Kazakhstan?

It's been a little over a week since we applied and we are anxiously awaiting a response from OAA. In the meantime, though, God hasn't been silent :)

We have been praying regularly about where our daughter is and, after a weekend full of adoption events, we may be changing the country on our application to Kazakhstan. Originally, we shied away from Kazakhstan because we kept hearing about the great care and attention that their orphaned babies received. All other things being equal, we felt that the need for adoption would be greater in Russia or Ukraine, considering the orphanage situation in these three countries.

However, we spent a long time Friday night talking with a adoptive mother of a Kazakh boy, Pam, and, by the end of the night, realized that the need for adoption in Kazakhstan is no less. It really came down to one question I asked: "How is the outlook for Kazakhstani orphans upon their "release" from the orphanage?" The answer was direct - it's the same. Children are turned out from the orphanages at 14 and they face the same drugs, same desperate need for income that can lead to prostitution, and many other similar issues. (BTW - Kazakh means of Kazakh ethnic descent and Kazakhstani means born in / a citizen of Kazakhstan).

Other recent news has us looking at Kazakhstan much more seriously. Ukraine is now limiting 2007 US adoptions to 580, a number that is much lower than the 2005 count of actual adoptions (723). No such quota exists in Kazakstan. It's possible that us adopting from Ukraine would essentially bump someone else from there, since we know the quota will be met even if we don't adopt there.

I sent an email off to our agency contact tonight and should hear back soon. We'll keep you updated!

God Bless,
Phil and Amy