Adoption Associates, Inc: Domestic Infant and International Adoption Agency

Most important is the fact that AAI is one of only twelve accredited United States adoption agencies working in Russia. In addition, AAI’s Russian program statistics show an increasing number of court hearings each month, now averaging approximately eight hearings a month. Another factor is the consistent number of referrals received each month for families. For families interested in adopting a boy, they can expect to only wait a few months or even less before receiving a referral from AAI. AAI’s Russia program should be a top choice for families considering international adoption.

A general guideline is adults up to 45 years old are eligible to adopt a child under 12 months of age; older adults are able to adopt older children.

Your consultant will be able to tell you if there are additional documents required for court, and will assist you in the preparation of such documents. When you visit the U.S. Embassy after the adoption is finalized, you will be required to submit additional forms. These include, but are not limited to:

1. I-600 (Petition to Classify as an Immediate Relative)
2. I-864 (Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the Act), along with a current pay stub/employer letter and copies of your tax return for the last three years (including schedules and attachments)
3. Immigrant Vaccination Affidavit
4. We also suggest that you bring photocopies of your completed dossier and your I-171H(the immigration approval).

Our AAI staff in Russia is also very knowledgeable about the day-to-day changes, and will be able to help you in completing additional documentation that needs to be completed abroad.

Adoptive families are sometimes required to submit new or revised documents during their adoption process. Legal documents are valid in Russia for a period of 12 months, so there is a possibility that some documents, prepared early in your adoption process, may need to be updated for your court hearing. In addition, documents sometimes need to be revised based on the requests of the officials or court in a particular region. AAI’s in-country representatives are well-informed regarding the requirements of each region, and if necessary, your consultant will be prepared to assist you in revising documents. It is important to note that all documents submitted to Russia need to be notarized and apostilled, which will require additional trips or mailings to the Secretary of State office in your state.

From the moment you sign up with AAI’s Russian program, our staff in St. Petersburg is aware of your child preferences, and they start to consider various regional options from the very beginning. Once your dossier arrives in Russia and is translated, the Russian AAI staff examines all aspects of your family, from the details written in your home study to the photos you have submitted. They compare the current situations in the regions, and match you with a region that they believe will be able to provide the best referral for you. Once your dossier is registered in a particular region, the regional officials try to locate a child(ren) who best suits your individual family circumstances.

While this is not a requirement, we strongly recommend families learn some common Russian phrases before seeing their child. Once children leave the orphanage, they can be intimidated by the changes they face, and it can improve adjustment to maintain some familiarity in their lives. You will look, sound, smell, and act differently than the caregivers the child has known, and being able to bridge the communication gap in even the smallest way can help the child relax. In addition, using some words in Russian and English is a wonderful way for a child to keep another link to their country of origin as they age.

Many families have spent some of their waiting period learning the Russian language, and have found this to be beneficial during this challenging time. It is advantageous, too, as it can help you communicate during your stay in Russia!

Travel to Russia will require a visa for both of your trips. In most cases, you will obtain a specific visa which expires in a month. Your consultant will instruct you when it is time to apply for your visas, and provide you with directions on how to apply.

Many families are unsure about the type of gifts they should bring for the child(ren) when they visit on the first trip. We advise families to bring three or four small gifts, including a small, soft doll or stuffed animal and one or two additional age- appropriate toys. Attachment therapists suggest sleeping with the soft toy the week before you travel to Russia; this way, it will smell like you when you give it to the child. Smell is one of the most powerful senses, and it can be used in this manner to encourage your child’s attachment to you. It is also a good idea to purchase a child-friendly photo album and fill it with pictures of the people, places, and pets that will be a part of the child’s new life. You should label the photos simply in the event they can be translated at the orphanage.

Do not expect to have these toys returned to you when you bring the child(ren) home. Many families purchase two of each toy and make an identical photo album to bring with them on their second trip, just in case the original items have been separated from the child. In this way, you will be sure to have some familiar toys that can be used to comfort and reassure the child.

No. This service is incorporated into the foreign fee that you pay. Once your dossier is completed, you will send it to AAI, and we will forward it to our St. Petersburg office. At this point, our staff will translate and authenticate the documents.

Each region within Russia presents a unique and ever-changing climate for adoption. AAI’s Russian staff is informed about you and the type of child(ren) you prefer as soon as you submit your Formal Application for adoption, and even before your dossier is finished, they are evaluating the regional situations to find a good match. Once your dossier is received, they spend additional time analyzing your preferences and family dynamics as well as the current situation in each region.

With many years of experience and hundreds of successful adoptions, our Russian staff are true experts in selecting the best region for each family.

After you formally apply to AAI, you will receive a packet of information including a dossier packet and a travel packet. You will also be assigned an international consultant, and if you are utilizing AAI for your home study, a caseworker. Your consultant will assist you during this often-confusing dossier process, and will even review your documents before you get them apostilled.

This is indeed a very serious topic, and I commend you for taking the time to learn more! Many families have found a variety of books to be helpful in their quest. Gregory Keck and Regina Kupecky of the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio are thought to be experts in the field of attachment, and have written a number of related books. We frequently recommend their ever-popular, “Parenting the Hurt Child,” and, “Adopting the Hurt Child.” “Attaching in Adoption,” by Deborah Gray, is another valuable resource, and provides families with a lot of solution-focused tips.

For Michigan residents, we suggest linking with the Attachment Coalition of Michigan. It is comprised of several adoption therapists within Livonia, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids. They can provide psychotherapy, education, training, and support for adoptive families and agencies. They can be accessed via their web site: http://www.adoptionparenting.net/page38.html.

Families should apply for their passports at the beginning of their adoption process. Sometimes it can take time to have them processed and returned to you, and several of the documents required for your Russian dossier will need your passport numbers. Actual copies of your passport will also be necessary for your dossier.

Visas will also be required for travel to Russia. However, these will not be obtained until travel dates are provided. Your consultant will guide you through this step.

We have had families with medical conditions or even past arrest records who have successfully adopted children from Russia. However, it is important to realize that each case must be treated individually, based on specific strengths and circumstances. Be aware that such issues must be disclosed at the beginning of the process, in order to best devise proper courses of action. Although it may seem redundant, you should be prepared to address such circumstances with your home study caseworker, your AAI consultant, and U.S. Immigration and Russian officials. Keep in mind that this is merely part of the process, and not designed to cause you any discomfort or anxiety.

Remember that the Russian officials and judge always have the final say in whether a family is approved to adopt, regardless of health issues or unusual circumstances. We can make no guarantees about the outcomes of specific cases.

While it is important for your child’s future pediatrician to be fully aware of any potential and existing health conditions, AAI cautions you against basing your initial opinions solely on your local pediatrician when you are first considering a referred child.

Obviously, there can be substantial differences between the Russian and American system of diagnoses in the medical realm. Additionally, it is probably best to rely on professionals who are familiar with the types of diagnoses commonly found in medical reports obtained from the orphanage doctors. AAI can recommend British and American trained clinics in St. Petersburg who can evaluate children personally, or who are prepared to consult with you by phone or fax. There are also a number of medical professionals in the U.S. who have experience in deciphering the medical information prospective parents often receive.

Keep in mind that many families locate other professionals from the Internet and word of mouth who advertise such services. This can be an excellent and convenient way to locate independent evaluators, but be forewarned that AAI might be unaware of the practices of such individuals and will not be able to recommend them.

No. Russia does not require specific immunizations before entering the country. However, we suggest that families contact their local health department for immunization recommendations. It is best to contact them early in your adoption process, because some immunizations are given in a series over several months.

Yes! This past month we received confirmation that a person has been assigned to sign and process federal databank letters. Our Russian staff informed us that some databank letters have already been released for children of waiting families. Although there is a backlog, we are hopeful that in the next few months the databank letters will begin to be released in a more timely manner.

Dossier preparation takes 2-3 months, depending on the how quickly the family is able to gather the necessary information. Dossier translation and registration in a particular region generally takes 1-2 months. The wait for a referral can vary anywhere from 1-9 months, with the longest wait being for families interested in infant females or two young children. After a referral is offered, a family can often travel quite quickly (1- 4 weeks) to visit the child. Upon arriving home, court appointments are generally assigned after 6-16 weeks. The final trip will consist of a two-week stay in Russia, at which time the child will come home with you. All in all, the process typically takes 9-18 months from start to finish, although there can be delays or times when the case moves faster than expected.

Two trips are required; the first is about 7 days in length, the second lasts about 12 days. In regions where the ten day waiting period is imposed and/or additional days are needed to process the child's Russia passport, a family may need to take a third trip to finalize U.S. Embassy proceedings.

Two trips are required for the Russian program. The first trip will last about a week, and will enable you to see the child/children who have been referred to you. This is when you will make the decision about whether or not to accept this particular referral. The second trip is generally about two weeks and will include your court appointment and a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to finalize paperwork. It is important to note that the second trip’s time frame can vary, depending on whether or not the judge opts to waive the 10-day waiting period.

We strongly suggest both parents travel on the first visit for a number of reasons. However, in very special circumstances, one parent can travel alone with additional documentation. It is important to note that this varies by region. Some regions will not permit travel by only one parent.

We strongly recommend that you limit yourself to one piece of luggage and one carry-on when you travel. The vehicles in Russia may be smaller than those to which we are accustomed, and oversized luggage can be problematic, especially when you also travel with a driver and a translator. Domestic flights may have different size or weight restrictions than those for international flights. Additionally, in-country flights require you to carry you own luggage onto the planes, and there might not be enough room if you are overloaded. Consider investigating ways to maximize the limited space you have. You won’t regret it!

You are certainly welcome to bring additional people along on your trips to Russia. There will be an extra $200 required for one or two additional people traveling, and another $100 for each person beyond that. This amount can be included with the designated portion of your foreign fee, and covers the extra ground transportation needed for a larger party. Additional fees could be assessed for the sightseeing excursions as well.

It is important to consider some critical factors when deciding whether or not to bring guests during your adoption-related travels. First of all, family members might not be allowed to be present during the court proceedings or meetings with Department of Education officials or orphanage staff. This is completely at the discretion of the AAI staff, who are familiar with the rules of each specific region. Also, serious consideration must be given to opportunities for the newly- adopted children to meet and begin attaching to you as their parents. The second trip can be a critical time period for attachment formation, and it is preferable for this to begin solely with the parents, without being concerned about the impact of additional adults.

You shouldn’t depend solely on using credit cards while traveling to Russia. In larger cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow, hotels will often advertise that they accept major credit cards, although this can be uncertain, as often the machines are broken. The decision is yours, but we strongly advise you to have cash to pay for your hotel accommodations. Your in-country flights and sightseeing excursion fees will be expected in cash, as well as the money required at the U.S. Embassy on your second trip.

The largest portion of your Russian adoption expense is the Russian foreign fee. This fee is paid in two installments. The first amount will be wired within 60 days after your dossier arrives in Russia. The second amount will be wired within 30 days after your first trip. This is a great advantage to working with Adoption Associates, Inc.

Russian adoption regulations require that at least one parent travel to Russia on the first trip, however, most regions require that both parents travel. All regions require that both parents be present at the court hearing on the second trip.

When both parents travel, it provides an opportunity for the officials and orphanage staff to personally meet the family to evaluate the parental skills of each parent. Furthermore, it allows the orphanage staff to observe each parent interact with the child to assess how well matched the parents and the child are.

AAI international consultants encourage families to use credit cards and/or cash when purchasing international flights. Typically, debit cards have a daily maximum limit that can range from $500 to $1,000, and when a debit card is used for an amount which may be over the limit, a couple’s card may be denied. Using a credit card or cash will prevent payments from being denied.

AAI has an office based in St. Petersburg, which helps to coordinate all of the in-country details, such as transportation and hotel accommodations. We have representatives employed by AAI in each of the regions with which we work, and this representative will assist you during all of your official appointments in the specific region. You will also have drivers and someone to assist in translating while meeting with officials. Finally, if you are interested in sightseeing, our staff can arrange this for you. You will definitely receive the attention you deserve!

Adoption Associates, Inc. has a travel agent in our office in St. Petersburg, and she handles all of the accommodations while abroad. She will make sure that you have lodging wherever you are required to stay, and tries to offer various options from which to choose. (Keep in mind that during the main tourist seasons, choices may be somewhat limited.) Marianna is dedicated to locating hotels that are adoption-friendly and English-speaking, in order to make your stay most pleasant.

This is not necessary. Carrying these items from the U.S. just adds weight and bulk to the luggage you already have. Your AAI driver and/or regional representative can direct you to places where you can easily purchase anything you need.

We recommend seeing the sights while in Russia, and our travel agent in St. Petersburg can assist in this. Families have been able to visit the Hermitage (The Winter Palace) and Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine’s Palace). Special attention should be made to the reconstructed Amber Room in Tsarskoye Selo, with its intriguing stories and priceless nature. Families have also enjoyed the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Naval Cathedral. Tickets can be purchased for a ballet performance at the Mariinsky Theatre or a folk show in town.

If there is a special request you would like to make about some aspect of St. Petersburg, feel free to ask. Marianna, our St. Petersburg travel agent, tries her best to accommodate you.

Although the children adopted through AAI come from a variety of regions, all families adopting from Russia will end their journey in Moscow. At a minimum, you will need to go to the U.S. Embassy and submit paperwork for your child to obtain a visa to enter the U.S. However, we also encourage you to take time to appreciate the city’s cultural and historical significance, as both the current capital of Russia and, formerly, the capital of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Moscow has much to offer those who would like to see its sights. Almost everyone takes a trip to Red Square, where you can see both the Kremlin and famous splendor of St. Basil’s Cathedral. If the weather is nice, one can spend some time at the Moscow Zoo or strolling on Arbat Street, which is known for its street artists and shops. If there is something particular you would like to see or do, please don’t hesitate to ask AAI’s Russian staff. Marianna, the travel coordinator in our St. Petersburg office, can work with our staff in Moscow to arrange a tour or activities to suit your individual needs and interests.

Yes. By Russian law, the judges are able to impose a ten-day waiting after the court hearing. This is a time period between the court decision and when the court decree takes effect. In some regions, families can request that this waiting period be waived. Our staff in Russia is aware of the steps required to waive the waiting period and will be able to advise you as to whether or not the waiting period is typically waived. In some cases, it may be possible to spend time with your child(ren) during the waiting period; you may also choose to return to the U.S. and take a third trip to bring your child(ren) home. Our staff will assist you in making appropriate plans based on both your individual preferences and the circumstances surrounding your case.

AAI provides families with a welcome home letter soon after they arrive home from their second trip that includes a pre-paid overnight envelope. We ask families to enclose their child’s passport and paperwork received in Moscow, and mail the envelope to AAI. We will then send the paperwork to the Russian Consulate in Washington D.C. for the processing of your child’s registration. After the registration is completed, we will mail your child’s passport back to you. To help cover the cost of the $50 for registration and the overnight mailers, we invoice families for $150 prior to sending their dossier to Russia.

On your second trip, you will travel to the region prior to your court hearing. There you will spend some time with your child and prepare for the hearing. For children who may live in a more remote orphanage of the region, you may attend court in the city center. After court takes place, you will remain in the region for two or three more days, in order to receive the finalized court decree and obtain the child’s Russian passport. From there, you will travel to Moscow to attend your appointment at the U.S. Embassy.

Currently, we work with only one region that offers the opportunity to stay with a host family while in the region. Krasnodar offers families this unique privilege. It is comparable to staying in a hotel, and families have valued the attention they have received. The families in Krasnodar speak English and have much experience in working with adoptive families. In addition to having an individual room, AAI families are able to utilize Internet access. It is an excellent opportunity for those who adopt from this region.

Families often ask if there are any particular foods they should bring for their children when they travel on the second trip. Our Russian staff advises that families wait to purchase such things once they arrive in Russia, since they can get the most current information from the orphanage and it helps maximize the ever-expanding suitcase!

Once home, many families try to design meals for their children based on the information they received from the orphanage caregivers. This can help a child become acclimated, and can serve to instill some familiarity for a child. However, do not be surprised if children show some resistance to foods they might have loved in Russia. This can be a common issue once a child arrives home, as he or she is becoming adjusted to new surroundings. Remember to be patient, and to seek advise from your pediatrician, if needed.

Past AAI families have mentioned that they found that food textures proved the most challenging for their children’s adaptation to their new diets. They met the most success when they slowly introduced new textures to their children. Most say that their children initially preferred foods that were more bland, although there can always be exceptions to this.

Finally, keep in mind that parents should focus on being the only people feeding the child, in order to best facilitate attachment between parent and child. This is one of the most basic methods to encourage bonding, while building a trusting relationship with your child.

Of course! The orphanages are quite open to families taking photos and video footage of their prospective child. We always advise being very considerate of the orphanage employees, and suggest that families ask for permission before doing so. Families have been incredibly pleased to have such wonderful mementos of their child’s life before he/she arrives home to the United States.

AAI international consultants encourage families to use credit cards and/or cash when paying for costly travel expenses. Typically, debit cards have a daily maximum limit that can range from $500 to $1,000, and when a debit card is used for payment over the limit, a couple’s credit may be declined. Debit cards may pose a problem particularly when paying for international airline tickets or an expensive hotel stay. Utilizing a credit card or cash will prevent payments from being denied.

The average age of the 123 children placed in 2003 is just under two years old.

The majority of children come home in good health; we also place special needs children.

We place a variety of children of all ages, genders and races. Although the majority of our children are considered Caucasian, we also receive referrals of children who have more Asian features from some of the more Eastern regions of Russia.

AAI strongly recommends that you obtain an independent evaluation from a physician. Our Russia Travel Packet contains a list of U.S. physicians who are trained and experienced in reviewing referral medical information for the purpose of adoption. These physicians will analyze the medical information you received and offer you a phone consultation regarding their evaluation, prior to you meeting the child. Most of these physicians are also available for a consultation while you are in Russia and have verbally received the complete medical and social history available on the child. After your child is home, you can schedule an appointment with the doctor you have selected for a post adoption evaluation of your child.

We also recommend several clinics located in the city of St. Petersburg who can provide a variety of services, depending on your needs. Physicians can offer a phone or fax consultation based on the medical information you received, or you can even arrange to have the physician travel to the orphanage to evaluate the child directly. The physicians with whom we work are trained in Western medical practices but are familiar with the Russian system of diagnoses. This is a valuable tool, and many families have benefited from this service as well.

The Russian government allows prospective adoptive parents to specify their desire for a child with a specific hair or eye color, but this almost always significantly increases waiting time. The staff of AAI strongly discourages being too specific in your preferences, as it limits the number of children available to you. Also, it is important to remember that a child’s appearance can change as they age.

Your child will travel home with a Russian passport and a U.S. visa. For this reason, your child will have dual citizenship.

Because both parents have seen the child prior to the adoption being finalized, they will travel on an IR-3 visa, which enables them to be granted automatic U.S. citizenship. You will receive the documentation regarding this once you arrive home. This can take several weeks, or even possibly months, to arrive. When your child reaches age 18, the Russian citizenship status remains unless he or she makes an attempt to have it revoked. Their U.S. citizenship remains.

At the end of your first trip, you will complete some critical paperwork with our AAI staff. At this time you will be required to provide the name(s) you plan to give your child(ren). During the second trip after the court hearing, your child’s Russian passport is obtained in your assigned region, and a U.S. visa is purchased in Moscow at the U.S. Embassy. Both of these documents will utilize the name(s) you selected.

No. Russia has strict laws when it comes to the type of information provided prior to an official referral. You will not be getting a video at any point, unless you choose to videotape the child when you travel to Russia to meet your preselected child.

We strongly recommend the use of an independent evaluation when you receive medical information on your child before or during your first trip. We currently work with clinics in St. Petersburg where the physicians have knowledge in both Russian and U.S. medical practices. For a fee, they can offer advice about the child who has been referred to you. Many families utilize the clinics’ services, whether through a phone or fax consultation, or even by arranging a direct visit to the orphanage. Our Russian staff has helped the clinics to formulate cooperative relationships with the orphanages, and can recommend a particular clinic for you.

There are also clinics in the United States who are prepared to evaluate photos and medical information. A list of these providers can be located in your Russia travel packet, provided when you sign up with us.

Many families prefer to adopt Caucasian children, and this can be requested. In cases such as this, often your dossier will be registered in one of the more western regions of Russia.

Your first trip to Russia should be utilized to obtain as much information about the child’s health and social history. This is the opportunity to speak with your child’s orphanage director and doctor and gather all of the necessary details. You will receive this information verbally, and will be responsible for writing down all that the professionals provide.

Once your adoption has been finalized, you will be given a number of documents about your child, including a summarized medical report written in Russian. This will be generated from a number of specialists who have evaluated the child personally. We can recommend a reputable doctor here in the United States who can translate this report for you.

Occasionally, you can request a copy of your child’s medical records from the orphanage. However, this must be done in person on your first trip, with the understanding that they will be provided to you only after you are granted legal custody on the second trip.

You can find a number of medical questionnaires and developmental checklists in the travel packet AAI provides at the beginning of the process. Such guides are written in English and Russian, to ease any communication gaps, and can serve as a good start to finding out the information you desire. You will want to write down your own individual questions in advance, as they can be easily forgotten when you are sitting in front of the orphanage staff. All of the information you obtain will be provided verbally, and you will be responsible for writing down the responses.

The first trip is utilized to obtain all of the information you desire about the child’s health, developmental and social history, as well as any specific history on the child’s birth family. Take full advantage of this opportunity, as one cannot be sure that answers can be provided past this period.

Of the 132 Russian children placed through Adoption Associates, Inc. in 2004, 28.8% were 12 months or younger, 40.9% were age one to three years, 22% were age three to seven years, and 8.3% were seven years or older.

Russia requires that post adoption reports are submitted at six, twelve, twenty-four, and thirty-six months. You will work together with your home study agency to ensure that these reports are completed in a timely manner. AAI notifies your home study agency before these reports are due, and offers you the format in which they should be completed. It is important to remember that your individual home study agency may have additional post adoption requirements in addition to those required by Russia.

Russian law requires that families register their newly adopted child(ren) with the Russian Consulate. A document in AAI’s formal application and a portion of your dossier will include signed contracts where you agree to complete this registration within one month of your child’s arrival home in the United States.

It is an incredibly exciting time when you bring your child home, and it is extremely easy to forget this important step in the adoption process. In order to ensure that this is done, and to avoid complication in the adoptions of future AAI families, we provide families with a welcome home letter soon after they arrive home that includes a pre-paid overnight envelope. We ask families to enclose their child’s passport and paperwork received in Moscow, and mail the envelope to AAI. We will then send the paperwork to the Russian Consulate in Washington D.C. for the processing of your child’s registration. After the registration is completed, we will mail your child’s passport back to you. To help cover the cost of the $50 for registration and the overnight mailers, we invoice families for $150 prior to sending their dossier to Russia. An additional $50 per child will be charged if more than one child is being registered.

As of the end of September 2005, we have placed 539 children from Russia.

Currently, our agency is working with a total of 11 regions: Arkhangel’sk, Buryatia, Cheboksary, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Leningrad oblast, Orenburg, Pskov, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, and Tyumen. Each region works independently of one another, and as a result, there can be individual differences in the adoption process of each.

We strongly encourage families to find support groups within their area both before and after the adoption. International adoption is such a unique experience, and we feel that support groups can offer wonderful opportunities to link with families who share your celebrations and your frustrations. At the Farmington Hills, Lansing, and Jenison offices, we hold monthly International Waiting Families Meetings for those who have opted to select us as their placing agency. These meetings cover an array of topics, including attachment, travel, and adoption stories. These are an informative and fun way to meet other families who are in the process, and often include the expertise of former families. Contact your consultant if you have questions!

We have had an international program in Russia since 1994. We have been accredited in Russia since February 2001.

We currently work with a particular hosting program called “Kidsave.” The Kidsave Summer Miracles program places older children in host families across the United States. Children typically stay in the U.S. for about six weeks during the summer before returning to their home country. Although Kidsave works with several countries, AAI currently only operates as a placing agency for families who want to continue to adopt children they hosted from Russia.

During the summer of 2004, Kidsave hosted children from a variety of regions in Russia, including Arkhangel’sk, St. Petersburg, and Pskov. Adoption Associates, Inc. is currently assisting families who are proceeding with the adoptions of these specific regions. Our intention is to continue to build the Kidsave/AAI partnership in the coming years, and we are excited about this prospect.

While we hope to continue the Kidsave program in Arkhangel’sk, St. Petersburg, and Pskov in the future, specific assignments have not been made for the summer of 2005 as of yet. If you are interested in learning more about Kidsave, you can access their website at http://www.kidsave.org.

Russia has over ten time zones! St. Petersburg and Moscow are both eight hours ahead of our offices in Michigan. In order to best meet the needs of our clients, our St. Petersburg office has arranged its schedule to operate its business hours from 12 noon to 8 pm. This enables our Michigan offices to maintain consistent contact with them between the hours 8 am and 12 noon.

The majority of the children designated on our lists of “Waiting Children” have been difficult to place with families, either with Russian citizens or through international means. Often they are older children, or are known to have special needs of varying types.

Many people consider adopting a “Waiting Child” because of the pictures and medical information AAI is able to provide from the beginning. Russian law has strict guidelines about the amount of information families are given prior to officially accepting a referral. AAI is able to openly share information on the children who are waiting, as the Russian officials have already exhausted their means at trying to find a Russian citizen to adopt them.

Families can opt to proceed with the adoption of a child who is waiting, or they may choose to wait for Russia to issue a preselected child for them.

Yes. Russia is our largest program in eastern Europe; however, we also have promising new programs in Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

Yes! Go to www.adoptassoc.com.ru and click on the various links to learn more about our Russian office. In addition, you will find information about the representatives, hotels, transportation, and trip details related to each specific region.

Over the past 11 years, AAI’s international programs have grown tremendously. We are proud of the 245 international adoptions we facilitated in 2004, of which 132 were Russian children!

Yes. Although the process of working with out of country couples can be slightly more complicated, we welcome such families to join our Russian program.

The most common and also quite a time consuming mistake that adoptive families make when compiling their dossier is with the required notary seals. Often families use notaries with expired, or close to, expiring commissions. Another common problem is that the notary is required to sign his/her name exactly the same way it appears on the notary stamp and often they do not.

In the dossier instructions that families receive from AAI, there is a page entitled INSTRUCTIONS FOR NOTARIZATION OF DOCUMENTS. Families should take this with them each time they are getting a document notarized. However, families who do not live in Michigan are responsible for finding out the notary requirements for that state. If the notarization is done incorrectly, the document must be redone, and this is frustrating and time consuming.

Yes! New to AAI is a site that will allow you to create your own adoption-themed journal and post updates about your adoption journey that your family and friends can respond to with their own comments. Best of all, this service is free to families adopting through AAI.

Families adopting from China, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Nepal, and Russia can customize their journal by choosing a country-specific background. These themes feature children’s artwork created with various types of artistic mediums or international artifacts and will give your adoption journal an international flair. Generic backgrounds are also available for families adopting from other countries.

Have photos that you would like to share? When you create a journal, you will be able to post an unlimited number of pictures to your journal for your family and friends to enjoy without ever leaving their homes. Because all journals are password-protected, you’ll be able to rest easy in the knowledge that only those who have your password will be able to view your postings. Once your journal is set up, simply share the site link and password with friends and family that you would like to keep updated about your adoption journey.

To start your journal today, visit http://www.adoptionjournals.org, or ask your international consultant for more information.