What Adoptive Parents Can Do When You Are Waiting For Your Adoption From Ukraine?
The adoption process, and Ukraine is no exception, is filled with rushing after paper work – adoption home study, USCIS adoption processing, endless fingerprints and finally, your Ukrainian adoption dossier. Then, all of a sudden, you have nothing to do but wait! Since the adoption process is so filled with emotion – excitement, anxiety, worry, impatience… and so many more, it is easy for this waiting period to make you crazy. But, there is a lot you can do to make waiting for your adoption productive and much less painless and insure that you will thank yourself for what you did during this waiting period after your adoptive child or children come home from Ukraine.
The most valuable investment you as a parent can make for your Ukrainian adoption:
• Learn the adoptive child’s language. In Ukraine, most children available for adoption will speak Russian. Your ability to communicate intimately with your adopted child from the first moment you meet them will go a long ways to making an immediate connection. Remember how overwhelming the adoption process if for you and must be for them. Make it as easy as possible.
• Learn the language so you can understand your child’s needs: when are they hungry, thirty, tired, or need to go to the bathroom?
• Speaking a bit of Russian will also help you bond with your adopted child, by removing a major communication barrier.
• You will enjoy your time with your child more if you can understand each other. It will reduce frustration.
• Bring a Russian/English dictionary with you so an older adopted child can point to words you don’t know.
• Learn the language to help you get around easier during your stay in Ukraine.
• You don’t need to be fluent. Memorize key phrases and if you can learn the alphabet, you will be surprised that many words, if you can sound them out, you will be able to guess the meaning as they sound similar to English words.
• Each person learns differently. There are free and paid programs on the internet, you can hire a tutor in person or on Skype, or buy a book to follow. Just remember, anything you do is much better than nothing.
Super fun preparation for adopting a child:
• Prepare a bedroom for your new adopted child or children
• Register at children’s stores. Even though you may not know Business in Ukraine the age or sex of your adopted child, as soon as you know you will need a lot of clothes and accessories. Your friends and relatives are likely as excited as you are about your new adoption. Let them help you get what you will need. As soon as you know sizes and what not, you can get online in Ukraine and post what you need at the stores where you are registered.
• Find consignment stores in your area that sell children’s clothing and mention these in your communications or adoption shower announcements. The majority of children adopted internationally will grow very fast once they have a wonderful diet and lots of love. This means they will grow out of things quickly! You and your loved ones will get a lot for the money and most of the clothes are only lightly used.
• There may be a friend or someone at your church with a ton of hand-me-down clothes you would love. Ask around and when you know sizes, you can email them from Ukraine.