Program for Ukraine

Qualifications for Adopting from Ukraine

1) Ukrainian law does not specify age requirements for adoptive parents.

2) Only married parents can adopt.

3) There are no restrictions regarding the number of children already in the family’s home or the length of a couple’s marriage.

4) To be eligible for international adoption in Ukraine, a child must be at least 13 months of age. Prior to this age, children are registered with the government and available only for domestic adoption.

5) Families may adopt more than one child at a time as long as they receive home study and USCIS approval to do so.

Process of Adopting from Ukraine

As with all of our adoption programs, you must first participate in a general information meeting prior to contracting with the agency. This can be done via telephone for families who reside outside of Texas. Once this meeting has taken place and you have signed the contracts and paid the initial agency fees, we immediately begin working on your home study, foreign dossier, and USCIS approval. Our agency strives to offer the fullest level of support and services possible ­ even sending for apostilles and document authentications on your behalf in order to complete your adoption dossier in the quickest manner possible. While there are many aspects outside of our control with adoption and foreign adoptions in particular, we have found during our years of experience that our hard work on things we can control - paperwork, preparing and authenticating dossiers, etc. ­ usually quickens your overall adoption process.

When you adopt from Ukraine, you may be able to travel 3 to 4 months after completing your dossier. Because of Ukrainian law, pre-travel videos and photographs of children are not available. After your dossier is reviewed and approved by adoption center, you will be invited to the adoption center in Kiev, Ukraine where they will present an adoption referral. The presence of both parents is required for the appearance in the adoption center and the court procedure. Then, one of the parents may leave while the other parent stays to obtain the child’s visa and accompany the child to the U.S.

When looking at referrals, families are usually presented with a small picture and a short summary of the child’s medical information. Following the visit to the adoption center and once you have identified a child that you believe is a good potential match for your family, you will travel with an escort/translator to the town where the child is located. You will make a decision about adopting a specific child only after seeing the child in person and reviewing medical and developmental information. During this stage, you can choose to hire a doctor to visit the orphanage with you to assist in determining the child’s health and development, and you can also correspond with doctors in the U.S. via phone, fax, and e-mail. We very strongly encourage you to seek any and all available medical consultation available to you in assessing the child’s health and in making this important decision.

After choosing a child, it takes 1 to 2 weeks to appear in court for a hearing. At your court appearance, the judge will determine whether or not to waive the 10-day appeal period. There is no way to predict this decision as it depends solely on the judge, region, and individual circumstances of a child or family. Therefore, parents should be prepared for the 10-day appeal period to be in effect.

If the 10-day appeal period is waived, then the adoption will be completed in one trip of approximately 3-4 weeks. One parent may leave Ukraine right after the court hearing. (Prior to departure, the parent who leaves early must visit the U.S. Embassy in Kiev and file some paperwork there.) The other parent will stay to finalize the adoption, obtain the child’s medical and immigration visa, and accompany the child to the U.S. If the 10-day appeal period is not waived, then parents can decide to make two trips. The first trip is approximately 2 weeks long with both parents present, and the second trip is 1 week long with the presence of only one parent required.

AFTER RETURNING HOME

Upon return back to the U.S., adoptive parents must register their child with the Ukrainian Consulate in the U.S. (either in Washington, D.C., New York or Chicago) within one month of their return home. In addition to the registration, families must annually submit post-placement reports, providing information about their child’s health, development, adjustment, and educational process, to the Ukrainian Consulate in the U.S. with a copy of this report submitted to Hope International. For the first six months following placement, Hope International or your home study agency will provide post-placement supervision as required by the State of Texas or your state of residence. At the completion of the initial six-month post-placement period, you will be ready to proceed with your registration of foreign decree or re-adoption. Hope International will help facilitate this process for Texas families. If you reside outside of Texas, we recommend that you contact a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (AAAA) regarding the completion of a registration or re-adoption in your state.

For further information please contact Hope International at:

214.672.9399; info@hopeadoption.org