Ukraine and Special Needs, Ukraine and Crimea, Ukraine.

Alright, if you've been following our blog, you probably have three main questions.

"What do you mean when you say 'special needs?'"

"Haven't I seen Ukraine in the news lately?"

And, "Why Ukraine?"

So, as we all know, I am not a concise person :)  But, I'll do my best to put three separate blogs into one and keep it to a minimum!

As I mentioned before, we have been open to special needs from the beginning.  In fact, one of the most challenging processes in our early stages of paperwork was going through a seven page form and writing yes, no, or maybe next to countless scary sounding medical terms.  First we had to figure out what the terms were, then decide if we could adopt a child diagnosed with one or more of them.  Everything from umbilical hernia to HIV, lactose intolerance to amputated leg.  Here's the thing, if you are adopting a child and think that you won't be dealing with some range of special needs, you are in Lala land.  Send me a postcard, I hear it's nice.  First of all, we've had unexpected medical issues with our two biological children, and in Evelyn's case, it requires constant management and could be dangerous!  Second of all, and more importantly, any child living any amount of time in an institution is going to be affected by his or her time there and likely have mild to significant delays, undernourishment, and other issues as a result.  Months and months ago I looked up information on speech therapy, physical therapy, and attachment disorders.  I assumed I would be dealing with some, all, or more of these issues and wanted to have resources prepared so I wasn't scrambling when it came time.  This is pretty standard adoption preparation. But, Bard and I did talk a lot and felt like we could adopt a child with mild to moderate special needs.  This is a wide range of needs that differs from country to country and again includes everything from heart murmurs to cleft palate, crossed eyes to club foot.  We decided that we felt comfortable with what are often termed "correctable" special needs, meaning that with therapy, minor surgery, or some other procedure, the child would probably have little to no residual effects and not require long term, managing care.  Honestly, even that scared me a bit.  To think that I would bring a child home from another country, try to help him transition to a completely foreign new life, try to help my two other children adjust to having a new family member and then add on a surgery or extended specialist visits, was quite daunting.  But how do you say no to a child?

Well, that's where we were, for about a year.  Then, about a week ago, we started looking at countries again.  Right off the bat I vetoed Ukraine (just as I did after Russia closed) because children under the age of five were not available for International Adoption.  I read the blogs, checked out the programs, did not really see young Ukrainian children being mentioned, though there was a caveat on some programs that said under five with special needs.  It just didn't seem to happen.Then I got a phone call.  Maybe not THE phone call, but an important one nonetheless.  I talked to with two different agencies regarding Ukrainian children with special needs who could be adopted before the age of five.  Special needs that were daunting, but ones that we could add to our list.   Now because Ukraine does not have an adoption referral system, we are not matched with a child before we go and are only given medical information in country.  Right back to daunting.  But, we've done a little research.  I spoke with several families who adopted younger children from Ukraine last year, talked to a couple of agencies, and studied Ukraine's list on what medical diagnosis they consider severe enough to make an exception for in their adoption rule. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of the kind of child we would get a referral for, in country.  Many of the children seem to have Congenital Heart Defects (CHD), I've done a lot of research and although of course it's scary, we are fortunate to live in a place that makes scary medicine liveable.  The other two issues I've seen pop up are kidney problems and hydrocephalus.  The latter is definitely more intimidating-anything to do with the brain is problematic, for a lot of reasons, and with the tiniest bit of research you quickly find lots of things like multiple surgeries, shunts, constant monitoring.  But, depending on the child and his particular case, there are best case scenarios that make the worst case ones seem like bad dreams.

And that's where we're at right now, praying for worst case scenarios to fade like a bad dream.  Worst case like waiting months for a country to open.  Worst case like investing our hearts and our families to a place that we may now never experience. And worst case like a country where our child may be living, spiraling into civil war.

So what the heck is happening in Ukraine?  Well, not much good.  Quick history lesson.  Russia has always wanted control of the Black Sea.  There have been battles after wars, after battles, after wars, fought over this small sea that is surrounded by Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.  Location, location, location!  In fact, Crimea already has a war named after it, the Crimean War!  You may not remember learning about the war, but perhaps you've heard of the poem, Charge of the Light Brigade.  Written in the middle of the 19th century by Alfred Lord Tennyson it details one of the most famous battles of the Crimean War.  Which of course you know if one of your favorite childhood games was Authors.  Like me :) I certainly hope you weren't sitting around watching Disney movies, those are not a good source of history!

I digress.  When Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union, it did not include Crimea. However, in what was likely a drunken stupor, Nikita Krushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine.  That was nearly 50 years before the Soviet Union fell and everyone realized (more) what an idiot Krushchev had been.   You see the Russians had ample military interests in Crimea, in controlling the Black Sea, and Crimea had a large Russian population.  It didn't matter while Ukraine was part of USSR, because everything was the same.  Until everything changed.  Oops.  Fast forward to last fall when Ukraine's government made a sudden policy shift and instead of moving more toward Europe, the EU, and so away from Russia, it turned right back to Moscow. People cried foul and demonstrations started.  Here's where it gets tricky. . .Putin has a teeny tiny bit of ground to stand on (not as big as Crimea though) in his claim that Ukrainian's government acted unfairly.  They didn't follow their own constitution in ousting their president, his trial, and who became president after him.  Then, one of their first (unnecessary) decisions angered their Russian speaking citizens and demonstrations quickly translated into riots.  Putin invades (or whatever he wants to call it) Ukraine-Crimea-and I'm sure not under any pressure at all from the thousands of thugs, I mean mercenaries, I mean Russian soldiers, Crimea voted to leave Ukraine.  And now policies are being put into place to make it part of Russia.

I know what you're saying.  All that is fascinating Kristin, thanks for CNNing me, but does this affect your adoption?

No. It does not.

Did I tell you I was concise?!  Looks like we'll hit 2 out of three questions and save the fun one on how beautiful Ukraine is for later.

So far adoptions have been a bit delayed, a bit scary, and a bit unknown, but Ukrainian's government has continued to process them, issue travel invitations, grant passports, etc.  Of course I can't speak to the future. I LOVE how Putin says Russia doesn't "plan" to invade more of Ukraine.  That does not sound very convincing to me, but I am going to hope he goes back to riding around half naked on bears, where he belongs, rather than parading around on the world stage, where he doesn't.  And, most of all I hope that this is resolved without disrupting the lives of countless orphans, and regular Ukrainians who need their government to protect them, their rights, and to further move towards freedom.

Pray for Ukraine.