Russia Accreditation
Adoption Associates, Inc. is now permanently licensed to work in Russia, receiving a non-expiring license in July of 2007. As of October 2007, we are one of only 12 accredited U.S. agencies. There has never been a better time to start a Russia adoption! Visit our Russia program section or request a free information packet today!
July 20, 2007
Adoption Associates, Inc. has received reaccreditation from Russia! Visit our news item for more information.
July 10, 2007
Our Russia adoption program remains active! The statistics from the last four months prove this fact; AAI has had 31 families make first trips to Russia and 35 additional families attend court hearings, which resulted in 42 children being united with their forever families!
We currently have an immediate need for families for boys ages 18 months and older. If you are interested, or if you know of someone who is, please contact Alla Goncharova at 616.667.0921 for more information.
Russia has started the reaccreditation process. If you’re concerned about the Russia program’s accreditation status, consider taking advantage of the temporary refund policy that AAI is offering. Please see our news item on this topic to learn more.
June 7, 2007
AAI is currently offering a temporary refund option to families who formally apply to the Russia program between June 1 and August 31, 2007. Please see our news item for further details.
April 6, 2007
AAI’s Russia program certainly never has a dull moment! It often seems like the most steady and predictable feature of this program is its interesting dynamics!
One such dynamic is that families preparing for recent court hearings may have received unexpected requests for documents by Russian judges. If you have received an “unusual request,” this is likely due to differences between the U.S. and Russian cultures. At AAI, we are constantly in the process of trying to adapt to Russian business and legal practices, which often vary significantly from the current procedures and approaches we are accustomed to in the U.S. In addition to these differences, Americans and Russians have very different societal views, which makes our interactions more complicated. Yet, through our differences, we continue to learn many things from each other!
In order to help you to better understand some of these “unusual requests,” just think back to how business was handled in the U.S. a couple of decades ago. Without the ease of modern technological conveniences, business was almost always handled in person through face to face meetings, not over the phone or through e-mails and personal secretaries like it is today. This is how some business interactions still occur in Russia today.
In addition, during this time in U.S. history, even commonplace medical conditions, like depression, were not understood, and therefore they carried much more stigma then than they do now. While depression is currently treated and controlled quite easily in the U.S., in Russia, there continues to be both a lack of understanding about this disease and fewer treatment options for it.
Another reason for these “unusual requests” is that, over the last several months, we have seen a strong tendency for Russian officials to follow procedures exactly as they strive to assimilate their domestic and foreign adoption practices. For instance, while the documents for Russian adoptive parents are valid for only three months, the law does not specify a validity period for documents submitted by families abroad. That is why we cannot predict the documents that judges will ask to be renewed.
In the near future, there may also be a tendency in Russia to adhere more closely to their long-standing law that declares that the court decree takes effect on the tenth day, which would make a ten day waiting period more likely for adoptive families. Up until recently, judges have had the power to waive this waiting period in the best interest of the child, and the majority of judges did so to accommodate foreign families.
While it can be frustrating and sometimes even challenging to overcome these cultural differences, please know that nobody is trying to make the adoption process more complicated for you. In fact, just the opposite is true. Everyone wants you to have a successful adoption, starting with us here at AAI, and including our representatives in the various regions, the Russian officials, and the Russian judges. We truly believe that the vast majority of our families feel encouraged after their first trip, which is reaffirmed by the positive comments we hear from adoptive parents about all the people they meet.
Even with these happenings, the Russia program continues to grow and has been incredibly active since last fall. Most recently, we saw 22 families travel in February, ten for court hearings and 12 on first trips. In March, seven families traveled for court hearings and 12 made first trips.
In addition to all of these families traveling, we received 24 referrals during the month of March! Fifteen of these children were accepted. Unfortunately, we were not able to find families for several sibling groups in which the oldest child was around five or six years of age. Only about three families out of ninety decided to adopt a child over the age of four. If you are personally unable to adopt a child in this age bracket, we ask you to help spread the word to others about the need for families for older children. We appreciate your help.
As for our accreditation status—we know that all the remaining Russian Ministries are actively processing our cases.
At AAI, we admire all of our families for choosing to adopt from Russia. We appreciate your ability to “go with the flow,” your understanding of cultural and legal differences, your respect for Russia, and your trust in your consultant and in AAI. It is such an honor for us to be part of the miraculous adoption process.
March 1, 2007
We are thrilled to announce that our packet of reaccreditation documents has gone through the second step in the accreditation process!
The documents were registered, accepted, and approved with no corrections needed by the Ministry of Education and Science in Russia. The documents were then submitted around February 15 to four more Russian ministries for further evaluation.
According to Russian law, these ministries must give their responses to agencies within 60 days. This brings us to April 15. However, their responses may include requests for additional clarifications, documents, and confirmations, which could bring about additional delays.
In spite of the reaccreditation process, our Russia program continues to be highly active. Twenty-two families traveled to Russia in February, and we are already planning for eleven additional families to travel in March.
Please watch our web site for further updates on the status of our accreditation in Russia.
February 12, 2007
AAI Reaccreditation Status
Since receiving reaccreditation on March 1, 2006, AAI’s Russia program has been growing on a monthly basis reaching its peak in December 2006 with a record number of twenty-one children coming home. In addition, many families traveled to meet their child(ren) in December.
Time flies, and our current accreditation will expire in just a few weeks. Because of this, we would like to share AAI’s reaccreditation status with you. Documents for reaccreditation were submitted to the Ministry of Education and Science on December 28, 2006. We are excited to share with you that, unlike many other agencies, our packet of documents was reviewed and accepted with no corrections needed.
The documents will now be submitted for further review and inspection by four additional ministries. Requests will be made to all of our regions regarding AAI’s general activities, individual representatives, status on the timely submission of post placement reports, and adopted children’s registrations at the Russian Federation Embassy in the United States. In addition, there will be requests to the Department of Licensing in Michigan through the Russian Federation Embassy in the United States. Based on the results of these reports from different Ministries, we will be granted a permanent license.
We believe that our license will be renewed without difficulties due to AAI’s present status and positive outlook toward adoption in Russia. Because a large number of packets were submitted by foreign adoption agencies to the Ministry of Education and Science in Moscow, it is impossible to make a projection regarding the length of the reaccreditation process. We understand that it would be highly unlikely for any agency to have their license renewed by March 1.
It is probable that during the period of time when our license is inactive, we will not be able to register new clients in a specific region. They will be registered right after our new license is issued. Active clients with initial packets registered in a specific region and/or who have had their first trip will not likely be affected by this gap in accreditation. We realize that individual officials and judges may decide to place some cases on hold.
Independent Adoptions
Last year the Ministry of Education and Science in Russia stated that cases under an accredited agency can be finalized as independent adoptions after the expiration of the accredited agency’s license. Even though independent adoptions were the center of criticism and concern over the last two years in Russia, there has been no new law officially banning independent adoption.
As a result of the concern over independent adoptions, some Russia regional officials are not in favor of finalizing adoptions as independent. It is not officially known how each region will process each individual case after the license expiration date. At this point, every AAI representative is in communication with regional officials to try to clarify their position.
Questions? Contact Alla Goncharova, Russia program director, at 616.667.0921.
January 15, 2006
Our Russian program has continued to grow since we were reaccredited on March 1, 2006. In December, we had a record number of 20 children come home to their new American families! In addition to these families who made their second trip, we had seven families traveling in December on their first trip to meet the child referred to them.
We are also very excited to share that our packet of reaccreditation documents was submitted and registered with the Ministry of Education and Science in Moscow on December 28, 2006. So far our status as an accredited agency in Russia has been excellent. We truly respect Russian adoption law. Also, all of our Russian regional representatives are complying with the legal procedures and trying their best to serve prospective families as well as possible.
Another very important aspect that will be evaluated before our new license is granted is our agency’s submission of post adoption reports to Russia.
We are very proud that with so many finalized adoptions over the years and the large number of post adoption reports we work on every day, we have not had any delayed reports or registrations with the Russian Consular. This is really a remarkable achievement!
We will keep you informed on the reaccreditation process in Russia.
We thank all our families for trusting us with their adoption process!
October 11, 2006
Our Russia program continues to flourish. See below for even more reasons why now is a wonderful time to adopt from Russia!
Adoption Associates, Inc. has successfully completed its NGO registration in Russia! NGO registration is a new procedure that is required in addition to accreditation. Please see www.JCICS.org for more information on NGO registration.
During the month of September, five families had made their first trip to Russia and six had made their second trip to Russia for their court appearance by September 26.
In August, nine families traveled to Russia for the first time and eight traveled for the second time for their court appearance.
Significant fee reductions are still available through October 31, 2006 for families that have previously adopted from Russia through AAI or any other agency as well as families who are new to the Russia Program. Call AAI at 616.667.0921 for details.*
*The fee reductions apply only to families who submit applications between September 1 and October 31, 2006 for the Russia program. The fee reductions do not apply to current waiting families and are not retroactive.
August 29, 2006
Have you ever thought about adopting from Russia? Adoption Associates, Inc. is a great agency to consider and now is a great time to start the Russian adoption process.
Why AAI and why now?
AAI works with families anywhere in the United States—families who are dossier ready, in the home study or dossier process, and those just starting the process.
AAI is the only agency in Michigan’s lower peninsula that is accredited in Russia.
Significant program fee reductions are available through October 31, 2006 for families that have previously adopted from Russia through AAI or any other agency as well as families who are new to the Russia adoption program. Call AAI at 616.667.0921 for details.*
There is no waiting time for boys.
Eighteen referrals were received in June.
Fifteen families traveled in July.
As of September, AAI will be one of only 9 U.S. agencies which will remain accredited in Russia.
More information
For more information on adopting from Russia, call Alla Goncharova at 616.667.0921 today.
*The fee reductions apply only to families who submit applications between September 1 and October 31, 2006, applies only to the Russia program, does not apply to current waiting families, and is not retroactive.
August 17, 2006
The Russia adoption program at Adoption Associates, Inc. is functioning at full capacity. Referrals of children for waiting families are coming in each day, and the waiting time for families is dropping rapidly. Many families are receiving their referrals within days of their dossiers arriving in Russia. The time has never been better for families wanting to adopt from Russia!
As for AAI’s accreditation, we are in an enviable position—our next reaccreditation is not until March 1, 2007. Of the 11 agencies with currently active accreditation, AAI is one of three agencies with accreditation extended that far out. Of all agencies currently accredited or currently unaccredited, the situation could not be better for AAI, but especially for our families.
There have been some important changes for families in the application process. AAI has added more educational training during the home study process, helping families be more effective at parenting. Also, there are new expectations for post adoption reports—contributing to safer, happier, and more loving families.
Should you Sign up Now?
The time has never been better! The list of unassigned families is short and we have children waiting to be referred.
So what’s the next step?
Visit our Russia Program page, call Alla Goncharova at 616.667.0921, or request a free adoption information packet today.
March 1, 2006
With all this news about accreditation and Russian adoptions, people have so many questions about the process and what it entails. Read on to learn more about reaccreditation and what it means for you and your adoption.
I keep hearing all this stuff about reaccreditation. What exactly is it?
Every agency that works to facilitate adoptions in Russia must be “accredited” (licensed) to work there. Every year the Russian government evaluates the agency and issues a reaccreditation certificate, vaild for one year, allowing that agency to continue to facilitate adoptions in their country.
I have never heard about reaccreditation before. Why is it such a big deal now?
For the first time since being accredited in 2001, AAI had to wait for our reaccreditation status. During that one year period we were not able to unite Russian children with their adoptive parents.
Was AAI the only agency that had to wait?
No. The wait for accreditation was global. Every U.S. agency, and those in Canada and Europe, also had to wait some period of time.
What happened to cause the wait?
In 2005, several high profile stories were publicized regarding deaths of Russian orphans adopted internationally by U.S. Citizens. Prior to these cases, the adoption system had not been widely discussed in Russia. Russian citizens began to hear these stories and wonder what was going on. Why were these children dying? “This shook Russian society,” said AAI Russia Program Director Alla Goncharova. “The government knew something had to be done.” So the Russian government began to carefully and meticulously evaluate their adoption processes and those of the adoption agencies that were working in their country. The problems revolved around faulty post-placement reports and weak screening guidelines for adoptive parents. “There was a huge investigation,” says Goncharova. “As a Russian citizen I am glad that all these things were brought to light because many good changes are being made.” AAI Russia Consultant Chandra Doorn commented, “Russia did what was natural and what they should do to protect the orphans.”
What, if any, new changes will we see?
In Russia, new policies have been implemented regarding the support of pregnant women, a foster care system has been created, and stricter guidelines for international adoption have been put in place. Some agencies who were not up to par with Russia’s standards lost their accreditation status, but AAI was NOT one of those agencies. On March 1, 2006, AAI received reaccreditation and we are again facilitating adoptions in Russia as normal.
Because AAI is always striving to improve our services in order to always protect children and families, we have also made some new, positive changes to our international adoption requirements. We have added new educational requirements for families prior to adoption, new requirements for post-placement, even more screening for prospective parents, and new transracial and transcultural adoption training. We will continue to strive to provide even more excellent cultural and educational opportunities and support for families after placement as well.
Which agencies are currently accredited?
Visit http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/consular.php?record_id=adoptions (scroll down to “Adoption Agencies”) for a list of adoption agencies registered with the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as of June 10, 2006.
More Information
If you have any questions regarding reaccreditation or international adoption, please feel free to call us at 616.667.0921 or toll-free at 800.677.2367.
