Random Q&A

How long will this process take?
There are a lot of variables that can affect the amount of time it will take to bring Little Guy home, but the best estimate is a total of 6 – 12 months.

Will you have to go to Ukraine to complete the adoption?
Yes, both Zack and Jenn will be traveling to Ukraine for approximately 5 weeks.

When will you travel?
That’s one of the MANY unknowns. Once we submit our paperwork to INS and get approval, we’ll submit our dossier to Ukraine. They will then assign us a travel date – we’ll probably get 1 - 2 month’s notice, but there are certainly no guarantees on that (or anything else, for that matter).

What’s a dossier?
A dossier (pronounced DOSS-ee-ay) is the set of legal papers that must be submitted to Ukraine in order to adopt there.

Will you know which child you’re adopting before traveling to Ukraine?
No, Ukraine is what they call a ‘blind referral’ system. We will travel to Kyiv (Ukraine’s capital) and will go the SDA (The State Department on Adoption and Children's Rights) and will view several children’s profiles. We will choose a child to meet, and will travel to see the child in his orphanage. We will then decide if we feel this is our child. If so, the adoption process begins. If not, back to the SDA to choose again.

You keep talking about a little boy in the blog. Do you really get to choose?
Yes, you can indicate gender and an age range that you PREFER. There are never any guarantees. However, there are a lot more boys available than there are girls. Apparently a lot of people want to adopt girls. So we’ve requested a boy under the age of 5.

Why did you decide on a boy?
Zack has always wanted a son, and Jenn was leaning that way as well. Plus, it’s almost all girls on both sides of our family, so it will be nice to bring a guy into the fold.

Do you have a name picked out?
Yes, but we refuse to tell. Try what you will, but we’re not giving it up. You’ll find out once he is on American soil.