Stahlke Adoption

Some Adoption News from Ukraine

This morning, Jonathan telephoned Darlene at LSS-New England. She had received an Email from Masha, our facilitator in Ukraine. First of all, we learned that our dossier was not the one that Masha submitted on March 30. She is dealing with two LSS-NE families, and the dossier for the other family is the one she submitted that day.

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that the SDAPRC (the Ukraine government's national adoption office) had closed temporarily following the resignations of their top leadership. According to the web site of the US Embassy in Kyiv, they reopened on April 16. Appointments are very difficult for facilitators to obtain, but Masha is working hard to schedule one, maybe next week, so she can turn in our dossier.

Darlene told us that she (and/or Masha) has talked with other agencies to find out how the timing has been for families adopting in Ukraine in recent weeks. They've told her that dossiers in the pipeline are being processed efficiently despite the changes at the SDAPRC. Once a facilitator turns in a dossier, the processing time in the SDAPRC is fast, and they send a letter with an appointment (and therefore travel) date about six weeks out.

On the larger political front, I've found very little new information today about the Constitutional Court's deliberations. Poland and Ukraine, however, were recently chosen to host the Euro 2012, which is the European soccer championship. Warsaw will host the opening event, and Kyiv will be the site of the final. To describe the import of this decision, consider this: the last time an Eastern bloc or former Eastern bloc country hosted this event was more than thirty years ago (1976) in the former Yugoslavia.

Ukraine's president, Yushchenko, personally represented Ukraine at the soccer federation's deliberations in Cardiff, Wales. The prime minister, Yanukovych, has called for restraint in Ukraine's politics, because upheaval would be bad for Ukraine's image in light of the Euro 2012 decision.

As I find more information about all of this, I'll let you know.

posted by Stahlkes @ 1:46 PM