Tim and I have some very exciting news. We have decided adoption is the very best choice for us to start our family. There will be many exciting moments in the future and many struggles that we are willing to fight through. We have researched many adoption options and we have found what we believe is the best choice for us. We are planning an independent adoption from Ukraine. We are expecting this process to take a year to a year and a half from start to finish.
Let me explain a little about the Ukrainian adoption system. They do not allow adoption agencies into their country. Once you hit Ukrainian soil, you are on your own, which is why you can hire a facilitator/translator to help you out while you're there (which could be for 3-5+ weeks). We could go through an agency here, however, the only thing they would be able to do for us would be to help us out with our paperwork and charge twice as much to go through them. Therefore, we have decided to do an independent adoption, which is a very common thing. They do not allow for people out of country to adopt children under the age of 5 unless the child is special needs or part of a sibling group where the sibling is an older child. We will consider some special needs that are correctable, however, we will probably look into adoption of a 5 or 6 year old girl or boy. These children are in several orphanages throughout the country and age out of the system by the time they are 16 years old, most of whom become homeless, on drugs, and/or commit suicide. They are looking for a better life and I believe we can give one of them a better life and hope for the future here with us in the United States. We have longed for a child and they have longed for a family.
Our near future will consist of having our home study, collecting many documents including birth and marriage certificates, fingerprints, and completing a whole lot of paperwork. Once we have everything notarized, stamped, and all put together (this would be our dossier), we will be sending it to Ukraine. They will open it within 20 working days of it being received. At that point we will wait for them to call and approve us. Once we are approved, we will be given an appointment date for when we will need to be there. We will then fly to Ukraine and show up at our appointment. After going through all the paperwork and become approved from the judge there, we will then return to the US with our son or daughter and start our life as a family.
As much as it would be nice to think there will be no problems and everything will run smoothly throughout the whole process, we know this isn't true. There are bound to be problems that arise and it will probably be impossible to prepare for them. We would love the support of everyone, even if it's just keeping us in your thoughts. We are so ready to start and can not wait to meet our child!!!
Thank you for all your support,
Tracy and Tim
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