Kazakhstan Program Updates

 Nine Children's Hope families have traveled to Kazakhstan so far in 2008. Of those nine families: one family has completed their adoption and is home with their child, one family is in country currently picking up their child, one family leaves to pick up their child next week, and two families are waiting on their invitation for their final trip where they will pick up their child. 

What is the purpose of the database?
Children are required to be "on the database" for around six months, in order to give local Kazakhstan families first priority to adopt them. It also allows biological family members to come forward. If neither of these takes place, then at that time the child may become available for international adoption.

Please Note: Due to the large number of families already in the program, Children's Hope is not accepting new applications for Kazakhstan at this time.

We are pleased to announce that Children's Hope is now working in Karaganda Region.

We have hired a coordinator, and her name is Tamara. Karaganda is in the middle of Kazakhstan's steppe heartland. With a population of 410,000, Karaganda is the fourth largest city in Kazakhstan. It is a coal mining city, with major iron and steel industries there as well. Also in Karaganda are research institutes, a university, museums, and a botanical garden. Karaganda is described as having avenues of trees and a large central park, and the Karaganda Ecological Museum.

Children's Hope is happy to welcome home two of our families who have returned to the US, the first week of April, from their first trips to Almaty City. Their last in week in Kazakhstan was full of excitement as Almaty was the first stop of 22 destinations for the Olympic torch as it finds its way back to Beijing, China to launch the Olympic Games. Kazakhstan was chosen as the first stop as the country will host the Asian Winter Games in 2011. One of our traveling families was able to watch the torch relay from their room at the Hotel Kazakhstan in Almaty!

Children’s Hope International’s Kazakhstan program has one family just home from their first trip’s bonding period, two couples currently in Almaty City for their first trip of their required three for the region, and a family waiting to travel on their first trip after just receiving their travel dates over the weekend. Our waiting family travels on April 6. All four of these families are traveling to adopt boys.

We wish our traveling families smooth and safe travels, and a quick return to Kazakhstan for their second trips.  

We are pleased to announce our first referral of 2008! A family will be traveling to Kazakhstan during the last week of February to meet their child. Congratulations and many blessings to our traveling family!

Last month, our Kazakhstan Program Director, Karen Carnesciali, spent two weeks in Kazakhstan and Russia meeting our coordinators and visiting orphanages in Almaty and Almaty Region. Our Kazakhstan families will enjoy Karen’s full report of her stay in the Kazakhstan E-newsletter before the end of February.

We are grateful for each and every one of our Kazakhstan adopting families. Happy New Year!

In January, three families have arrived home with their children from Kazakhstan after completing their child’s adoption on their second trip to the country – congratulations! These families were able to experience Kazakhstan’s celebration of the New Year’s holiday.

Adopting from Kazakhstan requires two trips to complete a successful adoption. During the first trip families spend approximately three to four weeks bonding with their child, before returning on a second trip to finalize the adoption in court. The first trip can lengthen if there is a change in the region of adoption or a delay in the setting of a court date for the second trip.

We currently have one family in the country waiting to taking their child home, and two families who are scheduled to return at the end of this month to bring their children home. Less than a week ago a family brought their child home from Kazakhstan. Congratulations to all of our newly completed, and about to complete, families!

Domestic Adoption in Kazakhstan and Its Effect on International Adoption: In 2006, interest in domestic adoption began to increase among citizens in Kazakhstan, and in 2007, the number of domestic adoptions there has grown quickly. National pride and the natural desire to have a family are high motivators.

This week we had two families complete their court dates to finalize their Kazakhstan adoption. Congratulations to these new forever families! Other families are in the process of bringing their children home right now, or are making plans to return to Kazakhstan to pick up their children.

Domestic Adoption in Kazakhstan and Its Effect on International Adoption: In 2006, interest in domestic adoption began to increase among citizens in Kazakhstan, and in 2007, the number of domestic adoptions there has grown quickly. National pride and the natural desire to have a family are high motivators.

Children’s Hope Kazakhstan Program continues to draw interest from prospective families, and we are receiving many applications. We welcome our new families into the program and wish them the best as they begin their adoption journeys!

We have two families in Kazakhstan currently bonding with their children on their first trip. Three families just returned home from their bonding period and they look forward to returning to complete their adoptions on their second trip to the country. There are just over 220 families in the process of adopting from Kazakhstan.

Children’s Hope has 220 families currently in the Kazakhstan program. This month, two families will have court appearances in Kazakhstan, with seven families traveling for their first bonding trip. We expect to receive travel dates for at least one more family this month.

Trips for Bonding and Adoption Finalization in Kazakhstan

Children’s Hope has 196 families in the Kazakhstan Program. Nine families completed their adoption paperwork in August; three, so far in September. This month we have had one court appearance in Kazakhstan and we have one family traveling for their first bonding trip. We should receive the travel dates for at least two more families this month.

An adoption from Kazakhstan can either be a one or two trip process. Under Republic of Kazakhstan law, parents are required to spend around two weeks bonding with their child prior to adoption. There is then about a month between this bonding time and the actual completion of the adoption.

From June 1st to the middle of July, Children’s Hope has completed adoptions from Kazakhstan for three families. One additional family is now traveling within Kazakhstan bonding with their new son. This traveling family’s court date is at the beginning of August. Congratulations to all of these families newly united!

Five families have returned home with their children (all five families adopted girls), after completing their Kazakhstan adoptions this past week. Three additional families are currently in country, going through their bonding period with their children and waiting for their court hearing on their second trip. Two more families will be traveling the second week in June to meet their children for the first time! Congratulations to all of these united families! We hope to announce more travel dates for families adopting internationally soon.

This Mother’s Day, five new moms are showing off their new daughters they adopted from Kazakhstan this year. Although not old enough to make mom breakfast or buy her flowers, these little ones are making the day special.

There are three more families preparing to travel this month and 24 families who have submitted their dossier and so now are waiting on their travel date. As of the end of April, 75 new applicants have been added to the Kazakhstan adoption program.

The Kazakhstan Ministry of Education along with the Department of Education of Almaty City have decided that the region will be re-opened to international adoption. For over a year, the Almaty region has been closed to Americans adopting from Kazakhstan. Some European agencies were able to proceed with adoptions in that region. Officials closed the region because of too many tardy post-placement reports from American agencies.

Since Children’s Hope was keeping post-placement dates as required, we are expecting to have more families receiving travel dates for that region.

Currently, in two other regions of Kazakhstan, there are four families in the country working on different stages of their Kazakhstan adoption.

At this time we have over 100 families at different stages of the process. There are families, just applied, who are working on their dossier and families with completed dossiers now waiting for travel approval. In the last two months, we have received 11 dossiers and will continue to receive more this year. Our biggest blessing—this year we were able to find four homes for four waiting children – older children and children with special medical needs. We are very excited to see the interest in Kazakhstan adoptions on the rise.

Update on Almaty City: Almaty City has been closed for over a year due to the Department of Education reevaluation of the adoption process and their enhanced rules regarding post adoption reports. Now the city is in the process of being reopened for international adoption. We look forward to our first family traveling there soon!

If you should have any questions about Kazakhstan Program – feel free to contact Jeff Morris at (314) 812-1769 or Anna Rister at (314) 812-1890.

One Children’s Hope International family will be traveling to Kazakhstan this Valentine’s weekend amid the romantic festivities of concerts and shows customary for the holiday. Two additional families are preparing to travel in the next few weeks. Twelve dossiers have been submitted to adoption officials and we expect these families to travel to Kazakhstan to begin their Kazakhstan adoption in the next several months!

The Almaty region, one of our largest regions in country, is currently reviewing their child adoption process and the paperwork completed in December 2006. Although this means families will not be traveling in this region until March, we are very excited about the region’s intention for higher regulations in adoption law and their preparedness to accredit qualified adoption agencies within the next two years!

Requirements May Alter: Our chief representative spoke to the Ministry of Education mid-December regarding requirements for families, including medical and police backgrounds. Kazakhstan adoption officials have become more open-minded than previously and are more lenient in relation to some other countries. Kazakhstan does now require both parents to be U.S. citizens.