Heartbroken

We received some devastating news last week...

Lera is not actually available to be adopted until February 2014!  

If you want to adopt an orphan they first have to be registered at the DAP for in country adoption only, for one year. Then after the year is up, if they are not adopted, then DAP will open up the child's file for international adoption. Apparently, she wasn't put on the registry to be adopted in Ukraine until some time in February (2013) so that means a year has not pasted so she is not available internationally. This is devastating because she has been in the orphanage for 6 years!  


Since she has graduated she is set to be transferred to a trade school on August 31. We knew this and originally asked the orphanage to let her stay until our appointment on September 9th and they agreed, but now that she isn't available for another 5 months they said there is no way they can keep her. We of course found out this information after we booked our flights so we are going to the DAP appointment anyway. We hope we can petition the court once in country.

According to our facilitator there is nothing we can do until February. The DAP appointment we have on September 9th is just a formality at this point and they will not give us her referral, they will just reschedule until February. We have an appointment with the US Embassy the same day to file the i600 (Petition to declare an orphan an immediate relative) because if it is not filed by November when she is 16 1/2 she will no longer be adoptable. We are also going to see if we can apply for some sort of visa for her to come to the US until February. As a last resort is we have contacted two Christian organizations to see if they can take her in until Feb. She will be transferring to a building construction trade school because the beauty/cooking one is full. 

We know that God's timing is always perfect, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Please keep us in your prayers!