Adoptions

I didn't share this before, because one of the adoptions wasn't complete yet, and people usually like to keep them really private until they're official. Now one of the girls is home with her new family, and the other family has made it through court and only needs to finish their waiting period and documents. The original text is at the link I started with. I'll paste in my translation below.

The picture is from when Nikolai Kuleba, the President's Ombudsman for Children's Rights, visited Tsyurupinsk orphanage not too long ago.

This is what he posted:

Alyona and Nastia, girls with a diagnosis of CP, are being adopted by American families.

Carolyn, Alyona's new mama, with tears in her eyes remembers how they met. Her family did not even think of adopting a child with a disability, and then friends of theirs became an example for them by adopting children like her and making them happy. When they met Alyona, they knew right away that this child had to live in their family, even though they would have to make a lot of changes: remodelling in their house, putting in ramps, getting a bigger car, finding a school, and adapting her to live in the USA.

Carolyn and her husband are raising two healthy sons, 14 and 19 years old. They support their parents in this choice and are impatiently awaiting the arrival of their little sister.

For more than half a year the family prepared all the necessary documents in the USA, and in the middle of June they first came to Ukraine. Then they had to fly over two more times. This month they had court and very soon now Alyona with her new father and mother will fly to America.

The future family of Nastia is now waiting for court. We hope that step will be successful for them, and Nastia will also be happy in a family!

We are very thankful to all families that adopt children, especially children with disabilities, and help them with socialisation and becoming full members of society.

P.S. Unfortunately, in Ukraine services for children with disabilities are not developed enough, and so few of our citizens adopt such children. In 10 years at the Tsyurupinsk/Oleshky orphanage (where these girls are) foreigners have adopted 20 children, and only one child has been taken under guardianship by Ukrainians.