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Ukraine had the most adoptions to the U.S. Now families must wait for war to end : NPR


Katie-Jo Page sits in the room she prepared for Mykyta, a Ukrainian boy her family is adopting, in Snohomish, Wash., on October 2.

Annie Tritt for NPR


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Katie-Jo Page sits in the room she prepared for Mykyta, a Ukrainian boy her family is adopting, in Snohomish, Wash., on October 2.

Annie Tritt for NPR

KYIV, Ukraine – When Katie-Jo and Christian Page decided last winter to host a Ukrainian orphan in their home through the nonprofit Organization of orphans around the worldAdoption isn’t really on their mind.

Katie-Jo Page, 30, from Snohomish, Wash, said: “We decided it wasn’t something we would be able to do based on the travel side of things and financial reasons alone.

But then they met Mykyta – an 11-year-old boy with blond hair and vivid hazel eyes from the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine. Page describes him as cheerful, cheerful and a “good brother” to their three young daughters.

The family started the procedure to receive Mykyta on his second day.

“We just feel like he’s part of the family and he means so much to our family, so we know we’ll do whatever it takes to make it official. “, she said.

Mykyta returned to Ukraine in January. The original plan was that he would return to the United States in June for another visit, after which they would go to Ukraine and finalize his adoption.

Ukraine has become the top country to adopt children from, surpassing China in 2020. According to data from the US Department of State. But then Russia invaded in February, and the Ukrainian government stopped all foreign adoptions. That leaves dozens of American families, such as Pages, in limbo with no deadline on when they will complete the adoption and bring the kids home.

“It was heartbreaking; there were so many unknowns,” recalls Page. From the beginning, she said, Mykyta had “a lot of questions and he would ask when he got home.”

A bit like summer camp

Mykyta and more than 100 other children in his orphanage fled on a bus in early March to the east Poland, where they currently live in a fenced facility made up of a series of trailers.

Families interviewed for this story asked NPR not to name the organization that looks after the orphanage to protect the children. The organization did not respond to NPR’s requests for interview.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers with her husband, Doug Rogers, in December 2021.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers


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Jennifer Kelly-Rogers


Jennifer Kelly-Rogers with her husband, Doug Rogers, in December 2021.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers

Page has visited Mykyta there three times since he evacuated – twice as a volunteer and once as a guest with her two daughters.

“We’re so grateful for where they’re at,” she said. “And Poland has been very comfortable, but it’s not their home.”

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers, another American woman who visits and volunteers, says the place is like summer camp. NPR spoke to Kelly-Rogers while she was on her third visit to meet Maksym, a 14-year-old boy from southern Ukraine whose family was adopting when Russia invaded. Her family temporarily hosts Maksym at their home in Honeoye, NY, also through Host Orphans Worldwide, a US-based Christian nonprofit.

The kids do lessons and activities every day, says Kelly-Rogers, 49. They also eat together, play games and celebrate birthdays. But, she said, it’s generally an “uncomfortable situation.”

“They can’t get the school they need and most of the kids there are crying because they want their families,” Kelly-Rogers said.

Meanwhile, she said, the facility is struggling financially and organizers aren’t sure if they can afford food and heating; The coming winter is of particular interest.

“It’s been stressful for everyone and everyone needs a break,” she said.

Stopped midway

Daniel Stevens, executive director of the New York adoption agency Family Connections Inc.works with nearly 30 families that have had their adoption proceedings halted due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers and Maksym hold hands at the facility in Poland in May. Kelly-Rogers was in the process of adopting 14-year-old Maksym when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers


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Jennifer Kelly-Rogers and Maksym hold hands at the facility in Poland in May. Kelly-Rogers was in the process of adopting 14-year-old Maksym when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers

He said six of those families – including Kelly-Rogers and Page – have completed the paperwork required by the US government and are ready to submit the necessary documents to the adoption agency. central Ukraine. If the Ukrainian government is processing the adoption, the family will then be officially combined with the child and the Ukrainian side of the adoption process will begin.

“So we have families in the United States that have relationships with these kids; these kids feel safe with these families,” Stevens told NPR. “And now they don’t really have a caregiver in the sense of someone they can love and trust to tell them everything is going to be okay.”

He said several families, including Page and Kelly-Rogers, have asked the Ukrainian government to allow the children to be released for the children who will be their American parents.

“These families are willing to pay the travel costs, provide for these children, and when it is safe for these children to return to Ukraine, these families will return these children and then complete the adoption process. .

Stevens says it has asked members of Congress for help, but although 75 lawmakers have signed a letter urging the movement on the issue, the State Department says passage should not proceed within a week. war context.

Before the conflict, hundreds of children were adopted every year from Ukraine. According to statistics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Michelle Bernier-Toth, special counsel for child affairs at the Department of Consular Affairs at the State Department, which handles international adoptions, says it’s up to states to stop adopting children during times like these. this is normal.

“When there is a crisis, be it war, invasion or natural disaster, that is not the time to start international adoptions or even domestic adoptions,” she said. “Because you don’t know that children who are divorced, have parents, and have families to look for?”

However, Bernier-Toth noted that the Department worked with its Ukrainian partners to complete an adoption that was approved by both countries before the war began.

Adoption will continue when the war ends

Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine declined an interview with NPR for this story.

Daria Herasymchuk, an adviser to the President of Ukraine on children and child rehabilitation, said Ukraine cannot allow children to go to families that it has not thoroughly checked.

“We can’t move a child from one dangerous situation to another. We have to follow the whole process and do it with caution,” she said, noting that the children Orphans evacuated from the country – such as Mykyta and Maksym – are not refugees and remain citizens of Ukraine.

“These children will be returned to the territory of Ukraine … and [adoption] Herasymchuk said the procedure will take place here so we can monitor it.

Katie-Jo and Christian Page with their three children Emalyn, Makenna and Kyla (in hiding), at their home in Snohomish, Wash., on October 2.

Annie Tritt for NPR


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Annie Tritt for NPR


Katie-Jo and Christian Page with their three children Emalyn, Makenna and Kyla (in hiding), at their home in Snohomish, Wash., on October 2.

Annie Tritt for NPR

She assures worried families that they won’t have to start the adoption process all over again, but inter-country adoptions will only resume once the war is over.

No resolution

For now, parents have to wait.

Katie-Jo Page and her family talk to Mykyta three times a day. She says that their relationship and trust has grown tremendously over the past months.

“He knows I’m trying to get him home and will do everything I can,” she said.

Trang will return to Poland soon. She says that the thousands of dollars and hours she has spent so far on the trips to see Mykyta have been worth it.

“I can’t imagine not going when I get the chance because I don’t want Mykyta to lose hope and know how loved he is,” she said. “And that we won’t give up on him.”

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