Adopt from Russia

CHILDREN AVAILABLE

The orphanages in Russia are called Detsky Doms, which means “Baby Houses” or “Children’s Homes”. Babies from a few months of age to about 3-4 years stay in the Baby Houses, while older children stay in the Children’s Homes. Children’s Homes are also divided between
pre-school orphanages (ages 4-7), school age orphanages (7-16), and combined orphanages. Some orphanages specialize in children with special needs, including learning disabilities, vision impairments, orthopedic problems, etc. Many times children who have not
been put in school by their parents will be assigned to orphanages where they will receive more remedial assistance, even though their intellectual capabilities may be good.
Not all children in Russian orphanages are available for adoption. Children become available if their parents have relinquished them for adoption, are deceased, or have had the court terminate their parental rights. The reasons for terminating parental rights are varied, but generally include neglect. If a child is available for adoption, they must be put on a local registry of adoptable children (1 month), a regional registry (another month), and the Federal Data Bank of adoptable child (6 months), to give a Russian family an opportunity to adopt the child. Only children that have been on all three registries (for a total of 8 months) are available for international adoption. A child may be adopted by a Russian family or taken into foster care by relatives at any time prior to international adoption. Babies are at least 8 months of age before they are eligible for international adoption. We also have considerable experience in placing children up to age 16. When a child has siblings, particularly when they are in the same orphanage or have a close relationship, they must be adopted together. There tend to be more families waiting to adopt girls than boys. We will share as much information as we are able to obtain on a particular child, however, there will never be as much information on a child’s background as we would like. The most valuable information will be obtained when the family travels to Russia on their first trip. The medical information is more critical for evaluating a baby for adoption since this is essentially all of the information that is available. As a child gets older, the child’s character, personality, temperament, and intelligence become important factors.

ELIGIBILITY TO ADOPT

Married couples or single women may adopt from Russia. We require that the adopting parents be no more than 45 years older than the child, although this requirement may be relaxed somewhat in the case of older children. The parents must be in good health. The number of other children in the family and other considerations are evaluated on a case
by case basis, and is dependent on the characteristics of the child that is sought for adoption. The orphanage director, the adoption officials, or the court may impose other restrictions as they consider necessary or advisable.

PROCESS

It generally takes 8 to 14 months to complete the adoption process. First, you will need to complete your home study, get CIS (formerly INS) approval, and prepare your dossier for Russia (3 to 5 months). Once your dossier has been filed with the local adoption officials in Russia, you will be able to travel to Russia to receive a referral. The more flexible you are and the older the child you hope to adopt is, the shorter the timeframe. No advance information on children available can be provided by persons other than the Russian adoption officials. Providing videos and medical information on children is specifically not allowed. Both parents must make the first trip to Russia to receive the official referral of a child unless there is a compelling reason that one parent cannot travel. The first trip is about a week. On this trip, you will receive a referral and get to know the child referred. You will be able to ask a broad variety of questions concerning the child’s medical and social history. In addition, you will be able to access independent physicians to assist you in evaluating the child. If you do not accept the first referral, you may be able to receive a second referral on the same trip, depending on the age of the child requested. Once you have accepted the referral, you would return home to await a court date. The court date is generally set approximately 6-8 weeks after your first trip. This allows time for a verification to be received from Moscow that your child has been on the Federal Data Bank for the required length of time, as well as allowing the court to review your dossier. Both adopting parents are required to be present in court. Russian law provides for a 10 day waiting period before an adoption decree becomes effective. This 10 day period can be waived if the judge believes it is in the best interest of the child. Once the adoption is completed, a new birth certificate is issued for the child, a Russian passport is issued in the child’s new name, and you travel to Moscow to obtain the child’s immigrant visa. You would normally travel directly home from Moscow.

TRAVEL

Once your dossier is completed, we will provide you with a “Travel Package” which outlines all of the details of your travel (2-3 trips). We will make all of your in-country lodging
reservations and you may make whatever air travel arrangements you prefer. We will also help you with this step if requested. Your first trip will normally be about 7 days. Your court
trip will normally be 4-8 days, depending on whether the 10 day waiting period is waived. If the 10 days are not waived and you need to return for a third trip, only one parent is required to travel and the trip is about 4 days long.

COSTS

The costs for an adoption from Russia are explained on the current Fee Schedule. The Fees will include Program Fees, Orphanage Donations, Agency Coordinated Expenses (where the expenses are paid through our office) and Estimated Client Coordinated Expenses including travel, lodging, CIS fees and miscellaneous costs. We have a different fee structure for children under age 7 to encourage the adoption of older children. A separate sibling fee schedule is also available. We make every effort to give you a realistic budget to avoid surprises. However, variations may result from differences in home study costs, travel, and actual length of stay in Russia. For fees and estimated costs please download our Russia country sheet.

Risks

We will gladly assist you with state, federal and Russian legal and social work associated with applying for a child. Although problems with dossiers are extremely rare, once the dossier is in the possession of the Russian authoritieswe cannot guarantee a particular result with respect to that application. Any sovereign nation exercises its own discretion with respect to adoption applications, can establish new guidelines as to the type of child which is adoptable or the type of couple that can adopt, can partially close its program, or can even stop international adoptions altogether.
Additionally, medical and/or developmental delays may exist in internationally adopted children, including children adopted from Russia. Generally speaking, orphanage medical reports will be brief and less sophisticated than medical reports prepared in the United States. We did not prepare these reports and cannot guarantee their contents.
We suggest that adoptive parents talk to as many other couples who have completed the adoption process as possible.  We predict that you will find very positive responses to health questions, but do initiate these contacts as they will increase your understanding of the process, including its risks and rewards.
Finally, institutionalized children may have experienced some developmental delays that are almost unavoidable. These precious children may not have been nurtured as you will nurture them, given the generally understaffed and under-funded status that most orphanages find themselves in.
Some of the problems that can possibly arise and have arisen in children adopted from Ukraine are

• scars,
• milk intolerance,
• low or high grade heart murmur,
• defective heart valve that requires surgery,
• fetal alcohol syndrome
• rickets,
• scabies,
• crossed eyes,
• cleft lip and/or cleft palette,
• hepatitis A, B or C,
• parasitic infection,
• colds and pneumonia,
• attachment delays or problems,
• under stimulation/delayed development,
• undiagnosed congenital problems,
• effects of institutionalization,
• vision and hearing problems, and
• malnutrition.

By proceeding with A Helping Hand, families certify that they have considered the risks mentioned above and as such assume all health, developmental or governmental risks associated with the adoption.