Need some help?

December 16, 2005

Hello, We are new to this Ukraine forum but, not new to the adoption world. We have a little girl from Guatemala. A lady contacted us last week about a little 8 yr. old girl that was needing adopted very badly. Her Mom died 2 years ago and her Dad is a drunk and wants to sign custody over to anyone that wants her. He is very ill, and they don't know how long we will live. The neighbors of this little girl have been trying to help take care of her but, they really can't afford it. She is living without hardly any food and no heat. We contacted a lawyer and he said this could be fairly simple to adopt her considering the father is willing to give her up. We just needed something in writing before he died. We started getting our paperwork together this week and today we got a call that the father had died. Of course there has been no papers signed yet. We won't be able to talk to our lawyer until Monday so I thought that maybe someone had some advice as to what we would be able to do. This little girl has no one that wants her. THe neighbors are willing to take temporary custody on our behalf. Will this little girl have to go to the state and wait forever to be adopted?. If anyone has any advice that would be great.

Thanks,

The Anderson's

jmchowat

December 17, 2005

I could be wrong, but I think that it doesn't matter what the family circumstances are, she would still have to be registered on the data bank for a year before she'd be eligible for International Adoption

Jane

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hjdeth1

December 19, 2005

Jane is correct. Ukraine does not allow private adoptions. The girl will have to be taken to an orphanage, be processed to be made available for adoption, then be on the adoption registers a total of 14 months before she will be eligible for international adoption.

The processing to clear her for adoption includes searching for and obtaining releases from her grandparents and any other close relatives. Unfortunately, if they can't be found, refuse to sign, or visit her regularly in the orphanage, this girl may NEVER be available for adoption.

waxhawfamily

January 8, 2006

If private adoptions are not allowed, your agency should have never contacted you. I would be curious as to what your agency has to say now. Where do they expect this to go?

The end result is that your hands may be completely tied.

My advice would be to contact your agency for your next step and go from there. If you have a good agency, they should know whether or not there is a next step available to you.

I'm so sorry to hear about this little girl. We get all cozy in our nice warm homes and sometimes forget about the reality of others in the world. :(