About Ukraine
Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe, comparable in size to the state of Texas. Ukraine has a population of about 47 million, and nearly 70% of Ukrainians live in cities, the largest being Kiev, the capitol. The official language is Ukrainian although many people speak Russian, as well.
Orphaned children in Ukraine reside in state-run orphanages, receiving basic care and education. Many of the children in Ukraine orphanages are actually not orphans; they are children who live there temporarily, sometimes indefinitely, as their parents are unable to care for them.
All children living in institutional care for months or years suffer effects from lack of familial love — developmentally, psychologically, physically. Families adopting from Ukraine must participate in a at least 10 hrs of pre-adoption education. All adopted children will present transition issues; others have more severe conditions. With Ukraine adoption, prospective parents have an opportunity to meet and interact with the child referred to them. This helps the parents get to know the child a little before making a decision to adopt. In some respects this is a difficult system, because it is emotionally draining to decline a referral and request another child to be referred. This also adds time to the trip. However, it is a good system in that parents and children have the chance to meet each other first, before commitments are made.
Family Eligibility to Adopt
Ukraine accepts married couples without a history of major medical problems; contact us if you have questions about this and we will consult our coordinator. Prospective parents must be age 55 or younger at the time their home study is registered in Ukraine. There must be less than 45 years difference between the age of the child and the age of the adopting parents. Singles are not permitted to adopt.
Children Referred for Adoption
Children as young as 14 months are technically available for adoption, but, the emphasis in Ukraine is to place older children. It is realistic for families to expect to adopt a child or siblings age 5-15 years old. While a family may request a toddler, it may involve a very long wait. Siblings may be required to be adopted together.
Ukraine groups children into three age categories: ages 14 months to 5 years; 5-9 yrs; and 9-15 yrs. The home study should indicate age ranges in conjunction with these groups. For example, it would be appropriate to be open to adopting one child (or siblings) between the age of 14 month to 5 yrs; or, to indicate age 14 months to age 9 yrs; or, to indicate age 9-15 yrs. While non-related children may not be adopted at once, siblings may be. The home study could say the family wishes to adopt two siblings, two girls or a boy and a girl, between the age of 14 months and 9 years. In this way, the adoption officials could offer a boy age 3 with a sister age 8. Special needs children are available. The special needs that a family would be able to accept need to be stated in the home study.
The Process & Timeframe
First, your home study is registered in Ukraine to be registered. Next, your dossier is sent to the in-country staff. The time spent in Ukraine undertaking the adoption process itself is 4-5 weeks although, in some regions, two trips may be required. It is also important to note that if you are not able to be matched on your first trip, another trip will be required. While this is not the norm, it is a possibility. Neither the agency nor the in-country coordinators make referrals; it is the adoption officials in Ukraine.
After a referral is made and a family accepts, the family travels to the region to meet the child or children and make an official decision. The in-country coordinators prepare the documents and orchestrate your appointments, and when the adoption is finalized, you will visit the US Embassy in Kiev and apply for your child’s US visa. Overall the process can take 6-12 months after submitting your dossier.
Post Adoption (post placement) Reports
Post placement reports need to be submitted once a year for the first three years and then once every three years until the child reaches age 18. This is a mandatory legal requirement. The agency may require that post placement report fees be pre-paid or a deposit, that will be refunded when the post placement reports are concluded.
*Much historical information is derived from Wikipedia.
Ukraine Adoption Fees & Estimated Expenses
Application $300
Home Study If an AZ resident, the ICF Home Study Fee for non-Hague Convention countries is $1,100
Review Fee If the home study was prepared by another agency, a $350 review fee will apply—unless the family’s I600A has already received USCIS approval for Ukraine
USCIS Fees I-600A and biometric fees as set by USCIS; approx. $800
Agency Fees $5,500; broken into two payments. The first is the ICF Agency Administration fee of $3,500, which is paid with the Adoption Agreement. The second is the ICF Case Management fee of $2,000, paid at the start of the dossier
Foreign Coordination Fee $2,500 – Payable at the time the home study is submitted for registration in Ukraine; includes program administration, communication, final review of dossier documents, packaging and courier fees
Fees for In-country Oversight, Coordination and Representation $9,000 – Paid in two parts: $4500 at time of dossier submission; and $4500 upon invitation to Ukraine. This fee includes legal representation, interpreters, drivers for all adoption-related travel, transfers to the airport and railway station, travel guidance on restaurants and lodging, preparation and notarization of documents in Ukraine, translation, legalization, child’s birth certificate, child’s passport and identification code.
Travel and Third-Party Fees and Cost Estimates
Airfare for two parents for one or two trips; varies with airline and season. We estimate travel costs to be approximately $10,000 for one trip for 30+ days.
Lodging – we recommend several hotels, including the deluxe boutique Hotel Opera,, the historic Hotel Premier Palace, Hotel Pharaoh, which is on the water, and the Hyatt Regency Kiev. These are all 5 star hotels in Kiev. We can arrange for accommodations and adoptive families will receive a discount on the customary room rates. Other accommodations may also be recommended, upon request. Regional lodging shall be recommended based on the best and most economical options.
US Embassy visit to receive the child’s visa $420 and the required medical exam $90
Tourism – we can provide day trips for families who wish to explore Ukraine, if you wish your driver to provide services. The cost is FREE for the first day and $100 per day thereafter. Thus if you wish to include 3 days of tourism, the cost for your driver/guide will be $200.
Donation for child welfare in Ukraine
This is an optional cost, if you would like to provide toys, books or clothes for the children at the orphanage, please let your driver know, and he/she will assist you to shop for them. We do not recommend that you offer cash to any person at any time in Ukraine, outside of the fees listed. You may tip 10% at restaurants but tips are not permitted for drivers or guides.
A little more about Ukraine…
Over the past four centuries, Ukraine has suffered greatly at the hands of its invasive neighbors. There remains a love-hate relationship between Russia and Ukraine, as many Ukrainians are related to Russians; their families and histories overlap borders. Geo-political tensions along with deprivation have created profoundly sad circumstances for orphans.
Ukraine’s connection to Russia dates back to the 1700s, when it was integrated into the Russian Empire. In 1945, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding members of the United Nations. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Ukraine reclaimed independence and began a transition to a market economy, during which Ukraine was stricken with a severe recession. Since then, Ukraine has increased its GDP growth, until 2008, when it was gripped by the worldwide economic crisis.
Earlier in the century, civil war eventually brought the Soviet government to power, which devastated Ukraine, leaving 1.5 million dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. Then, in 1921 Ukraine faced famine. Sympathy for their plight persuaded the Soviet government to encourage a renaissance in the arts in the 1920s and Ukraine culture was revived. Russia also instituted universal health care, education, social security, women’s rights and the right to work and housing. However, many of these policies were reversed by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s.
Industrialization in Ukraine was coupled with collectivization of agriculture, at heavy cost to the peasants. Resistance was met with arrest and deportation. Production quotas placed on the peasants had a devastating effect on productivity and, as members of the collective farms were allowed no grain unless rigid quotas were met, starvation in the Soviet Union became common. In 1932-33 millions starved to death in a famine known as Holodomor or “Great Famine.” The Ukrainian parliament and other countries recognize this as genocide, resulting from Soviet policy.
The famine claimed 10 million lives as peasants’ produce was confiscated. Communist leadership perceived famine not as a humanitarian catastrophe but as a means of class struggle and used starvation, in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, as a punishment to force peasants into collective farming. Two waves of Stalinist political repression and persecution between 1929 and 1938 resulted in the killing of over 680,000 people, including four-fifths of the Ukrainian cultural elite and three-quarters of all the Red Army’s higher ranking officers.
In 1939 German Nazis occupied western Ukraine and believed by some Ukrainians to be potential liberators of Ukraine from Soviet dominion. However, the Nazi administration proved equally brutal, systematically carrying out genocidal policies against Jews, deporting others to forced labor in Germany, and initiating a systematic depopulation of Ukraine to prepare for German colonization, including a food blockade on Kiev.
World War II inflicted heavy losses on Ukraine, estimated between five and eight million, including over ahalf million Jews. Of the estimated 8.7 million Soviet troops who fell in battle against the Nazis, 1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians.
Today, there are 24 “oblasts” (provinces) in Ukraine, operating under the leadership of a semi-presidential system, with separate legislative, executive and judicial branches. Ukraine maintains the largest military in Europe, after Russia. The dominant religion in Ukraine is Eastern Orthodox Christianity.*
In sum, the cost of self-protection, subjugation, famine, genocide, economic depression and war has weighed heavily on a nation of historically peaceable agrarians. Dislocation, death, cultural breakdown, economic and social uncertainties have had detrimental effects on Ukrainian family systems. When desperate circumstances prevail, kindness and compassion are often reduced to flickers.
Orphanages have housed many children whose parents died, were unable to support them or abandoned them. Orphanage life in Ukraine has been rather bleak over the 20th century; little more than rudimentary food and care. Over time, as the nation has recovered economic footing, child advocates have sparked greater interest in orphan welfare. Nonetheless, most children placed in orphanages as infants or youngsters remain there for months or years before they are either adopted or age out of the system and suffer from lack of parental love.
In the best of circumstances, institutionalization takes a toll on children, developmentally and psychologically. Countries of Eastern Europe have also been identified as having a significant percentage of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Both issues are of concern to adoptive parents: attachment disorders and FASD.
Adoption fees and cost estimates may change without notice. Please contact us for the most current information. We’re here to help!
