The Ministry of Education in Russia has invited us to travel to meet the boys.

We will meet them on April 29th. We will spend 2 days at the orphanage with the boys.

While this is a month later, it actually works out better. I almost have enough frequent flyer miles to get both of us there and back for this trip. We also have about another month to fundraise.

This story only gets better...stay tuned...and don't forget about the benefit concert on the 14th. BE THERE!

faster than a speeding bullet

Yes, that's how Steve and I feel this process is moving.



We received additional pictures and medical information this week. I think Samuel (Aleksey) is going to be very ornery, and Rowan (Vladimir) is going to need lots of love.



Anyway, we had a conversation with the physician at Children's this morning. Her assessment:

These two are two of the better referrals she has seen from Russia. They both are very small (height and weight) for their age, however, they do have good sized heads, which is very telling of normal brain growth and development. Based on the photos, she does not see any physical characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome. She expects there are likely some developmental delays, which are typical of children who live in orphanages. Overall, she sees nothing unusual, or indicative of greater medical issues.


That said, we will accept the referral of the boys in the morning. We have a few pieces of paperwork to complete, and then the waiting game begins again. The anticipated time frame to travel is 1-2 months. We think that we could be traveling within a month, if not sooner.


Keep us in your thoughts as we wait to hear about travel dates to finally meet our boys.

Our referral info is complete. We got the medical history yesterday, along with some additional pictures. The pictures are really telling, not so much of the boys, but of how they are currently living, but I will save that for another post.

All the information is currently being reviewed by an amazing physician at the local children's hospital. She specializes reviewing medical documents for international adoptions.

The Russian officials are asking us to provide a response by this Thursday the 19th. If we say yes, we wait for an invitation to travel. If we say no, we must provide the Russian officials with reasons for not accepting the referral, and we wait for another referral.

introducing...

Aleksey, age 2 and half... and his brother Vladimir, age 18 months.

I know, wow that was fast. You have no idea.

As seen in previous posts, our paperwork was just sent to Russia on January 21st. The general timeline we were given was 2-7 months. Thursday, February 5th, we got an email saying that our dossier had been assigned to a region, and this region often sends referral info prior to the first trip. We sat in bed that night talking about what the day would be like to finally see our children.

The next morning, I emailed our coordinator, telling her of our excitement, and inquired about the time frame for this particular region. Within 5 minutes, I had an email stating that a referral was ready, pictures were available, and I should call to get the info. I'll save my emotional response for another post.

So here is the skinny...Aleksey, who we will call Samuel, was born on August 22, 2006. Vladimir, who we will call Rowan, was born July 29, 2007. They are currently living in an orphanage in Siberia, near Mongolia and Khazakstan. They share the same mother, but have different fathers.

As far as timelines, we have no idea. What was supposed to take 2-7 months, took 2 weeks. We had hoped to have the boys home before Christmas, and now it looks like it might be before Halloween.

It's kind of surreal still. We've thought about what our kids would look like, and when we would finally get to see them. We've also thought a lot about the day we would finally become parents. It's been a long time coming, but so worth the wait.

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

The dossier has left the building!

About 3:00 yesterday afternoon to be exact. Steve dropped the box at FedEx, and there is no turning back.

So what does the process look like from here? Well, much like the typical pregnancy, we wait. Our agency currently estimates that it will be 2-7 months before we travel to Russia for our first trip. During this time, we will meet with the orphanage director and/or medical personnel and gather as much health history as possible. We will do a large amount of communicating with some staff at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, who work specifically with health related issues from international adoption. Most importantly, we will meet Samuel and Rowan. We will be able to take video and pictures of the boys, so everyone will get to meet them when we come come. This trip will last about one week.

We then return home without the boys. At that time we will gather additional paperwork, some of which will be our formal intent to adopt the boys, and setting a court date. Approximately 3-4 months later, we will return to Russia to appear before a Russian judge to finalize the adoption. Russia has a 10 day waiting period before the adoption is final, but often, that can be waived. We then head to Moscow to obtain the boys birth certificates, passports, and visas, and head home. The second trip will last 14-24 days.

We are hoping to have the boys home by Christmas 2009. Potentially, it could be as early as June or July 2009.

The updates may be a bit more sporadic for a while, but I'll try to post at least once a week. Check back often!