Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine:

This information is based on the official notice received by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine from the central adoption authority of Ukraine - State Department for Adoptions and Protection of the Rights of the Child (SDAPRC), informing us of the resumption of acceptance of new adoption dossiers from all non-Ukrainian prospective adoptive parents starting December 19, 2006.

The new adoption dossiers can be submitted to the SDAPRC by the local adoption service providers having Powers of Attorney from American prospective adoptive parents. These dossiers will be checked for completeness within a period of five to ten working days. If any mistakes are found the dossiers will be returned to the person holding the family’s Power of Attorney. If the dossier conforms to all requirements, the person holding the family’s Power of Attorney will receive a confirmation of registration along with an appointment letter from the SDAPRC. The dossiers can be submitted by the local adoption service providers with Power-of-Attorneys every Tuesday and Thursday from 3 pm to 5 pm, by appointment only. To make an appointment for submission of adoption dossiers local adoption facilitators should call the SDAPRC at: 38-044-278-4045 on any working day, from 3 pm to 6 pm. Each adoption service provider can submit up to two dossiers every month. At the moment, the appointments can be made only for the period from December, 2006 to February, 2007. Please note that the U.S. Embassy cannot submit or in any way assist American adoptive parents in submission of their adoption dossiers to the SDAPRC.

The SDAPRC takes this opportunity to remind prospective adoptive parents about the paperwork requirements for the adoption dossiers. The following documents must be part of the adoption application (dossier) submitted to the SDAPRC (this list with more details is available on our website at: http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html ):

1. Application for the SDAPRC with the request to be registered as prospective adopting parents
2. Proof of income: a statement from adopting parents’ employer indicating salary or a copy of W-2 forms or tax returns. To avoid confusion, please do NOT copy blank pages of tax returns.
3. Copy of the marriage certificate (if applicable).
4. Medical form.
5. Notarized consent for adoption from a second adopting parent, if only one of the parents will be adopting the child.
6. "No criminal record" statement supplied by a competent authority for each adopting parent, attesting that he or she has no criminal record at the state level. Statements from the city or county level are not accepted by the Ukrainian authorities. If the criminal background check statement is issued by the local sheriff/police office (not state authorities), it should clearly indicate that each prospective adopting parent has no criminal record in the state of his or her residence.
7. Home Study, issued by a competent authority in the adopting parents" country, attesting to their eligibility, specifying their housing and living conditions, containing their curriculum vitae, presence of biological children and other information. If a home study is issued by a non-governmental entity (a private agency or social worker), a copy of the license authorizing this entity to conduct pre-adoption reviews must be attached.
8. Entrance and permanent residence permit for the adopted child, issued by the competent authority in the adopting parents" country. For American citizens, the Form I-171H, Notice of Approval of Advance Processing issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) serves as this document.
9. Copies of the passports or other identification papers of prospective adopting parents.
10. Commitment to register their adopted child with the Ukrainian Embassy or Consulate in their new home country within one month of the completion of adoption. Adopting parents also agree to supply information about the adopted child"s living conditions and educational progress to the Ukrainian consular office at least annually during the first 3 years following the adoption. Under Ukrainian law, an adopted child remains a Ukrainian citizen until age 18, at which time the child can decide to remain a Ukrainian citizen.

In addition to these documents, the SDAPRC recommends to submit the documents to confirm that the prospective adoptive parents own a residence, or have a rental agreement. Ukrainian local courts usually request such documents in adoption cases.

All U.S. documents submitted to the Ukrainian government/court must bear the seal of the issuing office and an apostille affixed by the state"s Secretary of State (an apostille is a special seal applied to a document to certify that a document is a true copy of an original). The SDAPRC requires that all the documents submitted in the adoption dossier remain valid for at least another six months from the date they are submitted to the SDAPRC (according to Ukrainian law, all official documents remain valid for 12 months; the only exception is made for I-171H or I-797C Approval Notices, considered valid for 18 months from the I-600A approval date).

The SDAPRC will de-register all adoption dossiers, even if one document has expired without a prior notice.

To speed up the process of acceptance and checking of the adoption dossiers, the SDAPRC has requested the adoption service providers who will submit the adoption dossiers from American prospective adoptive parents to follow the following recommendations:

1. Each dossier must be submitted in a separate folder. On the outer side of the folder please indicate the country of residence, full names of prospective adoptive parents. Please indicate the list of documents being submitted on the inner side of the folder.
2. Each document should have its name, written in pencil on the top right corner (for example, medical certificate of the father, license, etc).
3. A copy of the Power of Attorney and passport of the local person named on the Power of Attorney should be added to the dossier.
4. The application of the prospective adoptive parents with the request to be registered as prospective adopting parents should contain its full address, email address and phone number.

The dossiers from U.S. adoptive parents should be submitted in the red folders.

This information is based on official information received from the SDAPRC. If you have any questions specific to your case, we recommend you to contact your local adoption facilitator or U.S. adoption service provider.