Up to this point, I haven't made guesses about the time line for the adoption process. There are so many factors outside of our control and so many rumors flying around about what is happening in Ukraine regarding adoption. Recently we received and email from our agency that helps flesh out some of the details about what we might expect for our time line.
In general, the process in Ukraine goes like this:
1. Our facilitator in Ukraine obtains a number for our dossier (paperwork) and a submission date. Ukraine permits no more than 1400 international adoptions per year. This year they have already given out numbers for 1400 dossier submissions, but our facilitator estimates that about half of those dossiers were not accepted. The facilitator is guessing that they will begin to give out new numbers for dossier submissions late July/early August. Once our dossier is given a number, we will wait for the submission date - from what I've seen in other blogs this is usually a month or so after the number is assigned.
2. Our facilitator submits our dossier. When that appointment rolls around, we need to be certain that our paperwork is complete and none of the dates on the paperwork are older than 6 months.
3. We are assigned an appointment date. If our dossier is accepted, they estimate 20 business days until the Ukrainian State Department on Adoption (SDA) processes the application and gives us an appointment date. This appointment takes place at their office in Kyiv where we could review files of children available for adoption that (hopefully) fit our request (2-3 children who are siblings, under the age of 6). The date is usually 2-3 months from the time they inform us of the appointment.
4. We travel to Kyiv for the appointment and select a file of a child or children and travel to the region where their orphanage is located in order to meet them. If there is some issue that leads us not select the child/children to adopt, we would return to Kyiv and pray they will allow us another appointment to review another file.
5. We begin the legal process of adopting in Ukraine when we feel like we've found the child/children that God would want to add to our family . We would most likely be staying in the town where the orphanage is located and visiting our child/children once or twice a day while the paperwork was being processed.
6. Adopt the child/children in Ukraine. A local Ukrainian judge has the authority to legally declare us the parents of the child/children we are hoping to adopt. Following that decree, there is a required in-country waiting period of 10 days. It could be that at this point, Stan would return home to work for a couple of weeks.
7. Additional tasks in Ukraine include physicals for the child/children at the U.S. Embassy, obtaining Ukrainian passports, and applying for any transit visa that might be required for the child/children on their way to the U.S. (for instance if we fly through France or Spain).
8. Fly from Ukraine to the U.S. Stan would join us again for this trip. As soon as the child/children sets foot on U.S. soil, they will become U.S. citizens - something that they need to have before we return to Morocco together.
9. Obtain U.S. passports for child/children. If we have things lined up well in advance, we may be able to get U.S. passports within 2 weeks of arriving in the U.S. During this time in the States we won't plan to do much visiting or traveling. Experts recommend that these first few weeks together as a family be "high structure and high nurture" as well as limited in how much time the child/children are exposed to new people, places, and things.
10. The final step would be to return home to Morocco as soon as we could so that Stan could get back to work. From the time we leave home until the time we return, we expect the process to take 6 weeks or more.
So if we get a number in early August, have our dossier submitted by early September, get an appointment date by early October, travel in December and return home by early next year. That's assuming that we do get a number for this year before the quota is filled! There are many, many variables of course, which is why I've been hesitant to make guesses at the time line.
The main thing that I'm learning is that the worst thing to do when you are waiting is to hold your breath! Timing IS critical - the time that we arrive in Ukraine will determine which children are available for adoption - but this is not something that we have much control over. We know that even though the timing is out of our control it remains firmly in the hands of God. That thought keeps us grateful AND sane.
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