Our Kazakhstan Adoption Journey Begins

Our plan to adopt internationally, which originally began in late 2002...is soon taking us to the country of Kazakhstan for a daughter and a sister to our son, Luke, who we adopted as a parental placement in 2003.

After extensive research of adoption agencies and countries available to US Citizens for adoption, we chose Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan appealed to us for a number of reasons. Here are just a few:

1. In early 2003 when we officially began the adoption process the country of Kazakhstan was one in few that permitted adopting two unrelated children at the same time (that has since changed),
2. The caretaker to child ratio was better than other countries we were considering at the time which, we felt, was ultimately better for the future emotional stability of the children living in these institutionalized environments,
3. From what we read, the country of Kazakhstan really cares about their orphaned children and the orphanages offer a number of programs for the children giving them more rounded lives...

In January of this year we decided to begin our journey for a second child, a daughter and sister to our son. Because we were looking to adopt only one child this time we discussed other countries with our adoption agency to see if another country might make a better fit for our family. After careful review, Kazakhstan continues to win our hearts.

By the end of May we successfully had completed our home study (state required documents and report) and all the documents required for our dossier (in country required documents which includes the home study). The dossier was sent off to be apostilled (authenticated) and at the end of June we received a copy of the fully apostilled dossier back with a letter from our adoption agency congratulating us on getting to this point. The letter stated our documents had been forwarded for translation and then would be sent to the Consulate of Kazakhstan in New York where they would begin the process of approval by the government of Kazakhstan.

Currently, the process of translation to final approval is taking 3 to 4 months. Once approved, a time frame to travel will be determined depending on "appropriate referrals available" from either of the orphanages our adoption agency works with as well as the number of waiting families ahead of us in the process. Our adoption agency works with orphanages in Kostanai (aka Kostanay or Qustanay), a small town in northern Kazakhstan and the capital city of Astana. An appropriate referral for us will include a girl born on or after October 1, 2003. The significance of this date is so that Luke and his sister can be at least one full school year apart. We’re okay if they are close in age otherwise so long as she is younger than Luke…he has earned his place to be recognized as the “big brother”. All other considerations are up to the laws of Kazakhstan governing adoption of their native children.

As of a few days ago we were waiting family number six for Kazakhstan with our agency. We are family number four waiting to adopt a female.

We will travel within a couple of weeks of receiving our LOI (Letter of Invitation) from Kazakhstan. This is all that we are waiting on at this point and anticipate getting this wonderful news in late October / early November sometime (depending on appropriate referrals available, of course). Travel to Kazakhstan consists of two trips. Brett and I will travel together for the first trip and be in Kazakhstan for four to six weeks. After a short trip home (2 to 4 weeks) I will return to Kazakhstan alone to pick up our daughter and bring her home to her to new life and family.

So, we patiently wait………we keep our minds busy by reading and learning from internet journals like this one of families who had completed this process before us. We are learning about the country of which our daughter was born and beginning to practice a small bit of the Russian language. Time seems to be moving slowly now but when we look back on this time I know that it will appear differently.

Our post entries will be few between now and the time that we travel, but we promise to post often (with photos) while we are in Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, please keep our daughter and all other orphaned children of this earth in your prayers. Each and every one of these children deserves a loving, safe and secure family to call their own.