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Welcome
Welcome! Nice to see a fellow adoptive parent who is getting an older child.
I adopted my daughter from Russia in 2004 when she was 13. I am in the process if adopting a 10 year old boy from Kazakhstan.
My best advice is to educate yourself now about issues your new son will face. I did lots of reading but nothing really prepared me for my daughter.
You MUST learn some basic Russian. It's not as hard as it looks. You will need to be able to say thing to your boy like "Are you hungry?" "Go to bed" "brush your teeth" etc.
Get ready to teach him English. There's a computer program called Rush into English, plus get him a Leap Pad and a good dictionary. Get books for little kids, designed to teach them letters, numbers, colors, etc. YOU will need to teach him - don't rely on the school.
Talk to the school where you plan to send him, and find out what kind of ESL help he will get, if they will test him in Russian initially, etc.
Get ready for a child who will be in total culture shock and will need reassurance, will need you to explain to him about living in a family, etc. I have written a book from the viewpoint of a 9 year old boy adopted from Russia, and I am publishing it myself. It's in Russian and in English. PM me if you'd like to know more.
It won't be easy, but you will find lots of help and advice here, and I will be happy to help in any way I can.
Dee
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