The other night I couldn’t sleep, had adoption on my mind, and decided to go back through my blog archives. I started in Feb. 2006 when we got word of our travel date to Ukraine. It is so interesting, funny, sad and inspiring, this journey we have gone through. I have to believe that just a little bit further and “Flower” will home.

 

Well, tomorrow or Wednesday (hopefully) we will have the last of our apostilled documents back and a completed dossier (again). Then right away we will be sending it out to our NEW facilitator. Yup, we switched again. I guess we never officially began working with our last facilitator again, since we used a translation service before sending the completed dossier for submission, and we haven’t been submitted yet this time around.

 

But, yeah, anyway...we decided that we needed to look into other possibilities as far as a facilitation team. We absolutely LOVED our last facilitation team, they were great but our adoption situation is different now and many facilitation teams are just worn out by the difficulties that constantly come up with the SDA; I got this feeling from a few facilitators. We know our situation has the potential to be very difficult, particularly for a team that has no experience with it or interest in really educating themselves on the laws involved. We want a motivated, experienced and confident facilitator on the job, and now I think we have one. We are so excited about this decision and really feel that it is right decision for us.

 

Of course, there is no way to know what will happen with the current submission system put in place by the SDA. It really doesn’t make any sense. As it has been pointed out by others, the fact that a current dossier was needed to get a place in line that is 9+ months out and will not be accepted at that time, unless it is updated, because the dossier needs to be good for 6 more months at the time of submission is....well, REALLY stupid and unfair (not to mention costly).

 

I don’t mean to sound as though I have no feelings for PAPs hoping to adopt very young, healthy children but the fact that this is what the majority of waiting dossiers are requesting is absurd. SO many families are traveling there just to come home childless, then waiting for a second appointment (which hopefully for them would work out better, but is not particularly the case) and in the meantime, the families trying to get these older kids out can’t. I can be in and out of the SDA’s hair in no time if I can just get my dossier submitted. I will only require one SDA appointment. I won’t be in need of a second appointment or time searching through referrals and another older child will have found a forever family & be out of the system. This poor little girl is trapped and I find it incredibly unfair.

 

Under the new system in Ukraine that provides support for birth families, foster families and adoptive families, I am told that the little ones (healthy children under 5) are having no problems getting adopted in country (or remaining with their birth parents). So to say, “well, these kids need families too” would not make sense. Yes, they absolutely need families too but similar to healthy, Caucasian, young children in America, they are finding families in their own country.

 

There is not, however, a mad rush of families trying to adopt tweens or teens, in Ukraine. Just let me bring this child home, this is where she wants to be. Instead, we sit here praying that another year will not pass where this child is missing out on a healthy, loving, forever family. Where this child is waiting for her life to begin. Where this family waits and prays not to miss yet another day in the life of this child, we have missed so much already.

We are praying for you all the way! We can't wait to see "Flower" in her forever home! We have fond memories from her summer visit up north and can't wait to see her again!