised that after the center reschedules all January appointments, the NAC will focus on priority cases such as those involving children with severe medical problems, older children and sibling groups. The NAC will contact families directly.
Q: Will the NAC accept all new adoption dossiers after it re-opens?
A: The NAC has advised that previous restrictions on acceptance of new dossiers will remain in effect. (See our earlier notices regarding the Government of Ukraine’s concern about the non-compliance rate by American adoptive parents with regard to post-adoption reporting, which is required under Ukrainian law.) The NAC will only accept dossiers filed by U.S. citizens on behalf of certain categories of orphans: siblings of previously adopted children; older children; and children with serious health problems.
Q: We have our adoption dossier ready for submission. Should we send it to the NAC or wait till the new adoption authority is open?
A: If your case falls under one of the special categories listed above, you may submit your dossier to the existing NAC. However, officials of the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports have recommended that prospective adopting parents wait to submit new applications until the new adoption authority is open and operational after May 1, 2006.
Q: How does the new law affect those families whose dossiers were accepted and registered by the NAC months ago, but whose adoptions were neither suspended in mid-December nor already scheduled through the end of January?
A: The NAC advised that there are over 1,000 registered adoption dossiers from foreign citizens, including over 600 from Americans, waiting to be scheduled. According to the NAC, these families will be scheduled for appointments per regular NAC procedures. Any dossier that is not scheduled for an appointment with the existing NAC during the transition period will be transferred to the new adoption authority.

Today was a better day - I was able to spend a few hours having Cate and Luke over. Look at these faces!!!! How could they not make you smile. We decided to play around with my digital camera and download the pictures for the first time. Since I seem to have mastered that part, I figured I would move on and try to figure out how to post them on the blog. Easier than I thought :O)

Today Cate took first place in her wrestling match. This is the second time she placed first (out of three) Congratulations to our little baby Cate!!

More updates....

Well it looks like we might be in business soon.

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine:> On January 12, the Rada (Ukraine's parliament) passed law 8680 givinginterim authority over adoptions to the Ministry of Education's NationalAdoption Center (NAC) until the new adoption authority is legallyestablished under the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports. The law willcome into effect as soon as it is signed by the President, who has up to 15days to review it.> The NAC has informed us that as soon as the law is signed by thePresident, the center will be reopened. The NAC will then issue a notice tothe adoption community regarding how families whose adoptions were suspendedor whose appointments were scheduled through January may proceed. As soonas the NAC's notice is issued, we will translate it and post it on our webpage, as well as send it to addressees on this e-mail list.> We strongly urge American prospective adoptive families who hadpreviously-scheduled January appointments NOT to travel to Ukraine untilsuch time as the NAC has issued a notice publicly confirming that thoseappointments will be honored.> Please continue to monitor the Embassy's web page for the current statusof adoption processing in Ukraine: http://kiev.usembassy.gov/.> The Embassy will continue to track this and other adoption-related issuesclosely, and provide updates as appropriate. Any American adopting parentswho would like to be added to our e-mail list are welcome to contact us athttp://us.f539.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=adoptionskiev@state.gov&YY=22956&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b .> 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> http://us.f539.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=adoptionskiev@state.gov&YY=22956&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b >

Newest Updates

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine:On January 12, the Rada (Ukraine's parliament) passed law 8680 giving interim authority over adoptions to the Ministry of Education's National Adoption Center (NAC) until the new adoption authority is legally established under the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports. The law will come into effect as soon as it is signed by the President, who has up to 15 days to review it.The NAC has informed us that as soon as the law is signed by the President, the center will be reopened. The NAC will then issue a notice to the adoption community regarding how families whose adoptions were suspended or whose appointments were scheduled through January may proceed. As soon as the NAC's notice is issued, we will translate it and post it on our web page, as well as send it to addressees on this e-mail list.We strongly urge American prospective adoptive families who had previously-scheduled January appointments NOT to travel to Ukraine until such time as the NAC has issued a notice publicly confirming that those appointments will be honored.Please continue to monitor the Embassy's web page for the current status of adoption processing in Ukraine: http://kiev.usembassy.gov/.The Embassy will continue to track this and other adoption-related issues closely, and provide updates as appropriate. Any American adopting parents who would like to be added to our e-mail list are welcome to contact us at adoptionskiev@state.gov .Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions.Sincerely,Adoption Unit/Immigrant Visa SectionConsular SectionAmerican EmbassyKyiv, UkraineTel: 38-044-4904422Fax: 38-044-490-4570adoptionskiev@state.gov

Bad day!

Especially if you are an adoptive parent you know about the "overwhelming" days. Today is one of those days. I don't know why but it seems like every so often everything starts to hit you and emotions start running you over.
There's no end in site for us. I think that is hardest part of all this. We have waiting for so long. Just waiting....and only for one thing - the damn appointment!!!
I did my daily check today of all the important websites, to see if there has been as progress in the new establishment and of course it had a disappointing end. It is almost as if the world has stopped in its tracks! I know our world has! Jason and I go on each day, but it is almost like we are zombies. We move forward because we know we have to, yet under the surface all we are really thinking about is this adoption. Everything we try to plan for the future is so unpredicable because we have no clue when we traveling. I know we have to just keep our chins up and it will happen when He thinks it is suppose to, but does it really need to be this hard?
Thanks to all of you who stop by to listen to my venting!! LOL
Oh...And good luck to you too Melanie. Thanks for your message! Let us know if and when you get any news!!

First posting

Well here we go....the journal of our search begins here. We'll post here every few weeks or as news comes in that way our family and friends will be able to stay current with our process.
We'll also update daily while in Ukraine so that all of you can be there with us on our journey to find Sofia Victoria Warchol!!!
Keep your fingers crossed and your prayers plentiful....... Lord knows we need it.