Dossier news

So, a friend of mine in the adoption world sent me a link to the new dossier submission policy that the Ukrainian government (SDA) submitted. We had been hearing rumors of this, but there was no confirmation until now.

Seems that they basically formalized many of the policies they put into action in December, but they dropped the telephone hotline appointment system and expanded their hours to accept more dossiers. This was drafted on February 2, signed off by the Ministry of Justice on the 14th and goes into effect on February 25. So we may be able to submit our dossier as soon as next week.

Other notable changes or clarifications included:

• Quota for maximum number of dossiers to be accepted per year, based on previous years adoptions
• Mention of restrictions if a country is not in compliance with post placements reports (this was policy last year, but never supported by law- now it is)
• Limits the number of dossiers per person, per visit, to one. ( I don't see how this is feasible to enforce since a facilitator will just keep coming back again and again, one dossier at a time....)
• Reinforces the new policy about documents being valid for at least 6 months from the date of submission
• Outlines the procedure for accepting, reviewing and registering dossiers (involves a acceptance log, time and date stamps, etc)
• Outlines the referral process and second referral appointments
• I think it added a layer of approval for meeting the referral child...but I'm not sure

The link is only in Ukrainian, and the translation software most of us use is sometimes hard to interpret the exact meaning since it translates literally word for word and the resulting text is jumbled and hard to read.

But at least it seems like good news. Hopefully we will get the dossier submitted, get it registered quickly, and have a travel date. We really, really hoped to travel before the end of April as airfare costs skyrocket in summer and don't drop back off until late September...I looked at airfares and they double from late April to early June. We plan on buying one-way tickets to Ukraine and then purchasing one way tickets for all of us in Kyiv for the return trip. Its cheaper to buy tickets in Ukraine, and since we really have no clue how slow or fast the adoption itself will take, we won't know an exact return date anyways.

In SnowWhite news, there is a family from New York at her orphanage right now - actually two families - one family is completing their adoption for an older girl and the second family is just visiting their hosted children. I feel bad for the second family - they are in the same boat that we are in with SnowWhite. The two girls they wanted to adopt were never released and registered for adoption. We've been at this a year already and SnowWhite is still no closer to being registered ( we have made progress, but the actual paperwork is officially in the same place as before) . This family tried to go and visit a different child, but that child did not want to be adopted, so they just decided not to pursue an adoption at this point until the two girls are registered. Hopefully between these two families, SnowWhite will get some love and attention on our behalf in the next few days. And we will get more "candid" photos of her, drawings and information than we normally get via the charity group.

Fundraising

Our adoption agency has set up a tax deductible donation account for us to help us raise some money for our adoption. We are very busy and don't really have the time, money or contacts to do the regular types of fundraisers - selling cookies, gift wrap, car washes etc.

The only problem now is to figure out how to advertise our new donation account....the more people we can email the information to, the more people who will contribute.

I think if people realize that $25 goes a long way when combined with other people's donations, more people will contribute. In the past when we sent out fundraising letters, people thought we were asking for hundreds of dollars. This system gives people options for donating - $25, $50, $100 and so on. It also generates a tax receipt for them.

For anyone reading my blog that could help with a few dollars, please check back here for the link. It should be up and running in 2 days or so. My agency is called Options 4 Adoption and their website is www.options4adoption.com

We are hoping to raise about $2000, but anything will help.

Road Block

So, I was waiting until I cooled down and had a reasonable grasp on the situaton before I posted. Sadly, our facilitator's appointment to submit our dossier in January was not honored - she kept calling for the specific date and time, but kept getting the run around until January was over and they told her "check back in February." Now the SDA is saying her name isn't even on the master list at all....and with no written proof of the appointment, there is no way to fight it. Its her word against the word of the SDA.

We are looking into other avenues to submit our dossier; some I am not so comfortable with, and some that will require lots of waiting and patience. Really no good options at this point. There is rumor that the SDA is going to annouce some new procedures for dossier submission this week, so hopefully it will be an improvement. The US Embassy representatives are also meeting with the SDA this week - I'm not sure of the official agenda for that meeting, but I'm sure they will bring up the complaints from American PAPs trying to submit dossiers. Hopefully something will be worked out.

So this is sad and frustrating to say the least. We had hoped to get Cinderella and Belle home before summer - #1 so we'd have time to teach them English and get them acclimated to their new family and home, and #2 so we could get better airfares rates! Prices jump so much in the summer- they almost double.

In SnowWhite news, the detsky dom director has still NOT gone to the regional police office to pick up this report. 8 months later and she still has not found a few hours in her schedule to drive there and pick the report up. The director of the boarding school cannot do anything until they have this police report, and supposedly, the detsky dom director is the only one authorized to pick it up as she is the one who made the original request.

I still get to write letters to SnowWhite and get photos of her every month. She lost her two front teeth this past month! I wish I was there to tell her about the tooth fairy and put quarters under her pillow....or has the toothfairy's rates gone up? LOL It was $0.25 when I was a kid.....20 odd years ago. I'm finally getting her a new matress for her bed and a sled for the snow. I hate that I can't do this type of thing for Belle and Cinderella - I just don't have the contacts in their region to make deliveries for me. The assistant director of Cinderella's boarding home did give her a nice birthday party on my behalf a few weeks ago. Bought her cake and things, and gave her money I sent to spend on her own. I also sent her some books and birthday cards in the mail.

Finally, we are still working on getting the girls room ready. For now they will all share the upstairs loft - its huge. We put together the IKEA bunkbeds, but still need another 2 mattresses and one more twin bedframe. Since SnowWhite is probably coming for hosting this summer, we hope to have all three girls staying with us this summer....we will definately be scheduling a sitting with JC Penney for family photos! :) I am also trying to re-invent the room a bit to fit the new teenager we're getting. The room was pink princess flowers themed....a little babyish for a 13 yr old. So, we are moving to the surfer/beach/hawaiian theme. I've got a wall stencil and some various tropical paints, and I'm working on a quilt with surfer themed fabrics. I also bought some funky photo frames and I'm getting some nice stock photos of beach and surf scenes to print and frame. I've put in a boom box, some CD's (Hilary Duff, Green Day, YellowCard, Madonna, U2), and I'm working on refinishing a vanity with make up and hair stuff in it. So now the My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake, Barbies, and play kitchen will have friends :)