U.S. Department of State

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine :


This information is addressed to the U.S. prospective adoptive parents who have the registered dossiers at the Ukrainian State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child (SDAPRC) and have confirmed their intention to adopt from Ukraine .  As we stated in our September 27, 2006 notice, the SDAPRC asked all registered families to submit their updated adoption documents to the SDAPRC before October 15, 2006. This request was based on Ukrainian legislation and recommendation by the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine.

Starting October 16, 2006, the SDAPRC has begun the process of checking all registered dossiers to assess which ones have not been updated. The SDAPRC intends to first cancel the registrations of families who never submitted a notice (as the SDAPRC requested in July) that they intended to continue with their adoptions.   The dossiers of families who indicated an interest in continuing with their adoption but whose documents have expired will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Even though the deadline for submission of expired documents has passed, the SDAPRC will continue accepting mailed documents from the registered families.  However, if the documents arrive at the SDAPRC after the registration has been cancelled, it will not be reinstated.  At this time, we do not know how much time will actually be required before the first dossiers will be deregistered and returned to families. The Embassy does not have the list of the dossiers that will be affected by this process.

Although the Embassy is not able to provide information on the status of any specific case, we will continue following this issue closely and will provide updates as appropriate.