Putting Ukraine Behind Us and Moving Forward

Well, we received our money from our Ukraine facilitator this evening - praise God! Thanks to everyone who lifted us up in your prayers because this was a huge relief for us. It is wonderful to know that we can move forward in our adoption journey and leave our Ukraine worries behind us. The first half of our journey taught us a lot about each other, other people, and most of all - to rely on God.

We are so relieved to know that we no longer have to tangle with our facilitator. I'm sure he's just as glad to be done with our family as we are to be done with him. I only wish that Ukraine would do more to unite forever families. Our prayers will forever be with the orphans of Ukraine.

America World Goes To Bat For Us

On Monday evening, we received an e-mail from America World stating that we were in fact only going to receive the lessened amount due to an error in communication. Well, this didn't sit too well with us - "oops" just wasn't going to cut it. So, late that evening (after tempers had cooled), I sent an e-mail back to America World detailing why were so upset. There was a lot that went on from mid-Dec. of 2007 until we exited the program in mid-April of 2008 that has not been discussed with the general public.

We spent A LOT of money completely redoing our home study and dossier at the instruction of Yuri (our facilitator) and our family coordinator (who has since left AWAA). We didn't find out until the end of March that in early Dec., Yuri had received a letter stating that we were not going to be given a child matching our request and that updated docs weren't going to be accepted. The kicker for us is that while he received the letter in December, we were not told about it and even after we received our copy (in Urkainian) and faxed it to him in March, he still never informed us of the contents. Both our family coordinator and Yuri knew that we were alarmed because of not knowing the contents, however our questions to them were not answered. All we heard from America World is that everything was fine and not to worry but no specifics were given - I'm not even sure that our family coordinator knew of the actual content of the letter. Fortunately, we were able to have the letter translated locally, so we knew the contents at that point in time. If only we would have known back in December what was happening with our case, we would have switched countries back then and not paid to redo the dossier for Ukraine. Frustrations, frustrations...the sad part is, the person the only person in Ukraine that we thought we could truly trust was the one who caused the frustration because he was not straightforward with us.

I just spoke with an America World representative who stated that until she received our rather detailed e-mail that she had no idea of all that our family went through. Unfortunately, when she was given our file before our family coordinator left the agency, she was only given the bare basics. I am thank to report that Yuri is going to agree to pay $400.00 more than he last stated and America World is going to credit to our Ethiopian adoption the remaining $600.00. We sincerely appreciate America World going to bat for us with Yuri as well as picking-up the slack.

I did ask the AWAA rep. as to whether or not they will continue to use Yuri's services and was told that at this time, the Ukraine program is not moving nor is it expected to move anytime soon. Over the last several months, Ukraine has gotten worse, not better, so the agency does not foresee new families entering the program. If Ukraine begins to move in a positive direction and the program is revitalized, then IF they consider using Yuri's services again, there will be a lot tighter restrictions on when he receives money from a family. I was told that a lot will change IF that happens but right now, that is not even on the radar. If it were me, I would not use his services ever again, however when I voiced that opinion, I was told that he has been an agent for AWAA for several years and it is not until now that they have started experiencing problems with his services however the agency has learned a lot through our experience.

For us, we are glad to put this scenario behind us. We should receive our money soon (by the end of the week we are told), so I am looking forward to posting that our business in Ukraine is complete!

Thank you America World for standing by us!

Thank you, family and friends, for all your prayers.

Be Careful With Facilitators

As you may know from reading our Ethiopian blog, we were supposed to receive a refund on June 1, 2008, from our Ukrainian facilitator, Yuri S,, for funds that he was paid to complete our adoption. Whereas we never received a child, our adoption was not completed and the funds were not earned. When we were urged by America World to withdraw from the program, we were told a specific sum that would be returned to us by Yuri. Since early April, we have received a lot of runaround about our money. Our family coordinator ended-up telling me that the money was no longer available, so Yuri was going to have to wait until another family arrived in-country to use the money that they paid him in order to pay us. Now, in America, if that's the way that I handled a client's money, I would be disbarred. Obviously, Ukraine does not adhere to the ethical principles that our country has adopted.

We received an e-mail from America World on Friday afternoon stating that Yuri wanted an extension until the end of August. As a courtesy, if we would grant the extension, he stated that he would "give" us $400.00 as interest. Get this, the e-mail quoted a refund amount $1,000.00 less than that which was promised to us! Fortunately, I still have the e-mails that our family coordinator and I exchanged in which the amount that we were originally promised was clearly stated. I immediately responded to the e-mail and expressed my great concern over this matter. I followed-up with a phone call to America World and after giving my name and why I was calling, I was placed on hold for a significant period of time before being told that the individual I needed to speak with had left for the day. The frustration was mounting very quickly by this point! I faxed copies of the e-mail to America World. Later that evening, I received an e-mail reply from America World stating that they would look into the matter. I feel great compassion for the young lady who replaced our family coordinator because she is now involved in a matter that she had absolutely nothing to do with is having to deal with very upset families and a facilitator who apparently is the person that we all initially thought he was.

When we were in Ukraine last November, we told Yuri that the international adoption world is very small thanks to the internet. He just laughed and said that he didn't think so. We told him that we had connected with families all across the world and that many of us were following each other's journey. Actually, since returning from Ukraine, we have been contacted by 6 families who were either using Yuri's services or were thinking about using him. A reputation is easily damaged and not so easy to restore. I truly don't think he realizes that it's not funny to mess with adoptions because when he does, he is striking at the core of a family - their hearts and children. If anyone out there is thinking about using Yuri, be very, very careful. Times are getting hard in Ukraine and with the lifestyle that he enjoys - your money is a precious commodity that is greatly desired. I urge you - BE CAREFUL!

Well, it's almost 3:30 p.m. on Monday and I haven't heard a peep from anyone. I am hoping that is because America World is earnestly trying to resolve this problem. I was so mad on Friday that I was seeing red. My frustration wasn't so much at AWAA as it was at Yuri because we are so tired of being jerked around. Another family who is in the same boat as we are made a good point - since Yuri had already spent all our money, then how was he going to pay the "fees" that were necessary in order to get us a good referral and complete the adoption? I pity any family that is using them because if he is going to have to use their money in order to refund us, then how is he going to pay the "fees" associated with their adoption?!

Just two weeks ago, Yuri sent us an e-mail stating that he would have no trouble getting us our money by last week because he had 2 families who were coming-in for appointments. What happened there? If we agree to wait until August, our fear is that we will only be put-off again.

I have a simple solution to this - if America World trusts him and thinks that he will indeed provide the money, then credit our account so that we do not have to pay the fee due upon referral or the travel package - that's an even trade for the amount we're owed. It would be nice to be able to put the money back into a CD to gain interest while we wait for our referral, but at least with my solution we will know that we will get our money.

Please pray for a very speedy resolution to this problem. We want to put our Ukraine experience as far behind us as possible. We need closure. We'll never stop praying for the orphans, however it is time for us to move forward.