Frequently Asked Questions

Since we've started telling people what we're doing, we've gotten lots of great questions about international adoption and adoption from Ukraine in particular. So, we've put together a FAQ post that will hopefully help everyone catch up with this whole adoption process.

Why Adopt from Ukraine?
When we started researching international adoption, we considered a number of countries, including Brazil, Columbia, Ethopia, Russia and Ukraine. Our agency told us that the processing would be fastest in Ukraine - possibly less than one year. Considering our ages, we didn't want a process that was going to take 2-3 years to complete. In doing additional research, we discovered that there are (officially) 100,000 children in orphanages in Ukraine. Generally, when the children are about 16 or 17 years old, they have to leave the orphanage and are on their own. Over 70% of the boys turn to criminal activity to survive, and over 60% of the girls turn to prostitution. 20% of the orphans will commit suicide by 18 years old. We feel that we can give a couple of the adoptable kids a loving home and a chance to live a life that they might not experience if they stay in the orphanage.

How does it work?
We are working with an adoption agency here in Colorado, though many people work directly with facilitators in Ukraine. In turn, our agency has facilitators that it works with. Facilitators are essentially the middlemen between the Ukrainian authorities and the pre-adoptive parents. We had to complete an initial, preliminary application with our agency, and once that was approved, we had a stack of paperwork (called a dossier) that we needed to complete. It really was like turning over everything but DNA (we did have to be fingerprinted and background checked by the FBI - twice, so that was close). We had a home study done by a social worker, and per Colorado regulations, had to complete a series of adoption classes. Our paperwork was translated into Ukrainian and sent over to our facilitator in Ukraine for presentation to the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Children (SDAPRC), or SDA for short. The SDA is the national agency that coordinates all of the adoptions in the country, and sets the appointments for pre-adoptive parents.

Our paperwork was approved by, and registered with, the SDA on September 17, and on November 1, we found out that we were given an appointment date of February 15, 2008. This is a very brief version of something that took 11 months to get to. While that's not a very long time in the world of adoption, the wait after we submitted all of our paperwork until we got our appointment date seemed like an eternity.

What age and gender did you request?
In our paperwork, we requested a sibling group (2 only) from 2 yo - 6 yo. We did not specify gender, as we don't particularly care. We just want them to be relatively healthy. As an FYI, our homestudy had to approve us for 2 children and the age range we requested. Additionally, we had to submit (as part of our dossier) an application to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service to be approved for 2 kids, up to 6 yo. Ukraine does a process called a blind adoption, meaning we will not get a "referral" or information about the children ahead of time. More about this below.

When are you leaving?
We leave for Ukraine on February 12th, and arrive on February 13th. On paper, we'll be traveling for 26 hours. We were able to get pretty good flights on Lufthansa, with only one layover. We're flying from Denver to Munich, then direct from Munich to Kiev, then reversing it to come home. Our appointment with SDA is on February 15th, so we'll have a full day (Valentine's Day :) to recover from the trip. Miche returns (if all goes smoothly) on March 14th, and Scott returns with the kids (if all goes smoothly) on March 26th.

What is the process like over there?
The adoption process in Ukraine, though fairly standardized, is pretty unpredictable from the research we've done. At our appointment with SDA (in the capital city of Kiev) on 2/15, we will have a one-hour meeting in which we'll be presented profiles of sibling groups that meet our profile. We could be presented with only a few sibling groups to review, or we may be able to look through a book of profiles. The profiles will contain some basic information about the kids: a photo (taken when they first enter the orphanage), the name of the children, dates of birth, and any diagnoses. From these groups, we will pick one to go meet. (If none of the children meet our criteria, we can petition for a second appointment, which can be as much as 2-3 months later.)

After we choose our referral, the SDA will issue a referral letter (within 24-48 hours of our appointment) to allow us to travel out to the orphanage to meet the children. We can literally be traveling to any part of the country, depending on where the children are that we picked. The children could be in separate orphanages, depending on their ages and health conditions. Children up to 3 years old are in orphanages called "Dom Rebenkas". Children from 3 to 7 are in "Detsky Doms", and children older than 7 are in "Internats". There are orphanages for children with more severe medical or emotional conditions. The children may also be in separate regions (like our states) of the country, though this is rare. If they are, we will be doing a lot of traveling back and forth.

Our facilitator will (thankfully) handle all of our travel and transportation arrangements into the region and back to Kiev. Once we're in region, we'll meet with the Inspector at the Regional Department on Work with Minors, who will interview us and give us a permit to visit the orphanage where the kids are. We will then be able to go to the orphange and meet the kids. We will meet with the orphanage director first, and then will be able to meet the kids. We will be able to spend 2 hours, twice a day with the kids, under the supervision of the orphanage. This will give us time to interact with the kids, observe them, and find out about them, their daily routines, etc. At any point in time, we are able to decline the adoption for any reason.

If everything goes smoothly, we then consent to adopt the children and petition for a court hearing. The court hearing usually takes place 1-2 weeks after the paperwork is filed. We will then go in front of a judge who will review all of our paperwork and interview us. The judge makes the final decision, either way, as to whether or not the adoption is approved. If the adoption is granted, there is a mandatory 10 day wait period until the adoption is legal. On the 11th day, the children are officially ours, and we will take custody of them.

There is then, of course, more paperwork to do! We will get the court decree, new birth certificates for the kids, and apply for passports for the kids. Once the regional paperwork is done, then we head back to Kiev to complete the processing. In additional to the Ukrainian finalization of the paperwork, the kids will have a medical evaluation at the U.S. Embassy, and will also need to have visas issued by the Embassy. This will take another 1-2 weeks. Once all of this is done, we can leave with the kids.

If all goes well, the entire process will take approximately 4-6 weeks. Miche will be going for the first month (we both have to be present to pick out the kids, meet the kids, and attend the court hearing), then return home to get things ready. Scott will stay for the entire time, and bravely will be traveling solo with the kids to bring them home. He's the best!

Are the children healthy?
Based on US standards, no. Almost all of the children in the orphanages are undernourished, as a consequence they are underweight and have many issues from malnutrition. Most of these clear up after a healthy diet and plenty of exercise and love. Many of the children have minor correctable medical issues, such as cleft lip/palate, lazy eye, etc. There are also children with more severe medical issues such as missing limbs, blind, deaf, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, etc.

What are you doing to prepare for parenthood?
Drinking alot. Just kidding! Well, it's a little difficult to prepare since we don't know what age, gender, or even how many kids we will come home with! We've looked at bedroom furniture, but haven't purchased anything. We did get the kids' bathroom redecorated (jungle theme), and are re-working the loft from an office into a playroom. We've read a few different adoption books to help us prepare mentally. We have purchased Ukrainian/Russian/English language CDs which we're going to begin in the New Year. The cyrillic alphabet has 36 letters/characters, so it's a bit more challenging in that way from English. The letters have very specific sounds, but some of them are different than as we know them in English. We're going to try to learn some basics so we're not totally dependent on our facilitator. And we're trying to remain fairly calm, knowing that our world is about to turn upside down.

We've gotten some toys and books, alot of which are very basic, to help the kids learn English. Scott's mom purchased some clothes already for the kids, but we have no idea if they'll fit them or not. We'll take them and leave with the orphanage whatever doesn't fit. We'll buy the kids some clothes in Ukraine to travel home in (they must return the few things they have to the orphange for other kids). Once Miche gets back, she'll buy furniture, clothes, etc and get the everything ready for the kids to come home.

About Ukraine
Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. It is just slightly smaller than Texas, with an approximate population of 48 million. Ukraine regained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, and is a democracy. The country is divided into 24 oblasts (regions or states), and one autonomous republic, Crimea. Each oblast has a regional capital, and Kiev is the national capital. Ukraine is bordered by Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. Depending on where you are in the country, people speak Ukrainian, Russian or both. By U.S. standards, it's a fairly poor country, but it's supposed to be beautiful. The climate can be hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The average temperature in February in Kiev is 29 degrees. A little bit colder than Colorado, but it's not as bad as we thought it would be (of course, it could be a LOT worse, depending on what region we end up in)! Also, Ukraine is 9 hours ahead of Colorado's Mountain Time zone, 7 hours ahead of those of you on the East Coast.