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:kazakhstan:
How do I go about pricing for apartments, hotels, etc. in order to make a decision as to whether we should stay the whole time, leave after the 21 days to 3 weeks and come back or have an escort? :confused:
Also, is there anyone that knows some of the rules as to what the baby is fed with in the baby house once we've been approved by the judge. (i.e. types of baby bottles, nipples, soothers/pacifiers), we would supply them. Can we do this or am I crazy? There is a reason for why I ask this. :arrow:
All advice is welcome. We are about 2 months away from sending out our dossier to the country and I want to be more prepared.:coffee:
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Ask your agency for an estimate. They should be able to tell you what hotels and apts are going to cost you, they vary by region greatly. We paid $80 a night in Uralsk for a nice hotel, $35 for an apt and $185 a night for a hotel in Almaty. Having been through two adoptions in Kaz I can tell you with absolute certainty that the caregivers will not use anything you give them for solely your child. They may even resell the items or take them home. I don't mean that as disrespect to the caregivers who do take excellent care of the children but that's just the way it works. I would recommend a donation to the babyhouse but don't buy stuff specifically for your child. Good luck!
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I agree that they won't keep anything for your child separate except maybe diapers. However if you want to stock up for home we got bottles with the rapid flow nipples. The holes in the bottle nipples were large so that was the closest we found. The pediatrician put our son on Enfamil Lipil with Iron.
We were in Karaganda and stayed in a two bedroom apartment (we brought my dad with us) that was $65 dollars a day. In Almaty we got another two bedroom apartment (it was very nice) and it was $110 a night. The best part was when my father turned off the light for his bedroom and yelped due to the glow in the dark wallpaper:)
Our oldest had a pacifier with a large nipple in the baby home but transitioned to a playtex one with no problems. My youngest unfortunately sucks his thumb so he has noooo interest in a pacifier.
We brought two identical blankets with us every day to the baby home (we slept with them at home for about a month before we left) and left one with our son when we went home from the first trip. Maybe it didn't, but I would like to think that the smells help his transition home.
Clothes: Any clothes we brought to the orphanage we shared amongst the kids, so we tried not to bring anything we did not want to donate. The one item the caregivers did tend to keep solely for our son was a hat, and every day when we visited he was wearing it. Food: If you bring vitamins they will give them to your child. However, they are quite strict about the food and drink while the child remains in the orphanage since they still are responsible fro the child's health until you take custody. Bottles/Pacifiers: We bought the pacifiers in country since they have the exact kind used. our son was 10 months when we met him and had been off pacifiers and bottles since about 5 months. He never did take to a bottle, and chewing on the pacifier only a little bit-- mostly the plastic end that does not go in the mouth ;-) Apartment: It really depends on our agency. We were in Astana which i was told was the most expensive city. We had a very nice, clean, well maintained apartment with the luxory of AC. While others had an apt about the same size but was not as nicely maintained (peeling wallpaper or linoleum) and no AC. Our apt was $37/night and other's were $75 to $100/night. Our agency uses a realtor when you arrive to find an apt in a day, while other agency's keep an apt year round for adopting families. Two trips vs One: We chose to have my husband return after court while i stayed the whole time. I was going to be taking FMLA leave and it did not make sense to be off for a month, then return for 3 weeks, then be off for a couple more months. And with the cost of airfare, it was a wash to stay in country. Leaving a child after spending 2 hrs/day for a month would be hard, but families make 2 or even 3 trips all the time. Good luck with your trip(s)!
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I second what everyone else said above. Plus it takes too long for the caregivers to feed the babies using bottles so they won't do it, as far as I know. We paid $50 a night for an apartment in Karaganda and $90 for an apartment in Almaty. It was also a wash for me to stay or airfare. My husband left after court and I stayed the entire time. If it's possible, I highly recommend staying the entire time. It's that last time you will ever be able to completely focus on just your baby. But people make do make two trips all the time. It's definitely personal preference.
we are looking seriously at kaz, but we have 3 children now and I don't know about leaving them for 5-6 weeks. what did those of you with other children do about travel? I don't think it will be financially feasible for us to take them. Our kids now are 9, 4, and 1.5 and we hope to submit our paperwork with the next year.
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We left our almost three year old at home. I would have taken an older child but she would have been bored to death. She was also at the time in that horrible tantrum stage which would have been awful. She had a wonderful time at the beach with Grandma and while we missed her terribly it did give us a chance to concentrate on bonding with our son.It really depends on your kids. My daughter is very independant and had a great time, my son would have been really upset and I don't think we could leave him.