Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Dear Steve & Liz:

We have reviewed your Dossier One and have forwarded it to Russia. It will be translated and notarized when it arrives in Russia.

From this point, you will be waiting to receive the Region assignment. Your dossier will be submitted to the region we anticipate you will receive the most expedient referral according to your preferences.

Please note that it is also possible to receive an invitation or referral from one of the Regions that FTIA is working in Russia, without prior region assignment. If you accept your referral (with medical information), you will be traveling to this region. If this region does not provide medical information prior to your travel, you will receive an invitation to travel on your 1st trip to meet a child and receive medical information at the same time.

When the Ministry of Education has issued an invitation or referral for you to travel to Russia for your first trip, we will notify you immediately. Please be prepared to provide a new name for your child during your first trip. It is difficult to provide you a very specific time estimate since it depends on the parameters of the child you have requested. Generally the wait is longer for infant girls and shorter for infant boys.

Please be reviewing the Russia Travel Guide on MyFTIA under Country Specific Critical Information to help you start preparing for your time in Russia.

When you receive an invitation or referral and it is time to book your flight, please refer to the Russia Travel Guide for travel agency names and telephone numbers on MyFTIA. Also, we strongly recommend purchasing a ticket that is flexible for your return flight because travel dates may change, or your stay could be extended a few days. While a more flexible ticket is generally more expensive, it may be well worth it. Whichever travel agency you use, please email or fax FTIA a copy of your travel itinerary to (812) 479-XXXX as soon as your travel is arranged. A travel letter containing your detailed travel information, your itinerary, and invoice will be emailed to you shortly thereafter, but not before, we receive your flight information. Your invoice payment must be received at FTIA before you leave for Russia.

As you know, from our previous discussions, we require that every family adopting from Russia obtain an independent opinion from a medical doctor when trying to determine whether to accept the referral of a child. FTIA does require Adopting Parent(s) to base your decision on whether or not to accept the referral on that opinion. You can find a list of the international adoption medical specialists on our web site. We strongly recommend Adopting Parents to utilize one of several listed doctors because they all have substantial experience reviewing Russian medicals that are very different than US medical reports.

You may want to begin contacting physicians who specialize in international adoption to assist you to review the referral information (medical extract and 1-3 photos). The fee for this service may vary from a request by the physician for a donation to his/her clinic to a set fee ranging from $200 - $300. Often the fee you pay includes services and follow-up counseling after you return from Russia.

If you receive medical information prior to your first trip, you will have the referral information reviewed and make your decision based on that medical opinion before you leave for your first trip. An international adoption medical specialist you select will have to review the referral information and provide you with his/her opinion within 3-5 days. When a referral is refused, FTIA requires Adopting Parent(s) to obtain a written statement by email or fax from the doctor to submit to the Russian adoption officials stating their medical concerns/diagnosis.
If you do not receive medical information prior to your travel, you will be emailing/faxing the medical information and pictures of your child to your international adoption medical specialist from Russia while being on the first trip and he/she will review the information and provide his/her opinion to you typically within a few hours. Make sure before you leave that you have the correct telephone numbers, e-mail address, fax numbers, etc. for the international specialist. Our staff in Russia will be assisting you with sending this information to your doctor. If your doctor recommends against accepting a referral for medical reasons, you will have to ask him/her to prepare a short letter addressed to you that includes the child’s name, date of birth and reason for his/her recommendation and have the letter faxed to you in Russia.

Please review the information about the visa process on how to apply for your entry visa to Russia before your trip on MyFTIA. Do not apply for visas now. Upon receiving your first or second trip travel dates we will provide detailed instructions on how to apply for your visas.
As always, in the meantime, please feel free to call or e-mail with any questions.

Sincerely,

Inessa Shiryaeva
Russia Coordinator
www.ftia.org

3 comments:

Genny said...

Again...YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

Elaine said...

Does this paperwork come with an interpreter?

Anonymous said...

This is so exciting!