This is written by an adoptive parent that was in Bulgaria this past week to visit her down syndrome son;
As for what my agency told me, they said that the MOJ told agencies last week that they do not, at this time, have any new referrals for young children. They have requested that directors (at the baby houses) send them any new children avaliable for adoption in January. It will then take them 2-3 months to do everything required to start giving this information to the agencies. As far as "young healthy" children, here is what I was told:
The MOJ wants to "fill the requests" of families that have sent in dossiers, but the children are NOT there. There is a waiting list in Bulgaria of Bulgarian families that want to adopt healthy young children up to the age of 2. As soon as this was said, I immediately said, "Yes, but what about the Roma children. In the US, we are told that Bulgarian families do not adopt the Roma children." This is the reply that I got, "Shelley, what do you know about the Roma culture. Do you know why we call them Gypies?" (Ummm, no I don't) It was then explained to me about how their culture (Roma) thinks in regards to children. Basically, if a healthy baby is born to a Gypsy woman (family) and the child can not be taken care of by the birth mother, then the " gypsy family unit"(not my words) takes the child in and raises it. If the child has special needs, then the child is abandoned (place in an orphanage).
So, then I asked WHY...if there are not a lot of "young healthy" children being placed in orphanages that are avaliable for adoption, then why is this being offered as an adoption option to families....and what is the REAL outlook (from the Bulgarian persepective) of young healthy children being adopted internationally. She said that she could only tell me what the MOJ is saying and what the adoption "trend" is here in Bulgaria. There is a waiting list of Bulgarian families that want to adopt healthy children under 2. The Roma culture embraces and encourages "their own" to raise other people's children if the birth family is unable to care for the child. Thje directors are repeatedly being asked to provide information on young healthy kids and are saying that they do not have any children that fit this request (for international adoption).
She also said that families requesting young children have to remember how the process works up until the time that a child can be officially referred to a family. First, the director of the baby house has to register the child. Ideally, this would be done the day they enter the orphanage(or whatever day the parental rights are terminated...and if they're not terminated, then 6 months must go by before the director can make them eligible for adoption). But in actuality, that is not the case. Directors are not registering children on the day they enter the orphanage. The MOJ is encouraging directors to do this step quickly, but there is actually no system in place to ensure that it's done. There is also no system in place to ensure that the referrals are accurate and because directors know that special needs children get priority, they are more inclined to list a child as having some type of special need. Once the director does the paper work, the
child is avaliable for domestic adoption for 6 months. Then the child is avaliable for international adoption. So, in order for very young children to be avaliable for international adoption, the directors are going to have to start doing their jobs faster AND the children are going to have to be listed as healthy & for some reason rejected by their family unit(Roma) and all the people in Bulgaria(Bulgarian children) that are willing to take them. Also, since Bulgaria just passed the new legislation to close as many orphanages as possible in 2010, they are pushing a lot of new programs to keep young healthy children out of orphanages and in Bulgaria(ie: so as not to have a need for them to be adopted internationally). I did not just hear this from my angecy either, I heard this from members of a parent group that I met with as well (members of that group has met with the MOJ recently about children being placed in orphanages and was told the same
thing). Also, in regards to Roma children, I was told that many Bulgarians (and this would include directors at the baby houses) do not believe that any Roma child is completely healthy...because they think there is something in their genetics that cause them to have special needs or something "wrong". So, they are actually waiting to see what is "wrong" with the child.
All that I am saying is that families who are only interested in young healthy children really need to understand absolutely everything that is going on in Bulgaria in regards to children, orphanages and the adoption process....and everything that it will take before a young healthy child is avaliable for international adoption. Will there be some young healthy children avaliable for international adoption....there should be, hopefully soon (that's how it was said to me). But, the way things stand in Bulgaria right now, there is not going to be a large abundance of young healthy children suddenly released and avaliable for international adoption....especially not in the large numbers that they currently have dossier requests for. They also do not expect there to be a constant avaliablility of young healthy children (meaning that once one family gets a referral for a young healthy child, the referrals will continue to come month after month).
What our agency told me was that they hope and pray that there are referrals for young healthy children soon (like by March). But, families need to be very realistic with their expectations (especially since there are a large number of families requesting young, healthy children now). And again I will say, your Bulgarian agencies....all of them.....are very aware of all of this. Thye MOJ is being very clear on this subject. The agencies are required to tell you all of this, to answer all of your questions, to keep you informed, to give you the information directly as they receive it from the MOJ. That is part of their job description.....part of what they agree to do when they are licensed as agencies.
I did specifically ask how long a family that submits a dossier should expect to wait and I was told indefinantly. There is no way that any agency can give you an accurate number at this time because none of them have seen any young healthy children registered and referred for international adoption under the new structure of adoptions & there is nothing to indicate that young healthy children will continuously be avaliable (meaning that the referrals will come in month after month). Again, our agency did NOT say that no one would ever get a referral for a young child and they did say that they, like everyone else, are hopeing to see a few come in the new batch of referrals that will be turned in to the MOJ in January. But they are cautioning families that they should not "get their hopes up" that they will be offered a very young healthy child.
I know that many of you are very sensitive about this subject and all of you are hearing something different. That is why I always say that you need to ask the people handling your dossier for you. Regardless of what information you are getting from your US agency, your Bulgarian agency DOES know the answers to these questions. I was pleasantly surprised to hear about all the programs being implemented in Bulgaria to help families and to help children....all of which are geared to keep the children out of orphanages. But, I've been around international adoption long enough to know that what that means for families waiting on young healthy children is that anything and everything is going to be done to ensure that those kids never end up on an international adoption registry. So, families need to be realistic about their expectations.
Again, just my opinion and what I was told directly by our Bulgarian agency this past week.
Another thing to keep in mind, and again, just my opinion: The directors of the orphanages and institutions are very aware that their government is trying to shut down these facilities. They see adoption as the biggest "threat" that this will happen. It was actually said directly to me by a director that they do not want all the children "taken away by adoption" because then they will all be out of jobs. Even a lot of the special needs children are not registered until they are moved to the institutions at age 3.....and then because they don't think anyone will adopt the child from there. So, you will also find that not all baby house directors are in a hurry to register kids because they worry about their baby house becoming empty...which means that they will lose their job. That is a very real worry...and it's reinforced by their government passing the new legislation to close all the facilities as quickly as possible (the government actually said
in 2010).
So, regardless of what anyone wants to think, this entire process is about a whole lot more than just the MOJ getting caught up on dossiers. The MOJ is meeting once and sometimes twice a week to push referrals through.
Just my opinion. Feel free to call me a liar (as many people on here already have). But, I was in Bulgaria for over a week and I talked to several different people....including regular Bulgarian citizens who have no investment/interest in adoption....and they all say the same thing.
So we will continue to wait until our paperwork expires, if we don't receive a referral by then we are done. No more money growing on our trees. Who knows what to think, for me I just want honesty. No false hope please, just honesty. Interested to see what our agency has to say come next week.
