[verukasalt]

We were told today by the agency we will most likely select for our adoption that we may request certain regions in Russia. They work with about 14. I'm wondering if any of you have feedback on why we would go with one region over another. We plan to adopt a Caucasian baby boy.

Any feedback you can provide is very appreciated!

[Amysue1112]

Hello!
We waited a long time in Kemerovo for a young girl referral..then we moved to Izhevsk. It was a wonderful region, the judge was fantastic and appeared personally interested in us and our little girl. It was common for the 10 days to be waived but I don't think it is that way now.

Things to consider..

location of the region...do you mind in country flights?Is

Is it adoption friendly? There are some regions that encourage adoptions, others that are very difficult

How long is the "typical" wait between trips? Ours was only 6 weeks, some wait many months.

Typical length of court...some it is an hour, others it goes on for days

If you want a "young" child, how many baby homes are in the region? Some have lots and some only a few

Some regions have you do the 8 doctor medical in Russia, other regions let you do it in the US (I think..maybe that has changed).

Your case manager should be able to guide you as to which regions would be best for you.
However, there are some that are known to be more difficult..the problem is, things change. Some that used to be good are bad and some (like our region) used to be "unstable" but now is very good.

When you narrow it down, you could post them for more info or join a yahoo group.

Good luck!

[kretzklan]

Our children are from Kemerovo and we've traveled to both the city and a near by town called Novokuznetsk. The judge in Kemerovo was a huge help to us...but things are constantly changing. As Amy said, your case manager should be able and should want to guide you...

[lakimnafite]

I agree with the others. Amysue gave a great checklist. Once you have narrowed it down a bit with your agency, come back with specific regions.

We went to Astrakhan and it was wonderful. There were 10 families back there in the last month or so - so it's still a hopping region. We couldn't be happier with our daughter

[Ebadge90]

We also went to the Kemerovo region, and to the city of Novokuznetsk also. We were told by our agency that it is the same judge all the time, and that all waiting periods had been waived. But that was in November of 2006. Things may have changed since then.
The region, however, is a 4 hour flight from Moscow, with another 4 hour time change. So getting to and form the region, as well as the time change for you and you new child would also be something to consider.

[marjo]

Another person who loved Kemerovo. But the downside is that traveling there can be tiring because you have the extra flights and they don't have hotels with all the amenities like a Marriott in Moscow. On our first trip we flew the overnight flight, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and then went straight to the orphanage to meet our referral. We were so tired afterwards my husband and I could barely keep our eyes open on the drive back from the orphanage.

Kemerovo was a great city, I felt safe there and the people we met there were nice. Our daughter was in Polysaevo orphanage and the orphanage was only a few years old and was cleaner and more modern than we expected. Also we got lucky because our agency squeezed us in as the last court date on the Friday before the judge's vacation, I don't think we were in court more than 10 minutes total.

But unfortunately things change so much in Russia, a region that is adoption friendly one year can be different the next.

[angelkisses0102]

Do you know what regions your agency works in? It also depends on what is important to you. Are you willing to travel in country? Health of referral? 10 days waived? Expense of region? Time between trips? Your willingness to wait for a referral that meets your needs?

For us, we did not request a region for our 1st adoption and really didn't care where we went and ended up in the middle of Siberia (Tomsk.) For our 2nd, we did request a region (Samara) based on our experience in the first region and the fact that we had a child waiting at home for us now.

Tomsk was very tough, but beautiful...and our daughter is the most perfect child for us. Samara was a super easy, adoption friendly region...but adoptions slowed and almost completely stopped for a few months. They just recently opened up again. Our son in the light of my life.

There is no one perfect region...and as the others said, things change all the time. Some families are willing to wait, some aren't. Some go to the tougher regions because of the thoughts of the kids 'left behind.' Some need a healthier referral...some don't. Some don't like to travel outside of the major cities...some like the 'adventure'...

Best of luck to you in your journey.

[Kasey]

I think everyone explained it pretty well to you. Do you have to choose a region with this agency? I know we didn't but you could request one but that may make your wait longer.

We had a great experience in Kirov in 2004 (very quick and smooth process), 2 weeks between court, 10 days waived. Seems it is still moving similarily now. train ride from moscow (overnight)

Last year Oct/Nov 2006, Murmansk was wonderful, smooth process, great region to stay in. Flight from Moscow 2 hours 15 minutes. 1 month between trips, 10 days waived. We actually went into this adoption not wanting a region we had to fly to, then our son's situation came up so we went for it.

[rejola]

We went to Pskov and had a great experience. Had to wait the 10 days but there were a lot of interesting things to do. We pretty much walked the entire city of Pskov while we were there. Not much English was spoken but we got along great by pointing to things we wanted to eat, drink, etc.

Our little boy was 15 months old when we came home. He was VERY healthy and well-cared for. (We've been home 6 months.) Had to take a 12 hour train ride but it was very pleasant. You travel at night from Moscow to Pskov and from Pskov back to Moscow. We slept very well on the trains and so did Alex coming back. So, don't let a train-ride scare you away!

Things are not always up to American standards; however, it was a great learning experience and we wouldn't trade it for the world....maybe we could do without the bedbugs at the hotel we stayed at....but we think that was kind of an isolated experience. It was all SO worth it! NO REGRETS!

Thanks,
Rex & Jocelyn

[Katie63011]

I would tell you to avoid Ekat at all costs. I know three families who never got their children home as it is not an adoption friendly region.

Perm is a difficult region with regards to ppwk in comparison to others.

[NewNCDaddy]

Unless something has changed since last August, avoid Perm at all costs. We were sent over on a "blind referral" because our agency (World Links) wanted us in country before regulations changed in September. We were assured that tons of kids were coming into the system then and siblings should not be a problem. When we arrived, we were referred to an unfortunate 2 1/2 year old boy with severe genetic dysmorphisms due to FAS. We were then told that a 14 month old boy was available, but he was 2 months preemie and unable to sit up. Our doctor in the US recommended that we not meet this child. We were then told about 5 and 8 year old brothers but were then told we were not eligible for them because our home study approved us for children 3 and under only. We were then told that no more kids were available. After some frantic calls to our agency, we agreed to take a six hour ride by car to Izhevsk to work with another agency to Izhevsk. This was an incredible experience. In ONE DAY they obtained a referral for us with a beautiful, energetic 15 month old girl. We could have received a second referral if we were able to stay in Izhevsk a couple more days. The people in Izhevsk (Alexander and Julia) affiliated with the Cradle are the absolute best. Adoption was completed in mid-October. The judge was OK but she grilled me for over an hour and barely asked my wife anything (I think she knew I was an attorney and wanted to have some fun) and the prosecutor and orphanage director were helpful. The only downside -- Izhevsk was expensive. Facilitator fee was $18K, which was 4-5 times what it would have been in Perm. Moreover, World Links expected us to pay their program fee ($10.5K) on to the Izhevsk facilitator fee after leading us by the hand into the debacle that was Perm, but that is a different discussion in a different forum.

[NCFamily]

OUr son is from Taganrog, which is the Rostov-on-don administrative region. We had a wonderful experiene and would highly recommend the area.

Rostov is a couple of hour flight from Moscow. Taganrog was about an hour drive from Rostov.

The town of Rostov-on-don is fairly large and lent itself well to roaming and idling away the down time. Lots of restaurants, altough the language barrier is a bit of a pain. Most of the restaurants had the menu printed in Russian and English. The wait staff usually did not speak english but we got by just fine with pointing at the menu. The local McDonalds had cards with the menu in english and we used that as our "comfort food". But the local restaurants had great food. Lots of open air markets. The town folks were very nice and helpful in the shops. We walked along the Don river several times.

Overall thought we got a fairly decent feel for the country and people.

Our son was very well cared for, the orphanage was very clean and the staff was very nice.

We would highly recommend the area.

[Annabell]

Hi -

We adopted a long time ago from the Vladimir region (Alexandrov, to be precise). It was about a 2-3 hour drive up the old Siberian highway from Moscow. (Would not have taken as long but for the Moscow traffic and icy roads).

Court was very smooth and the prosecutor and judge both kind and nice. Our 10 days were waived. The home director was very polite and kindly -- genuinely happy for our DD.

The home itself, however, was really run-down and in poor condition. While the doctor and director's office was clean and nice, we were never allowed to see anything else, and by the smell of things and the shrieks and wailing from behind closed doors, we think it was not so clean and nice elsewhere. Our daughter was in very poor physical condition, with multiple treatable (but untreated) illnesses. Malnutrition was severe. She had suspicious bruises on her head.

The female doctor was a volatile drunk (half-empty vodka bottle in plain view) who screamed at us, just before we left with DD, for inquiring as to whether DD drank from a bottle.

Of course, today our DD is tall and healthy and bright and well-behaved and kind and absolutely model-like gorgeous and a very talented dancer.

So keep in mind that from some pretty inauspicious beginnings, wonderful, wonderful children emerge.

Good luck in your journey!

[marjo]

I wanted to add to keep in mind that you may wait longer for a referral if you pick a popular adoption-friendly region. At the time of our adoption we had a much longer wait for a referral because a lot of families from our agency were waiting for referrals from the same region/orphanage.

[Traci Major]

We adopted our daughter a year ago, April 4th from the Samara region. She was in a Baby Home in Tolyatti, a one and half hour drive from Samara. Samara is also a one and half hour flight from Moscow. The adoption took place in Samara. We loved this region. Known to be adoption friendly, but adoptions slowed to a stop from August 2006, until about a month ago. Hopefully everything will get back on track. Our daughter was in a well kept Baby Home and the staff really did seem to care for them. The 5 other children that were also adopted at the same time as our daughter, are also doing very well now.

Will tell you that of the 6 children adopted from this Baby Home, 4 of them are considered caucasion/asian. Darker eyes, hair and skin.
The other 2, boys, do appear caucasion.

Good luck.