Adoption of Asian children from the Republic of Kazakstan

Through one of my listserves, I've recently been introduced to parents who have successfully adopted Asian children from The Republic of Kazakstan. The correspondence below provides an introduction to the process involved for Canadians. (Since Russia changed their adoption laws (spring 2000), there may be changes in the regulations governing Kazakstan adoptions. Consult the webites below.)

map from the World partner's Adoption site

Where is the Republic of Kazakstan and who lives there?
"One of the largest republics to come out of the breakup of the former Soviet Union. The northern borders touch Russia and the eastern borders touch China. This beautiful nation is rich with history, mountains, and beautiful people. Kazakhstan is known for its agriculture, mining, and space missions to the Russian space station MIR. Ethnic groups in Kazakhstan are Kazakh 46%, Russian 34.7%, Ukrainian 4.9%, German 3.1%, Uzbek 2.3%, Tatar 1.9%, other 7.1% (1996). The Religions are Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%."
From the World Partner's Adoption Kazakstan website

On the sad fate of Asian children in Kazakstan, excerpt from a post from the mother of two older adopted children from an orphanage in Kazakstan:

Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 10:10:27 EDT
From: adopt101@aol.com
Subject: Chinese Children in Kazak Orphanages

... I thought this might be an opportune time to mention some interesting information I picked up about Chinese and Korean children in Kazakhstan orphanages. The issue arose when I inquired about a little girl I saw in the Preschool Home that appeared to be Korean. (She was Asian but had a very different look than the ethnic Kazak children.) Our coordinator explained that the girl was believed to be ethnic Chinese and went on to explain that her chances for adoption were practically nonexistent because of this fact. The coordinator explained that many (although clearly not all) American and Canadian families come to Kazakhstan looking for children who resemble the adoptive family. Some of these families don't even wish to see the Asian children, much less consider them for adoption, so there chances of being adopted by American or Canadians is relatively low. One would think these kids might easily find homes with Kazak families (who are Asian), but that isn't the case either. Since the collapse of the Soviet government, many ethnic Kazaks have rediscovered Islam, the religion practiced by most Kazaks prior to Soviet rule, and will now only consider "adoption" within the extended family. Those who adopt through formal/governmental channels tend to be the more progressive urban Kazaks, but even these families normally consider only ethnic Kazak children. I guess I should throw in here that Kazakhstan shares an extensive border with China and that an estimated 1 million ethnic Chinese are believed to live in Kazakhstan. Many (perhaps most) of the Chinese have illegally immigrated to Kazakhstan so concrete numbers are hard to come by. (There is also a significant Korean population in Kazakhstan although I do not have any figures.) When non-Kazak Asian children end up in orphanages there chances for adoption are practically nonexistent. In addition to the reasons cited above, another reason these children are not adopted is because most people simply don't know they are there. It is normal to think of China if you wish to adopt a Chinese child, but almost no one thinks of Kazakhstan. This also holds true for the ethnic Korean children, the ethnic Moldavian children, and the other children who are non-Kazak Asians. There are also a significant number of children who appeared to us to be of Uzbek descent, and others whose families may have come from Turkmenistan or Kyrgistan . Most of these countries do not allow international adoption yet people who wish to adopt children of these ethnicities seldom think of Kazakhstan as a place to do so. Anyway, I'm not sure what anyone will do with this information but thought I would pass it along since I had it. If anyone is interested in additional information please let me know and I'll see if I can find out any more information from my contacts in Kazakhstan.

Notes from a Canadian coordinator for adoption from Kazakstan

Wed 5/17/00 6:53 AM
Dear Janice, My name is April Hoyt, and I am the Canadian Adoption Coordinator for World Partners Adoption, Inc. We currently have a wonderful adoption program in the Republic of Kazakstan. I just came back from Kazakstan on Feb. 26 with our beautiful baby girl. I can't say enough about the program in Kazakstan. Having just come back I can honestly say that the whole process was very smooth and very quick and most importantly I have a beautiful healthy baby girl. I was so moved by all of the beautiful children there that I had to leave behind that I want to be able to help find forever families for all of them. They truly are beautiful and they all need loving homes. Healthy infants as young as 4 months and children up to 7 years are waiting for immediate adoption. Since at this time we have no waiting list, you can travel as soon as you are paper ready, which is typicallly in about 5-6 months from starting! We are working with people in Kazakstan who have been doing adoptions for 3 years and have completed over 70 adoptions. Our faciltitator is a licensed neurologist and she sees all of our children, she is also a very dear friend of mine, so I trust what she tells me about the children. Overall, in Kazakstan the children are very well cared for. They live in baby houses, which are actual residental medical facilities, staffed with specialists like Doctors, Nurses, Neurologists, Speech Specialists, etc..The children seem to be better cared for in Kazakstan than in Russia, since there is less turnover of staff and the children stay with their groups, so they are able to form attachments both with their care givers and also with other children their age. The babies are so well taken care of. The trip is about 3-4 weeks long in country, and both parents must travel, although it may be possible for one of the parents to leave earlier (after two weeks) if you need to. The children range from ethnicity of Kazak (asian), Russian (caucasian), Korean, or a mix of all of the above. The adoption cost is approximately $17,000-24,000 US total out of pocket cost (depending on age of child), this would include airfare ( I figured in high airfare costs for two @ $4,000 total so money could be saved here). If you send me your address I can send you a more detailed information package. Also please check out our website again. You can see me and my family on the family album page and on the staff page. I would be happy to talk to you more about our program, especially because I just got back from Kazakstan everything is still very fresh in my mind. Please feel free to email me or call me anytime. Sincerely, April Hoyt Canadian Adoption Coordinator World Partners Adoption, Inc Symphony73@aol.com www.worldpartnersadoption.org (905) 389-9017

single women can adopt from Kazak
Thu 5/18/00 12:50 PM
Janice, Yes, adoption from Kazakstan is open to single women. I'm not sure what the laws are like in Alberta but if you are allowed to they will also permit you to adopt more then one at a time. We just had clients come back in November who adopted 3 and just went back again to get a 4th. So there are many many many beautiful children waiting to be adopted. I have sent you a package in the mail. Just be warned that it's geared towards Americans. I'm in the process of Canadianizing it. It's just the paperwork is slightly different. Please do bring it up to the international adoption committee you are on. We want to help as many babies as possible find their forever families. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

the fees to adopt two children, a sibling pair In response to my query re: the costs of the adoption, another adoptive parent who adopted two children at the same time replied to my question: << Could you tell me what the fees are for the programme's adoptions? >>
Thu 5/11/00 10:23 PM 'The fees to the adoption agency vary, but we paid $13,000[US] to Williams to adopt both kids. (N. alone would have been $9,500.) I budgeted $10,000 for our trip to Kazakhstan...but that included airfare for my mother-in-law, 4 months of tuition and fostercare for our kids, and many other items that most people don't end up paying. I think most other families budgeted around $6,000 - $7,000 for travel and in-country expenses, but am not positive."