International updates

[DCJenn]

Ukraine is now completely shut down. Should be temporary but...

J.

[Meenah]

I'm out of the loop on this, what happened?

[DCJenn]

So- it's not COMPLETELY shut down, it's just completely shut down if you want a child younger than five.

On May 19, the Ukrainian government passed an amendment to its Family Code to require orphans to be registered on the central adoption registry for one year and to be at least 5 years old before they are eligible for intercountry adoption. The amendment exempts children with certain special needs, relative adoptions, and sibling adoptions. The proposed amendment will take effect in June of this year and names the Ministry of Social Policy as the responsible authority for adoptions procedures.
We will continue to encourage the Ministry of Social Policy to ensure that pending adoptions between Ukraine and the United States are not interrupted as the Ukrainian Family Code is amended and the procedural and logistical aspects of the transfer is implemented.
According to SDA, there are now 139 U.S. families registered with the SDA, some of them already in-country. We are asking all American families that are currently in Ukraine or have appointments with SDA during the next few weeks to send their contact information to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine's Adoption Unit at: kyivadoptions@state.gov . Families should contact their local adoption service provider for further updates and details.
We will keep monitoring the situation and will provide updates as they become available.

[SoonerTexan]

Curious--any idea behind the rationale for that? It seems like you'd want kiddos to be adopted as early as possible.

[corn poffi]

Hmmmm maybe it could be that they have a bunch of older kids and people are more likely to adopt babies?

Total guess, I have absolutely no clue when it comes to stuff like this.

[DCJenn]

They want Ukranians to adopt the babies. It's going to be interesting to see if there's enough adoptive families for the babies. Russia did something similar (but less drastic) when we adopted which made it so that no baby would be adopted younger than six months IF they went on all of the databases (local, regional and national) at the exact same time immediately after birth. (which never happens)

J.

[Michele]

Hugs! I hope you don't leave the site. I value your perspectives ad opinions. But I understand how hard it can be to read about things that no longer apply to your life or remind you of something emotionally difficult.

I had NO idea how hard it was to adopt. It makes me really sad.

[diggitydot]

Please stick around. My sanity needs you.

I had no idea that adoption had become such a cluster fuck. Seriously, these are kids who need families. I completely understand wanting to make sure fraud and baby selling isn't going on, but damn, Gina. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water by making it ridiculously prohibitive for well qualified peeps to become parents.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I'm so sorry. That just blows so badly, I don't really know what to say.

[houseelf]

I don't know what to say other than I'm so sorry. Please be good to yourselves.

[SoonerTexan]

I'm so sorry. Please stay! I will keep hoping for a miracle for you!

The whole thing is just stupid. It shouldn't be this hard.

FWIW, we do know two couples your age who adopted older children domestically (boys 5-6 in age) and from what I know, it's worked out well for them. The kids definitely bonded with their adoptive parents. However I completely understand your hesitancy to go through that. It cant be easy.

[SuzySunshine]

I'm so sorry Lily


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[migirl]

I'm so sorry.

[Pollyanna]

Much love and hugs to you

[v-girl]

I'm speechless.