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If you are preparing a dossier or waiting to submit a dossier, please read the entire post. This blog is just information reframed. Nothing has changed on dossier submissions. As the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy states: DON'T PANIC Well this just blows rotten eggs. My hope for 2007 was that everyone who wanted to adopt, could adopt. I don't think this is going to happen. Ukraine controls the number of adoptions via a quota system. They will allow around 2,000 dossiers to be submitted for international adoption. And we are half way through 2007. It looks like Americans will max out their dossier quota. If things keeping going the same, we might hit the max in October. Or we might hit another shutdown in… [more]

Natasha and I recently toured a food bank. I was amazed to find out that about 11% of the United States population are food insecure. I delighted in Natasha's very developmentally appropriate behavior during the tour. Natasha is now 10 years old and came home from the orphanage 6.5 years ago. Her longest lasting post-institutional behaviors centered around food. Natasha first had to learn to chew at 3.5 years of age. And then she needed to feel secure that food was always available. So I gave Natasha control over her food and water intake. She could eat on demand. "On demand eating" meant that Natasha ate 8 or 9 very… [more]

I started answering some of Jan's questions about ethical international adoptions yesterday. She wanted to know why families ignore warnings and take the risk of an unethical adoption? Yesterday I wrote about the sometimes useless and general warnings that adoptive parents receive from the US State Department and US Embassy in Kyiv. Today I want to flash back into past. I want to discuss how ethics played a role in my decision to adopt from Ukraine. When I started researching adopting 1999 I quickly discovered that there was too much information. So I used unbiased web sites (AKA they weren't trying to make money off me) and statistics to narrow down my choices. I used my… [more]

I love Jan. She always asks the best questions. All of the questions are from Heeding Warnings - Important in International Adoptions? Jan wants to know if adoptive parents read the notices and warnings from the US State Department. Yes we do. We read them very closely. The State Department has 15 notices posted on Ukrainian adoption. This is the highest number of notices on the page. Families do read the warnings. However many more get their information directly from the US Embassy in Kyiv. Anyone can email kyivadoptions@state.gov and asked to added to their email list for adoption updates. These notices are about families who completed their adoptions and didn't turn in their post adoption reports (as… [more]

My favorite blogs from 1997 to 2005 are found here and include some single adoptive parent blogs. This blogroll will contain recent 2006 and 2007 Ukrainian adoption blogs. I will try to update it once a week (or more if I find interesting blogs). The date/time stamp on this blog will indicate when it was updated. If I add a link or a family's status changes, I will mark it with *NEW*. Post a comment below or email me at adoptukraineblog@adoptionmail.com if you have a blog and want it added to the list. I love Reece's Rainbow. I have known this charity's founder, Andrea Roberts, via email for some time. She features families who are adopting Down's… [more]

Friday I listed charities that help Ukrainian orphans. I briefly discussed some of my volunteer work. Today I want to list specific activities that you can do. All of the charities will accept cash. But there are some creative ways to turn every day activities into a donation. First Suggestion: Go Shopping Go to igive. Select a charity that helps Ukrainian orphans. Start shopping. Up to 26% of your purchase will go to the charity.

• American Ukrainian Medical Project They help improve Ukrainian hospital which helps all Ukrainians.
• Big Family Charity
• Disabled & Vulnerable Orphans of Ukraine
• His Kids, Too!
• Nazarene Ministry of Help - dba

Before you send money or volunteer your time, I suggest investigating the charity. For the American charities read their GuideStar listing. There is also a GuideStar for the UK charities. You may want to ask about the charity on the Ukrainian adoption email lists. And if the charity has an email list, then join it. See what they discuss and how the volunteers are treated. If you are passionate about knitting hats (this is just an example), discuss this with the charity's board or volunteer contact. Do they have room for your and your passion? Here are charities that I know work in Ukrainian orphanages or with… [more]

There are many ways to help children who remain in Ukrainian orphanages and live on the streets. There are many different charities that you can funnel money and volunteer hours into. The photo to the left is my first picture of my daughter Natasha. I adopted her from Green Forest Orphanage in 2000. She was in a 1970s crib. Yes, the crib is almost 40 years old. The wire bars hurt (my daughter has some strong memories of hurting her head on them) and as an added bonus they are potentially covered lead paint. I volunteer with a couple of organizations; Life2Orphans (L2O) and orphan's bright star (OBS). Both of these are American charities so donations… [more]

I was asked for older adoption blogs and blogs written by single parents. Here is a brief list of my favorites. Adoption of Denis Tho - August 1997 (10 year old Ukrainian/Korean child) Cathy Harris' First Adoption - Feb 1998 (single mom) Cathy Harris' Second Adoption - August 1998 (single mom) Teresa and Rich - Feb 1999 Katie's Ukrainian Adoption Story - June 1999 Cathy Harris trip to met child's birth mother - Sept 1999 Tricia Nicolau - Sept 1999 (single mom, adopted 7 year old) Alena's Journey - Feb 2000 (single mom) Moseley Family - Feb 2000 (twins) Collins Family - March 2000 Cooper Family - June 2000 Williams Family - June 2000 Liuzza Family - July 2000 Our Independent Ukrainian

I love reading. During my early teenager years I tried to collect every Nancy Drew book written. Even at that point this was a challenge. There were just so many books. I would go to garage sales and find books from the 1950s and 1960s. So I was excited to see Nancy Drew was a movie. I was disappointed to see adoption used as a plot device. I had to explain several things to my 10-year-old daughter Natasha. Natasha understands her adoption story, but this movie brought up issues she had never thought about. 4/5 stars because I love Nancy. And it was a PG film. There were a couple of nice messages how to deal… [more]