From CAI Eastern European Program Director, Anna Alman, about her recent trip to Kazakhstan:
I want to share with you some highlights about my incredible trip to Kazakhstan in February, where I traveled together with Debbie Kaiser, our AZ International Adoption Consultant. Despite February freezing weather conditions outside, Kazakhstan people demonstrated their hospitality towards visitors and great care for the orphaned children.
Over a period of 9 days, we traveled to 4 cities: Almaty, Astana, Kostanai and Petropavlovsk, where we visited 5 baby homes. The children are simply beautiful!!!! Debbie and I brought 2 huge suitcases full of orphanage donations: vitamins, clothes, books and toys. We were warmly greeted by the baby home directors and staff.
We were very impressed by high level of care these baby homes provide to children left with no parental care. All the baby homes we visited were very clean, well maintained, and with special rooms and areas dedicated to music lessons, motor skills development practices, physical and massage therapy. We were amazed to learn that in some baby homes, there are more employees than children. For example, in a Kostonai baby home, there are 110 people employed while the number of children currently residing there is 87. The baby home staff is caring and loving toward children, who appeared very well taken care of. In every room, the caretakers were holding children in their arms, while gently rocking or cooing and singing to them. Despite great care, no doubts, these children need permanent families.
THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO GO TO KAZAKHSTAN AND HERE IS WHY:
- Beautiful Asian and Eurasian children!
- Infants, toddlers, and older children.
- Both boys and girls are available.
- Married couples and single women are accepted.
- The children in baby homes are well taken care of, receive developmental stimulation and excellent medical supervision.
- Parents spend time bonding and getting to know their child before committing to adoption.
- Our Kazakhstan Program has a short wait: from the time dossier gets to Kazakhstan to the time family travels is only 4 to 12 months; in most cases less than 6 months
- With Almaty now open for international adoption by American families, we have 4 regions in Kazakhstan our families can adopt from.
- Each region has been well established and staffed with a facilitator, a translator and a driver.
- In most cases families have an option of taking one or two trips. In some cases a family member or friend can bring a child home instead of making the 2nd trip!
- Commonwealth families are offered all the support and guidance they need while going through the adoption process. Our English-speaking facilitator accompanies family all the time.
- High-speed Internet connection is available in the regions we work in so families can telecommute and continue working from Kazakhstan during their stay.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY: Our families come back from Kazakhstan very happy!
If you are interested in adopting from Kazakhstan, please contact one of our Adoption Consultants!
country
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest nation in the world and reaches the size of the whole Western Europe. Located south of Russia and west of China, Kazakhstan is a land of vast open terrains, spectacular mountains and modern cities.
While Kazakh has the status of the "state" language, Russian is declared the "official" language and is spoken by significant majority of population. Citizens are comprised of Kazakh, Russian, Chinese, Mongolian, Turkish, German, Armenian and Korean ancestry. A distinctive national characteristic of the Kazakhstan people is their exceptional hospitality.
Kazakhstan’s abundant supply of mineral and natural resources, such as oil, coal and gas, has attracted billions in foreign investments. Since the country’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has been drastically improving the quality of life of its citizens. The cities offer an abundance of world class hotels, restaurants, shopping centers and entertainment amenities.
adoption
Kazakhstan requires that adoptive parents prepare a dossier before they are invited to travel and given a referral of a child. The dossier must be translated and certified by the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington DC prior to being submitted to the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Kazakhstan in Astana, the entity that controls and maintains the databank of all orphaned children in Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakhstan law, orphaned children are required to be registered with the Ministry’s Database for at least six months before they are eligible for international adoption. The MOE determines what region the adoptive parents would travel to adopt from based on availability of children.
After a region is determined, the Regional Department of Education issues an invitation for parents to travel. Adoptive parents do not receive any information on a child prior to their travel. However, parents are not invited to travel unless there is a child or children available for adoption who match their gender and age preferences. Once the family arrives to the region, they are provided pictures and medical information on a child prior to meeting the child. If a family cannot find a child in one region, then the Ministry of Education will issue permission for the family to go to another region.
time frames
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Waiting period from the time a dossier arrives to Kazakhstan to the time parents travel: 8-12 months to adopt a child under 2 years of age 6 months or less to adopt a child older than 2 years old |
Once you submit your completed dossier to CAI, we will review your dossier and send it to a translator to be translated, which will take about 1-2 weeks. After dossier translation is completed, your dossier is sent to the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington DC for dossier registration, which can take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. Then the dossier is sent to our associate in Astana, who first takes the dossier to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the apostille seals on the documents legalized and then submits your dossier to the Ministry of Education, where region is determined. Then your dossier is forwarded to a regional Department of Education who issues a letter of invitation for you to travel.
requirements
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-Married couples and single women -Maximum age for all adoptive parents is 50 years old -Both parents must be U.S. citizens -Parents cannot have any criminal records -Only 2 divorces are allowed per each adoptive parent. |
children
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Children from Kazakhstan come from all different ethnic backgrounds, including European, Asian, and mixed-raced. The majority of children in Kazakhstan are Kazakh, who have ethnically Asian features. Kazakhs are the natives of Kazakhstan while almost all Caucasians residing in Kazakhstan now are the transplants from Russia. Several decades ago, when Kazakhstan was a part of the Soviet Union, a large number of Russians moved to Kazakhstan due to open borders and tight social and economical relationship between Soviet Union and all its Soviet Republics, including Kazakhstan. Thus, this explains why even after separation of Kazakhstan from Russia, there is still a significant presence of Caucasian race among Kazakhstan population. We ask you not to specify the desired ethnicity of your child.
travel
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Parents can choose to stay for the duration of the whole adoption process in country, which is about 7 to 12 weeks or take 2 trips instead. In the latter case, the first trip will be between 2 and 5 weeks, while the second trip can range from 1 week to 4 weeks, depending on the region. Both parents must travel and one parent may leave after spending two weeks visiting wth the child and attending the court hearing. Only one parent has to travel for the second trip to finalize the adoption process in the region and travel to Almaty for an appointment with the US Embassy.If you travel to Kostanai, you will find it to be an extremely pleasant town of about 220,000 people. Nearly everything is within walking distance. The city fans out from a lovely central park and there are many restaurants and shops to visit.
Formerly the capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty is larger with over one million residents. The Tien Shan mountains provide a spectacular backdrop. Shopping, restaurants and parks abound. If time permits, visit the Central Museum for a dramatic illustrated history of Kazakhstan, complete with yurts, tapestries and gift shops.
Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan since 1997, is a modern, fast-growing city with an estimated population of 600,000. Today there are many construction works under way, such as embassy, governmental and residential complexes along the Ishim River. In the center of town, the Avenue of the Republic acts as the main hub of activity. It is bordered by many stores, coffee houses, restaurants, night clubs and casinos.
Petropavlovsk is located in the northern part of Kazakhstan, close to the Russian border. It is not a big city but has very interesting and rich history. The city has a theatre, a television station, and a teacher-training institute.
Read a Kazakhstan Adoption Success Story:
-Sterling
-Delaney
-Our Little Bear
-Also see Andre's family blog!
