UPDATE FROM SERGE:
UPDATE FROM SERGE:
There have been many rumors, especially on the internet, regarding the latest changes in the Ukrainian adoption process. Serge Zevlever, the Director of our Eastern European Program has spent the last two months in the Ukraine and has brought information, which we feel is important to share with our perspective parents. This latest news will update you on the current situation in the Ukrainian Adoption circuit.
The first significant law change pertains to the abandonment letter from the birth mother. As of December 1, 2004, the birth mother must submit a legalized and notarized abandonment letter. This creates some difficulties. The notarization and legalization of such document costs money and is not easily obtained. As you can imagine very few mothers will have the motivation and/or the funds to get such a document. In some cases, this paperwork had to be obtained after referral from the NAC has been issued. The second change refers to siblings. If a child has siblings, a special separation document from the local Social Services bureau must be issued. These new laws have created a number of difficulties. Children whose paperwork was completed before December 1, 2004, are eligible for adoption and should not have any problems. For the children whose files were created after this date the situation becomes a little more complicated. The files for these children were organized according to the old laws, so when NAC receives the new files they have to be sent back for correction. In the past few months NAC has returned 800 children’s dossiers to be updated, some of which never make it back to the NAC data bank. All of this leads to a shortage of children available for adoption. Our team lead by Serge Zevlever was able to work these problems out and complete adoptions. The expertise of our staff allows us to deal with such difficulties.
Parents need to be a little more flexible regarding the age of the child. Our number one priority is to have a healthy child. If parents request a two-year-old child and they get a referral for a 2 1/2 year old child, the 6-month age difference is not a good reason for refusing the adoption. NAC has a serious problem with such cases. The parents will not be looked at favorably by NAC. We will do everything possible to meet your requests, but in some cases it is out of our hands.
There is a wealth of information on Ukrainian adoption. We try to bring you the latest news first hand and will try to update you on any new developments.. Well-informed parents are a key to success. Despite these new laws, our program is as strong as ever. Please feel free to contact Serge Zevlever directly if you have any question and/or concerns.