New Adoption Procedures Defined

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine: On February 25, 2007 the Decree #313, issued by Minister for Family, Youth and Sports Victor Korzh, became effective. This Decree approves the Regulations on Acceptance of Adoption Documents from Foreign Citizens, an official document that describes current intercountry adoption procedures and requirements of the central adoption authority of Ukraine the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child (SDAPRC). REGULATIONS On the order and conditions of acceptance of the documents from foreign citizens applying for adoption 1. These Regulations have been developed in accordance with the Family Code of Ukraine (with amendments), Order on Registration of Children Eligible for Adoption and Prospective Adoptive Parents and Post-Adoption Control (approved by the Resolution #1377, dated August 28, 2003, by Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, further referred to as The Order), Regulations on the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child , approved by the Resolution #1377, dated August 28, 2003, by Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, for the purpose of organizing the work of the State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child. 2. These Regulations define the order and requirements for acceptance and processing the documents from foreign citizens applying for adoption. 3. Foreign citizens, applying for adoption of a child (further referred to as Applicants), submit a written application about their intention to adopt a child to the SDAPRC. Applicant's full address must be indicated in the application. Email addresses, if available, and phone numbers should also be included. The following documents must be part of the adoption application (dossier) submitted to the SDAPRC (this list with more details is available on our website at: [URL="http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html"]United States Embassy Kyiv, Ukraine - American Citizen Services[/URL] ): 1) Application for the SDAPRC with the request to be registered as prospective adopting parents. 2) Proof of income: a statement from the adopting parents' employer indicating salary or a copy of W-2 forms or tax returns. To avoid confusion, please do NOT copy blank pages of tax returns. 3) Copy of the marriage certificate (if applicable). 4) Medical <[URL="http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_medform_eng.html"]U.S. Embassy Kyiv - Visa Services[/URL]> form. 5) Notarized consent for adoption from a second adopting parent, if only one of the parents will be adopting the child. 6) "No criminal record" statement supplied by a competent authority at the state level for each adopting parent, attesting that he or she has no criminal record. Statements from the city or county level are not accepted by the Ukrainian authorities. If the criminal background check statement is issued by the local sheriff/police office (not state authorities), it should clearly indicate that each prospective adopting parent has no criminal record in the state of his or her residence. 7) Home Study, issued by a competent authority in the adopting parents' country, attesting to their eligibility, specifying their housing and living conditions, containing their curriculum vitae, presence of biological children and other information. If a home study is issued by a non-governmental entity (a private agency or social worker), a copy of the license authorizing this entity to conduct pre-adoption reviews must be attached. 8) Entrance and permanent residence permit for the adopted child, issued by the competent authority in the adopting parents` country. For American citizens, the Form I-171H, Notice of Approval of Advance Processing, issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) serves as this document. Copies of the passports or other identification papers of prospective adopting parents. Commitment to register their adopted child with the Ukrainian Embassy or Consulate in their new home country within one month of the completion of the adoption. Adopting parents also agree to supply information about the adopted child's living conditions and educational progress to the Ukrainian consular office at least annually during the first 3 years following the adoption. Under Ukrainian law, an adopted child remains a Ukrainian citizen until age 18, at which time the child can decide whether or not to remain a Ukrainian citizen. All documents must be legalized (in the case of U.S. documents, those submitted to the Ukrainian government/court must bear the seal of the issuing office and an apostille affixed by the state's Secretary of State (an apostille is a special seal applied to a document to certify that a document is a true copy of an original). All documents should also be accompanied by English translations. In addition to these documents, according to the requirements of Article 252 of the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine, prospective adoptive parents may submit the documents to confirm that they own a residence, or have a rental agreement. 4. The application for adoption and enclosed documents (adoption dossier) should be submitted in person either by a foreign citizen or by the person authorized by a foreign citizen to act on their behalf. Foreign adoptive parents can be represented by: physical entities, central adoption authorities of the foreign countries and diplomatic missions of certain foreign countries, accredited in Ukraine and having the appropriate authorization from foreign citizens. 5. The SDAPRC accepts new adoption dossiers four times a week: on Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 pm, on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 am to 12 pm. The SDAPRC plans to dedicate one of these days to acceptance of the U.S. dossiers only. The Embassy will provide further information on this as it becomes available. Each Applicant's representative (adoption facilitator) can submit only one dossier at a time. 6. The total number of adoption dossiers accepted by SDAPRC should be defined every year by November 20, based on the average numbers of adoptions to each country during the most recent five years, and taking into account the compliance rate with post adoption reporting requirements. The total number of the dossiers, which can be accepted by the SDAPRC by the end of 2007, will be defined by the SDAPRC within a ten-day period after this Decree's official registration, based on the adoption numbers for each foreign country for the years 2001-2005. 7. The Applicant must present a passport or other identification document while submitting the dossier. The Applicant's representative (adoption facilitator) must present a passport or another identification document and the Power of Attorney to perform adoption-related actions; other representatives should present a special letter 8. During submission of the documents, the SDAPRC checks the dossiers for completeness, without checking each document for correctness at this stage. 9. Each dossier must be submitted in a separate folder. On the outer side of the folder please indicate the country of residence, full names of prospective adoptive parents. Please indicate the list of documents being submitted on the inner side of the folder. Each document should have the consecutive number, written in pencil on the top right corner. A copy of the Power of Attorney and passport of the local facilitator named on the Power of Attorney should be added to the dossier. 10. The dossiers from U.S. adoptive parents should be submitted in red folders. 11. If a dossier does not comply with any of the requirements indicated in sections 9 and 10 above, it will not be registered and will be returned to the local representative without being checked. New dossiers arriving by mail will not be accepted by the SDAPRC, neither will they be returned to the senders. 12. Upon accepting the dossier it is registered in the log book for dossiers of foreign citizens. The date stamp and registration number are stamped on the application. The same can be indicated on the application's copy, if requested by a representative of adoptive parents. 13. The SDAPRC will check the dossier within 20 working days. If the dossier conforms to all paperwork requirements, the SDAPRC registers the Applicants as prospective adoptive parents, recording their data. If a dossier is not registered, the Applicants will be sent a detailed response along with the dossier. Documents submitted to the SDAPRC by a representative of the Applicants (facilitator) are returned without a copy of a Power of Attorney, facilitator's passport or the special letter. The response and documents can be picked up at the SDAPRC by a local facilitator by presenting valid identification and Power of Attorney. 14. The Applicants (adoptive parents) submit their dossier to the SDAPRC taking into account that all documents are considered valid for one year, unless there is another term of validity established by the law of the foreign country, where the document is issued (the only exception for the U.S. documents is I-171H or I-797C Approval Notices, considered valid for 18 months from the I-600A approval date). All documents submitted in the adoption dossier must remain valid for at least another six months from the date they are submitted to the SDAPRC. 15. The SDAPRC sends written invitations for appointments to the registered adoptive parents according to the schedule approved by the SDAPRC. A written invitation is mailed provided the documents in the dossier will remain valid for at least another month from the date of the prospective adoptive parent's appointment at the SDAPRC. In that case, the written invitation is not mailed and, upon expiration of the documents, the dossier is de-registered according to the current procedure. 16. Adoptive parents who fail to appear for their appointment with the SDAPRC without a good reason can receive another appointment no sooner than in four months, provided the documents remain valid. The SDAPRC provides the prospective adoptive parents with information on the children eligible for intercountry adoption. If adoptive parents wish to adopt more than one child, they will be shown applications of sibling groups. Upon receipt of the information regarding a specific child (children), the adoptive parents can meet and establish contact with the child (children). There is a special referral, issued by the SDAPRC, which gives permission for the adoptive parents to meet the child (children) in the presence of a representative from the local Children's Services Office. The referral is valid for ten days from the issuance date. If the adoptive parents do not bond with the first child, they can request a second referral. If, however, the second referral is turned down by the prospective adoptive parents, the SDAPRC and the prospective adoptive parents can request a third appointment which cannot be scheduled until after six months, provided the documents remain valid. When prospective adoptive parents decide not to adopt any children, they must return their original dossier back to the SDAPRC. 17. After establishing a personal contact with the child and receiving the concurrence letter from the local Children's Services Office, the foreign citizens apply to the SDAPRC to request consent for the court. The SDAPRC has five working days to consider the application and issue consent for the court. In case of refusal, the SDAPRC will provide a written detailed explanation. Ludmyla Volynets Director State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child The full text of this document in Ukrainian is available at: [URL="http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=z0128-07"]֏ ய䮪 ⠳쮢 诰詮 쳤쥭Ⳣ ⳤ ӭ춳, ...| i⢤ 05.02.2007 313[/URL]