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.
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