[amygp]

We are in the process of adopting a little boy from the Krasnodar region (specifically, Armavir). We have made our first trip (10/24-11/1) and are waiting for our court date to return for our son. I would love to hear from anyone who's at the same point in the process in the Krasnodar region. How long does it usually take to get the court date?

[lakimnafite]

Our first trip to Kras region was just before yours! We went to Novorassiysk. As you have probably heard, Kras is one of the regions with a quota of international adoptions each year, and the quota was met. We will not get court dates until next year. Because of the holiday closures, it will be mid-January at the earliest. Would love to compare Kras experiences! PM me if interested

[trwoods]

We adopted a beautiful baby girl from the Armavir orphanage in 1992. Dr. Vyacheslav was wonderful! Now we plan to return next year with our little Nicki. Do you have any way of communicating with the orphanage except by snail mail? We'd love to set up an appointment, but can't seem to make contact. Blessings on your own journey!
Tony & Marsha

[DelMarie]

We met our daughter in October of 2004 when she was 8 months old and were told we'd come back quickly (actually had a court date set for Dec) but the MOE shut down just before our trip. The resulting backlog caused us to be delayed. It was the longest wait of our lives-we were miserable! We finally brought our daughter home in June of 2005-8 long months since we had met her.

We truly felt our case worker in Krasnodar was the one who advocated and pleaded for our court date. SHe was absolutely GREAT!

We stayed with the same host family and absolutely loved that experience. WE traveled in pleasant weather both trips and enjoyed strolling the park by the Kuban river and seeing the local sites with our host family.

We'd love to go back for the SOCHI winter olympics and visit the Krasnodar hospital our daughter had been in (the baby homes were too crowded so she never left the hospital).

Sorry not a recent experience but love to hear of other families going to Krasnodar region. De Ja Vu!

DelMarie

[trwoods]

Thank you, DelMarie, for those encouraging words. It's such a joy to know we were not alone in our Armavir adventure. You mentioned a host family. Do you have any contact details of anyone we might get in touch with for translation and possibly stayover? We plan to go next June, possibly with a film crew who would like to make a documentary of the event. Thanks again!
Tony and Marsha

[DelMarie]

Our caseworker and/or her assistant would possibly be able to assist, I will see if I can get a hold of her website address. She also has a website set up to advocate for kids in orphanages-fund raising, building playground, etc...

Unfortunately, we've been told that because the Krasnodar adoptions have slowed considerably, the folks who helped us in 2005 have mostly moved on to other avenues of employment.

If I can get any contact info I will forward it to you via PM.

On a side note-we are a little upset with ourselves that we have not made better attempts to stay in touch with the Russian folks who so touched our lives and helped us bring our daughter home. At first, within the first year or so we tried snail mail-with no luck, phoning our host family, sending e-mails which are not reliable, and after time just felt too much time had passed. Would love to get some photos to them so they could see before and after photos-as our daughter has grown and developed so much over the past 3 years.