Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Sims Ukraine Adoption

Our Journey Begins


This is a brief summary of how our journey started and where we are now. We decided to adopt in January 2005. We found an agency in April 2005. We were going to adopt domestically but the process was going to take 2-4 years, so we decided to adopt internationally. We chose Ukraine. We were suppose to be able to adopt in approximately 1 year. Well, as you can see here we are almost 2 years later and still no child. For those of you who don't know, Ukraine has had some major changes in their government and in the Adoption Services. Basically, Ukraine was closed to adoptions for 10-11 months. They opened back up in July 2006 with a new group of people handling their adoptions. They have been steadily progressing. When they opened in July it was only for prospective adoptive parents that had registration numbers already. As of December 19th, they are now open for new dossiers (meaning new prospective adoptive parents). We are waiting for our dossier to be submitted to the new SDA (State Department of Adoptions). Once our dossier has be submitted it will take 5-10 business days for the SDA to sent a letter to our faciliator with our registration number and appointment date. Currently, the SDA is giving a month's notice for us to get to Ukraine for our first of many appointments.

It may be awhile before I post again. This post is for two purposes, one to let everyone know alittle history and where we stand now, and two for me to learn how to use a blog. When we get to Ukraine I will post as often as I can. It is my understanding that the Internet Cafes in Ukraine are crowded and the connection is very slow.

Please keep us in your prayers. One more thing, I wanted to thank all the other adoptive parents that have done blogs during their journey. It has been a huge help in so many ways. I hope my blog is as helpful to someone traveling in the future.

Teresa & James