Hi - I'm hoping there's somebody out there who can point me in the right direction regarding adopting in Moldova. I live in Greece and would like to have a contact name and number in Moldava if possible. How long does it take? How much does it cost? Is is possible to adopt an infant? I would love to hear some happy stories.

Any information would be very much appreciated as I don't know exactly how to proceed.

Mary

Is there nobody out there who has any information!!???

Mary

[debra.cope]

Mary:

I've been very interested in Moldova, too. Unfortunately, adoptions from that country appear to have ground to a halt over the past year. My agency (based in Massachusetts) has had a fairly active Moldova program in the past, and they were hoping to have reaccreditation this autumn, but it has not happened yet. They recently changed their Web site to indicate that the program is closed.

A friend of mine adopted her daughter from Moldova 5 years ago and is involved in fundraising for the orphanages there. If you'd like, I can gauge her willingness to chat. She is not active on this list.

Another option would be to try and talk to people at some of the U.S. agencies that have had Moldova programs in the past. I can't name my agency because of the rules on this list, but you should be able to find it fairly quickly by typing a few key words into your web browser. "Moldova" and "Adoption" will turn up a few U.S. agencies, and from there you can look for the Massachusetts one I am working with. I'm sure they would tell you as much as they can about the situation there.

The children from Moldova are gorgeous, and from what I have heard the orphanages there are quite good. I wish you luck as you move forward! I'm focusing on Russia for now, but will switch to Moldova if the opportunity presents itself.

Oh, one thing I did hear is that Moldova is thinking of closing its programs to single parents. I'm not sure if that would affect you (it would affect me) and I can't confirm that it is true. It's just one of the snippets I've picked up.

Best of luck!

Debra

[Sienna3]

Just for the record, Moldova was on a moratorium and last year was the first year of placements post-moratorium. Twelve kids were placed in the 4 last months of the year to the US. In 2001, before the moratorium, 46 kids were placed.The most ever placed to the US was in 1995 at 98. This year there *are* kids being adopted to the US, estimated to be at least 40. That includes kids under 2. Debra is correct that not every agency is getting referrals this year. Some are, though.Reaccreditation has been difficult for the agencies that got accredited postmoratorium.There were new US agencies in 2004 that got their initial accreditation.

Debra & Sienna,
Thank you so much for getting back to me. Although I am a US citizen, I now reside in Greece and my husband is a Greek citizen - so I don't know how to approach the whole Moldova adotion process thru here.

Debra- if your friend is willing to talk to me via email... that would be great as any info would be invaluable. Please feel free to give her my email at marysw@ mailbox.gr.

Good luck to you both - and if you have any more info to pass on - it would be more than welcome!!!


Mary

[wlbooklady]

Mary,
My supervisor just adopted 3 children from Moldova, and I'm afraid it wasn't a good experience. It started as a host family last summer; they weren't really considering adoption, just being hosts. After having the 3 siblings for 2 weeks (1 girl, 2 boys, about 7-9 years old), they wanted to adopt! On the last day before the children were to leave, they were told that most of the children weren't yet eligible to be adopted (WHY did they send them then?!). This was only the beginning of a year-long nightmare for them. Apparently Moldova is very poor and VERY CORRUPT. After going to court in May and being told they were the children's parents, when they went back to pick them up, which should have taken only a week, they were stalled at every step along the way. Apparently someone who worked in the govt. office in charge of adoptions had a relative working for/with an Italian agency; other couples in Italy had been promised the children, even though it would mean splitting them up (my friend wanted all 3) and my co-worker had already been to court. It seemed like everything there was who you know. She was there for over a month on tenderhooks if she would get to bring the children home. Finally she did, but she had so many horror stories along the way, I would NOT recommend adopting from Moldova if you could possibly go elsewhere. It's a shame, because ultimately the children are the ones who suffer, but after seeing what she went through, I just wouldn't want you to put yourself through that. I'll give her your e-mail and ask if she'd be comfortable sharing with you. Good luck!

Thank you for passing on my email to your supervisor - she has been in touch.

Mary

[Sienna3]

I just want to comment on hosting programs for Moldova. No *accredited* agency hosts children from Moldova. Some other organizations have hosted kids, but the problem was that these organizations did not know the adoption laws of Moldova and I agree that these kids should not have been granted visas to begin with.Trying to adopt a child from this circumstance is *entirely different* than going through the legal channels set up by the country, which is using an accredited agency *from the start*.No person adopting from Moldova who has used an accredited agency *from the start* has had this situation happen to them.

Some accredited agencies did step in to help families caught in this hosting situation, even though that situation was not caused by the accredited agency.

The laws say that the child has to be domestically offered for 6 months and then is placed on an International Register. So the hosted kids had not been through that legal channel.

Moral of the story:Know the laws and don't try to skirt them or you will be in a high-risk situation.