Ukrainian Adoption Process

The process, while being very involved and taking some time, is fairly straight forward.

Step 1: Talk to us.

Selecting a good adoption agency is very important. Talk to us first, see if we are a good match for you. This process will take about a year, a good working partnership between your family and the agency is essential.

Step 2: Send us your application.

This step initiates your process. We’ll need the information from your application to create an entry in our database for your family, and to start generating documents for you.

Step 3: Homestudy.

This is a very important step, can’t go anywhere without a homestudy. A homestudy is, essentially, an assessment of your family, and is used by both foreign and domestic authorities to determine your suitability to adopt. Your homestudy will be sent to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for review and approval.

If you live Pennsylvania, then we will do your homestudy.

If you live in other states or countries, then we’ll recommend some of the reputable homestudy service providers to you, so you can pick the one you like, or you can just select one on your own.

Step 4: Dossier.

Dossier is the compilation of documents that will represent your family in the foreign country. They’ve never met you, don’t know anything about you, and this set of documents will be the way for the foreign officials to determine your suitability to adopt.

There are several documents that go into your dossier, which we’ll address in the next section. Some of those you’ll need to obtain and send to us, such as your employment verification, medical forms, etc., other documents we will get from the governmental entities and your homestudy agency, we’ll add a few documents from World Links as well.

After all the necessary documents are compiled into a dossier, it will be sent to Ukraine.

Step 5: Referrals and being matched with the child.

Things get real now. Before it was phone calls and paperwork, now you get to travel to Ukraine and be matched with a child.

This is exciting, exhilarating, and nerve wracking. We were told that having to say “yes” or “no” to a referral is like nothing else ever. No way to describe it, no way to prepare for it, you just go ahead and do what’s best for your family.

The end result, however, is both simple and exciting: you’ll find a child to call your son or daughter.

Step 6: Adoption in Ukraine.

This step is very important, as this is the actual legal proceeding of adopting your kid. Yet, our families describe it as minor. It’s a step in the process that everyone does, so you just do it. We, and out coordinator, will handle the details. You, however, still must be present at the hearing and take it seriously.

Step 7: The US Embassy in Ukraine, USCIS, and Department of Homeland Security.

There is a process within your adoption process, and that process is getting approval from several governmental entities on the US side. The USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security need to issue their approvals, and the US Embassy needs to issue a visa for your child, before all of you can come home.

This is nothing out of the ordinary, it’s done for every adoption. It’s just how things work.

Step 8: Going home.

It’s almost over, you and your child are going home.

There will be more paperwork to handle at the airport, as the US officials go through the documents that you brought with you from Ukraine, but it won’t take too long, and as soon as you are out of those glass doors at the airport… that’s it, you’re home!

Call us, we’ve been waiting!