Christmas in Ukraine for three families
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Ukraine has experienced changes in the law during this year and some slow months but as of tomorrow, there will be three Bethany families in Ukraine to complete their adoptions. This is traditionally a smaller program with longer travel for families so it is encouraging to have this activity. Two of the families are adopting older or special needs children. Three other families have returned home with children in 2008. We have nine additional families (six still working on dossiers) in the program. Any dossiers that can be received by the end of January can possibly be submitted as part of the 2009 quota.
The Ukraine program is looking more stable and promising at this point and we would encourage families who are more flexible and can consider children three years and older to seriously look at Ukraine.
It is currently unclear exactly when Ukraine will accept new dossiers for next year or how long they will remain open to new files. If we are not able to submit the dossier for the 2009 quota or if a dossier arrives later, a family could choose to leave their dossier there and wait for the next opening. The risk with this is possibly having to do documents over that have expired since they are only valid for 6 months prior to submission. Once a family's dossier is submitted, they would expect to travel and be home with a child within a year.
It has been reported that changes will announced after December 1 for the dossier documents and we will inform staff of these changes as soon as possible. We are hopeful that they will be minimal.
The website for the U.S. Embassy in Kiev is a great resource for adoption news from the SDAPRC. In October they published a table with the percentage of children available for intercountry adoption by age. Only 2.6% of the children available are under the age of three years. According to the SDA, all of these children have serious health problems. About 6% of the children are between the ages of three and five years with 10% considered to be "healthy" or with minor correctable special needs. Children between six and eleven years comprise 25% of the total and over half of them are considered to be in good health. This information emphasizes the need for families adopting from Ukraine to be flexible and to also be aware of any special needs they might be willing to consider when they travel for their appointment with the SDA.
Judy Dalrymple
Program Coordinator
Russia and Ukraine
616.224.7464
Bookmark :
Ukraine has experienced changes in the law during this year and some slow months but as of tomorrow, there will be three Bethany families in Ukraine to complete their adoptions. This is traditionally a smaller program with longer travel for families so it is encouraging to have this activity. Two of the families are adopting older or special needs children. Three other families have returned home with children in 2008. We have nine additional families (six still working on dossiers) in the program. Any dossiers that can be received by the end of January can possibly be submitted as part of the 2009 quota.
The Ukraine program is looking more stable and promising at this point and we would encourage families who are more flexible and can consider children three years and older to seriously look at Ukraine.
It is currently unclear exactly when Ukraine will accept new dossiers for next year or how long they will remain open to new files. If we are not able to submit the dossier for the 2009 quota or if a dossier arrives later, a family could choose to leave their dossier there and wait for the next opening. The risk with this is possibly having to do documents over that have expired since they are only valid for 6 months prior to submission. Once a family's dossier is submitted, they would expect to travel and be home with a child within a year.
It has been reported that changes will announced after December 1 for the dossier documents and we will inform staff of these changes as soon as possible. We are hopeful that they will be minimal.
The website for the U.S. Embassy in Kiev is a great resource for adoption news from the SDAPRC. In October they published a table with the percentage of children available for intercountry adoption by age. Only 2.6% of the children available are under the age of three years. According to the SDA, all of these children have serious health problems. About 6% of the children are between the ages of three and five years with 10% considered to be "healthy" or with minor correctable special needs. Children between six and eleven years comprise 25% of the total and over half of them are considered to be in good health. This information emphasizes the need for families adopting from Ukraine to be flexible and to also be aware of any special needs they might be willing to consider when they travel for their appointment with the SDA.
Judy Dalrymple
Program Coordinator
Russia and Ukraine
616.224.7464
