Anyone who has adopted from Bulgaria..

P - you are so right about Niki at OWA. I just love her. She is always so prompt with responses that it puts my mind to ease. The more I read, the more excited I get. I'm sure there will be a let down once our paperwork gets to Bulgaria. I am thrilled to hear that the MoJ is approving paperwork. No referrals yet but probably after the first of the year. Since you too are using OWA, I'd love to buddy with you to share our experiences during this exciting time. Q's mom - Your posts have been awesome. You have given me great ideas on what to bring when I finally visit for the first time. I'd love to hear more about your experiences.:) :)

The Bulgarian people are wonderful! We travelled in early July, 2003, and found the country to be very "accessible". Our agency told us to bring things like Children's Tylenol, small toys (no stuffed animals or fabric type for sanitary reasons), etc. We were told to bring photos of us, our family, pets, etc. We put them in a baby photo albumn & left it with her. Her caregiver said she would show it to her & tell her it was mommy & daddy. We were in Sofia and the orphanage was in Blagoevgrad (1.5 hours away from where we were staying); our time at the orphanage was limited to 30 minutes which was a curse and a blessing at the same time. It was wonderful to snuggle her and kiss her, but difficult to leave the orphanage. We didn't have enough time to really bond with her at all which made leaving a little easier. Our attorney did send us an updated photo. Unfortunately, our Molly was sobbing and didn't look at all happy! Enjoy your time there, and see as much as you possibly can about your child's homeland. There's so much history in that country and the people are truly hospitable. My husband had never travelled abroad prior to our first trip and was a bit nervous. It was such a great experience for him that he's really looking forward to going again. Enough of my rambling. Best of luck to all who are waiting! Jean Braun

Thank you so much for your response to my post. I'm so glad you got to see your Molly, even if for just a little while. How soon do you think you'll travel again? I hope very soon! Would you mind telling me what the conditions were like in the orphanage where your little one is? Are they cared for properly? I apologize for being full of questions.. But these questions I can't get an answer from my adoption director :) She's never been to Bulgaria! :) Q's Mom... Your posts have been so helpful to me...I appreciate them so much....keep them coming :D Maria

Jean - So you're the one! We traveled at the same time. I was to pick up my Quinn on Monday in Blageovgrad, but was pushed off to Tuesday because the director had another appointment. How exciting for you! I'm sorry you didn't get to spend more time with your Molly. That is unusal. When I was on my visit trip in November 2002, I had quite a bit of time. Not as much as I would have liked, of course. We left Sofia at about 9 ish and went straight to the orphanage and stayed until lunch. We then checked into the hotel, which was beautiful, by the way, had lunch and rested. We went back at about 3ish and stayed until about 6 or 7 p.m. We went back the next morning until lunch again. You'll be moving along quickly. It will sneak up on you! Quinn is doing well here in the States. He's soo excited about Santa. He doesn't understand everything. But squeals when he sees Santas, lights or hears Christmas music. I can't wait until we get our tree. Every time we see a house decorated with lights, he yells from the back seat OH WOW!

When I first heard that the wait between trips would be about 6 months I really wasn't sure I could consider Bulgaria. What did I know - we waited 15 agonizinf months between trips! Our first trip was such a joy. Our daughter played and snuggled the whole time! It was so hard to hand her to the nurse after our last visit, she had fallen asleep in my arms and I thought it was the best experience I had ever had! We had many unfortunate delays and several court dates which made for quite a roller coaster ride. Every court date would get me thinking this is it. Obviously there were many disappointing days. We used our time to do some of those things that are much easier without children. I also made a scrapbook of our first trip - I loved it during the wait and both my daughter and I love it now. You will get through the wait, and even find humor in some of your thoughts actions, and feelings. As for toys, we brough books, bubbles, and a doll to break the ice. She played with the film canisters and my husband's spare change! On our second trip she also loved the bath tub. Go with your instincts and improvise. For gifts, our guide was a male, so we were told to bring CD's, a wallet, watch, or cigarettes. We brought a tablecloth, napkins, and napkin rings for the director and small gift sets with lipstick and nailpolish for the caregivers (after Christmas is a good time to shop). Good luck!

I felt a need to share a sweet story. Some close friends of my family have adopted some children from Bulgaria and Romania. They have never regreted their adoptions or their trips overseas. Keep in mind, these special people are Christians and have the mental "power" to overcome these "big" obstacles... Needless to say, years ago...they went to Romania to get "their" boy. He was about four years old. His orphanage was was cold, stinky (of pee) and the only place there was a heater was in the office where the "Master" worked. They endured their time there and were so lucky to get their boy on the plane with them. He did not speak any English so the "Master" had written down a few words in Romanian for the family to better communicate with the boy. On their long plane trip with the beautiful boy they told him "WE ARE GOING TO AMERICA!". They repeated it to him several times. (as you would) When they finally got home and were walking into their nicely carpeted, painted, warm MODEST beautiful home, "their" little boy said, " AAAWWW AMERICA!!!

I felt a need to share a sweet story. Some close friends of my family have adopted some children from Bulgaria and Romania. They have never regreted their adoptions or their trips overseas. Keep in mind, these special people are Christians and have the mental "power" to overcome these "big" obstacles... Needless to say, years ago...they went to Romania to get "their" boy. He was about four years old. His orphanage was was cold, stinky (of pee) and the only place there was a heater was in the office where the "Master" worked. They endured their time there and were so lucky to get their boy on the plane with them. He did not speak any English so the "Master" had written down a few words in Romanian for the family to better communicate with the boy. On their long plane trip with the beautiful boy they told him "WE ARE GOING TO AMERICA!". They repeated it to him several times. (as you would) When they finally got home and were walking into their nicely carpeted, painted, warm MODEST beautiful home, "their" little boy said, " AAAWWW AMERICA!!!

Our daughter is in the oprhanage in Blageovgrad. The building is extremely old and pretty run down; however, it seemed very clean, at least the areas that we saw, which wasn't much. The director was friendly as was Molly's caregiver. I'm sure Q's Mom would agree. Molly does have some delays; she's not walking and she seems to have a fascination with her fingers and toes. I'm sure it has to do with the fact they don't get enough individual attention. She was very clean, and had a great disposition. She came right to us! As for our next trip, we had some disappointing news last week. Because things are so backed up from the summer shut down and the law changes, we won't be going back in January as originally thought. It looks like the earliest we'll get to pick her up is late February. Because of the delay, we need to update our medical reports and fingerprints. Just another hoop to jump through. She'll be worth the wait I know, but boy my heart was broken when we got the news.

I will agree that the orphanage in Blagoevgrad was run down on the outside, but clean inside, as was my son everytime I saw him. What I remember most was that a clothes dryer was going everytime I was there. I was there 3 times. And I also heard that often times the orphanages smell of urine, and that was most definitely NOT the case. No odor whatsoever. It was a little cold compared to our preference to heat here, but that was about it. By the way Jean, the director's office was remodeled since last November.

I noticed all of the references to Blagoevgrad in this discussion. My wife and I adopted a little girl from Blagoevgrad and brought her home 10/1/2001. She seemed quite behind when we first met her, but is doing great now at 4.5 years. We're starting work on our second adoption and have encountered a lot of uncertainty from our previous agency. Does anyone think now is the wrong time to start a Bulgarian adoption (with the new laws being a work in progress)?

I adopted under the old laws and brought my son home in July 2003. The new laws seem a little scary to me right now. However, I think once they have everything ironed out, it will be a much smoother process. I think they're backed up with cases that started in the old system and everything else is kind of on hold so to speak. But I certainly would not stop and re-think if it were me. I keep forging ahead.

With regards to your worries... I hope it will help you to know that my case worker adopted her son from Romania, and since that country is now closed to adoptions, she and her husband are now starting the process to adopt a second little boy from Bulgaria. She feels very much at ease with the new laws, and with their contacts (attorneys and such) that work there on their behalf. The fact that she has no qualms about adopting from that country helps my own concerns and puts my mind at ease, since we too are adopting from Bulgaria. If you wish to use the agency we're using it is One World Adoptions. The Bulgaria contact is Niki. Everyone at OWA are adoptive parents as well. Best of luck.

I just read that the Ministry of Justice re-open Jan 19. So if your dossier has been translated, I would think you would hear something by mid-February, early March. If you would like someone to wait with, there is a great Forum at Topica. Go to topica.com and search for bulgaria-adopt. It's a great place with people who have already adopted, who are home recently, who are in process. It is much easier to wait when you can be in touch with others who are in the same boat, or have already been there.

We are also planning to adopt a second child from Bulgaria. Our first adoption took a brutal 15 months from first to second visit and there were no major changes going on at the time. With any international adoption you have to be prepared for anything. We are also using OWA (not the same agency we used for the first adoption) and I have been completely impressed! If you feel confident about the care of the children in Bulgaria, love the country, and trust your adoption agency don't worry to much about the changes in the law. Something like that could just as easily happen in another country after you start the process. At least this way you already know that things will be confussing;)

If you are interested, there is a Yahoo site with lots of info, files, and links related to adoption from Bulgaria at [url]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FaCAB1/[/url] [URL=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FaCAB1/]FaCAB (Families with Children Adopted from Bulgaria)[/URL] Also a great and supportive Bulgaria e-list at [url]http://Bulgaria-Adopt@topica.com/lists/Bulgaria-Adopt/[/url] [URL=http://Bulgaria-Adopt@topica.com/lists/Bulgaria-Adopt/]Bulgaria-Adopt[/URL] And another one through the EEAC at [url]http://www.eeadopt.org/[/url] [URL=http://www.eeadopt.org/]EEAC[/URL] Terry Mandeville TerryMand@aol.com Proud mom of 13 year old Velizar adopted 1993 from Shoumen Dom Maika i Dete and 11 year old Anton adopted 1995 from Gabrovo Dom Maika i Dete, Bulgaria :D