Adoption Under One Roof

 I adopted my darling daughter Natasha from Ukraine in 2000. And because of this, I feel connected to Ukraine. So I am starting a regular Friday blog to discuss the status of Ukrainian adoption and Ukrainian child protection policies.

Ukraine's annual inflation hit 30% in April 2008. Their harvest was poor and worldwide food prices continue to increase. Ukraine saw some huge price hikes during the last year.

• 115% price increase - edible oils
• 68% price increase - eggs
• 57% price increase - vegetables

Ukraine started the process to join the WTO in 1992. They completed all the necessary legal and regulatory changes and now are a WTO member. They will be paying the WTO $240 million per year in dues. Ukraine has high hopes that WTO membership will increase their agricultural, chemical and metals exports. And hopefully the WTO membership will also help with their inflation. With competitive barriers removed there is a chance this will drive domestic good prices down.

Ukraine has been paying families to have babies for a while now.  They are trying to solve The Demographic Crisis in Ukraine. Population Reference Bureau has predicted Ukraine will lose 28% of its population by 2050. And right now Ukrainian women only have 1.3 children per woman. So Ukraine is paying:

• 12,240 hryvnias ($2,601.48) for first child
• 25,000 hryvnias ($5,313.49) for second child
• 50,000 ($10,626.99) for any additional children

So Ukraine is trying for 3 children per women to save them from the demographic crisis. So far Ukraine birth rate has very slightly improved. And no one knows if this change relates to the "pay women to have babies" scheme.

This is another reason why Ukraine wants to keep their kiddos at home and isn't looking fondly at intercountry adoption. It sounds like all the single parents who had dossiers filed with the SDA have been rejected. But I am hearing rumors that older parents might be able to use the youngest parent's age in their adoption. I don't have any details yet.

As a reminder, here are the changes made to Ukraine's family code with bill 0864. These are my translations from Ukrainian to English.

• If the father and mother aren’t married, now he can register as a father of a baby without needing to go to court.
• Adoptive parents must be 21 years or older, excluding, when adopting kinsman children.
• Difference between adoptive parents and adopted child cannot be larger then 45 years.
• Adopting children, who are citizens of Ukraine, cannot be accomplished by foreigners who aren’t married unless the foreigner is kinsman to the baby.

Single Ukrainian citizens can still adopt. And it sounds like foreign single men and women could adopt their niece or nephew from Ukraine.

Recent Ukrainian Adoption Blogs:

• Higgins' 07/08 Ukraine Adoption Journey (July 23, 2008 appointment to submit dossier)
• God's Plan: Adoption from Ukraine (August appointment to submit dossier)
• Adoption adventure! (Funding raising for Ukrainian adoption)
• Shirley and Steve (failed Ukrainian adoption)