GOTCHA DAY

Court Date

Sunday, September 14, 2008

WE MADE IT TO MOSCOW/ Tired


We arrived this morning at about 1030 am Moscow time. There were two other families from CHI on our flight with Tver region one was on 3rd trip the other was on referral trip. We all stood in Customs line for 1 hour or so. VERY BIG EYE OPENING EXPERIENCE. Our Translator dropped us off at the Renissance Hotel and we wont be seeing her until Tuesday morning to go to the MOE receive our referral and off to the orphange.
Dan and I got to the Hotel took a shower and went to sleep for about 3 hours then we decided to go venturing out. We are staying across the street where the olympics was held many years ago. They have converted the stadium into a HUGE flee market. One thing I suggest to anyone is learn Russian beacause it is very hard to communicate. We found Mcdonalds but nobody speaks english. We have a lot of respect for people that travel to the US not knowing english it is tough.

Tomorrow I think we will be going to the Puskin, Red Square and doing sight seeing. We need to find a sim card for the cell phone to make international calls. We did find calling cards after walking around for a while. There are no Internet Cafe's here so we have to pay for our internet through the hotel which comes out to be 15.00a day.

I hope to be able to update more tomorrow I am sure we will have time.

We miss everyone and cant wait to see our daughter.

8:40 pm Moscow Time/ 12:40 pmEst
April & Dan

3 comments:

Spence Ohana said...

Glad to hear your arrived safely! It's so exciting to hear about your advienture via your blog.

Carolynn and Steve said...

So glad to hear you made it safely! Enjoy Moscow--it is a fun city, with lots of new things to see! So excited for you to get to meet your daughter!
Blessings and a good night's rest!
Carolynn and Steve

Nichole said...

Congrats on arriving safely! What an adventure. Thanks for the motivation to learn Russian. I have been slacking on doing that lately. Can't wait to hear about your meeting with your daughter!



Foreign adoptions down in Russia as foster care grows

Foreign adoptions down in Russia as foster care grows

Fewer Russian children are being adopted abroad, although the number of total adoptions in Russia is declining, figures show. The statistics point to a complex future for the country's orphans as the government struggles to implement additional means of foster care even as it tries to encourage more Russians to adopt.
According to the U.S. State Department, which released figures for the 2008 fiscal year, the number of foreign children adopted by Americans fell by 12 percent.
In 2008, there were 17,438 adoptions for abroad, while there were 19,613 in 2007. Much of this decline is due to fewer adoptees from Russia and China. Although Russia has not yet released statistics for 2008, the numbers from previous years confirm the trend.
There were 6,689 foreign adoptions in 2006, and only 4,536 in 2007 - a decline of over 30 percent - according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Education and Science, which is responsible for developing adoption programs and legislation in the country.
The United States is the chief destination for Russia's foreign adoptees - in 2006, American parents adopted 3,468 children, making up well over half of the total number of foreign adoptions.
But these numbers do not indicate that Russians are adopting more children. Of the adoptees, the share of those who remain in Russia has increased - from 7,767 in 2006 to 9,537 in 2007. But overall adoptions decreased in 2007 by about 3 percent. Indeed, the number of adopted children peaked in 2004 at 16,434, and has been declining ever since.
This is explainable by foster care programs. While adoptions declined, there has been a rise in the number of children in new, alternative foster care initiatives. Whi­le not adoptions formally, these included various kinds of foster care in which a child lives with a guardian or a family that is paid by the government. There are at least three kinds of foster categories apart from adoption. Although the government officially considers adoptions the best option for orphans, it has opted to develop these programs to bring down the number of children without parents.
Since 2006, more stringent laws regulating foreign adoptions have gone into effect. According to Yekaterina Bridge of the World Association for Children and Parents, that has meant more paperwork.
"In 2007, adoption agencies were getting accreditation based on new rules, and that has led to fewer adoptions," she told The Moscow News.
"The first accreditations were received only in June, 2007, and this caused a delay."
Explaining the decline in the number of adoptions, Bridge cited alternative forms of foster care, but noted that these forms had their drawbacks.
"Local officials in the provinces are wary of developing foster care because of the money issue. They fear children could be taken advantage of for the government subsidies."
While she said her agency was supportive of the government efforts to develop newer forms of foster care, she cited the latest figures for children without parents as "staggering."
As of December 31, 2007, 171,044 children were listed in the official adoption data base.
Officials acknowledge the need to encourage more Russians to adopt.
"Adoption is the top priority in placing children with families," says Alexandra Ochi­rova, who chairs the Public Cham­ber's Commission on Social and De­mographic Policy.
"But the statistics do not show that the problem is being solved. Since not enough children are being adopted, other forms of foster care are being offered."
Ochirova does not believe that foreign adoptions will solve the problem, however.
"There are various points of view, and the interests of the child should be put first," she told The Moscow News. "But I believe that this problem should be solved inside the country. This doesn't mean we should have a ban on international adoptions, but considering the demographic situation, it would be good to make the population better prepared to adopt Russian children."
Ochirova says that raising awareness, advertising, and easing bureaucracy would lead to more adoptions. There are many Russians willing to adopt, she says, but they are daunted by the bureaucratic process.

LOVE

Love... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. - 1 Corinthians 13:7
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves."-- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7