Our Kazakhstan Adoption

Hello, We are Joe and Steph - a couple with a young biological son who have made the decision to adopt a child from Kazakhstan. Joe also has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage. Rather than infertility, we are adopting "by choice". We made this decision after much thought and research. There are so many children in the world that need a loving home. We hope this blog will keep our friends/family informed of our progress along the way!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Off for translation

Our dossier was sent to the agency and after review, it is now ready to go for translation. The only thing noted upon review by the agency was that our Home Study agency's license expires 10/15/06! So, I had to contact them for an updated copy and should have that in the next week or two. Boy, did I breathe a sigh of relief that everything else looked OK!

We also got big news from the agency - Our little guy (I'll refer to him as IK which are his initials) has a 5 year old brother that is also available for adoption. However, the two of them have never known one another. IK has been in the baby home since his discharge from the hospital at birth and due to their ages, they are not in the same place. We have been offered the opportunity to adopt the brother also (only extra cost would be the paperwork change and $2000 extra coordinator's fee). But, with a heavy heart I had to tell them that we just cannot parent 3 little boys ages 3, 4, and 5 at this time. If circumstances were different - if I did not work and/or if they were all older school-age we might could do it. But I feel it would not be fair to any of them to not be able to provide the individual attention they need and deserve. It REALLY makes me sad to have to turn him down. He is reportedly healthy - she is still working on getting more information on him. She did offer to try to find him a family that would wish to stay in contact with us. I would not want IK to grow up wondering where his siblings are. He is actually the third delivery for the mom and we do not know the whereabouts of the 3rd child.

If anyone reading this is interested in adopting a 5 year old from Kaz. please let me know!

Now I'm working on assembling the items on my packing list and going through my other "to-do" list of things to get ready for the trip. We also need to order the bunkbeds we have picked out and get the new bedroom for the boys painted and ready.
So much to do, but we are on our way!