Bulgarian program info from; An Open Door Adoption Agency

Bulgaria Adoption Process: The adoption process in Bulgaria offers a number of advantages over other Eastern European programs. First, it offers the opportunity to receive a referral prior to traveling to the country. Very young children may be adopted – from one year to older children and siblings. There is no upper age limit for adoptive parents, and travel to the country is two trips of seven and ten days respectively. The first trip is to meet the child and the second to complete the adoption. The process begins with an application and supporting documents (a “dossier”) which the Bulgarian government uses to approve potential adoptive parents. Once approved, the family enters the Register of Candidate Adoptive Parents, a waiting list for a child of the requested age. Current waiting times by age are estimated to be: Age 3 or less: 1 -2 years Up to age 5: 1 year & 6 months Up to age 7: 6 to 12 months Above age 7: 2 to 6 months Sp.needs/health prob: 6-12 months As a child becomes available for the prospective adoptive parent/s, the Ministry of Justice will offer a referral of a child, including: personal information about the child: name and ID, health, ethnic, religious and cultural background, special needs, adoptability, family background and information about the birth parents and other family members including and reasons for abandonment and a photo. Bulgaria indicates that all adoptable children have some special need, although it may be mild or correctable. Families may specify a list of special needs they are willing to consider. After a referral is selected, and the match is approved, an invitation to travel will be issued to the adoptive parent/s. A brief trip of seven days will then be made to meet the selected child, and after that another trip for 10 days is required to complete the adoption process. Our Bulgarian representative, an indigenous Bulgarian agency which is Hague Accredited by Bulgaria, will escort the adoptive parent/s throughout the adoption process. Communication with our representative is excellent and the Bulgarian process is very well defined as a politically stable and Hague country. Adoptions are expected to proceed smoothly. We will be happy to assist you in this search for your child. If you feel led to adopt internationally, you can be assured that the Lord will lead you to the right child for your family. Thank you for your interest and for contacting An Open Door Adoption Agency. Please feel free to contact us at 229-228-6339 with any questions you may have. Adoption Process Application Service Agreement Home Study US CIS Approval Dossier sent to Bulgaria Adoptable children are over 1 year of age Waiting time varies with child’s age Two trips: the first is for 7 days and the second for 10 days. Adoptive Parent Criteria No upper age limit for adoptive parents Couples must be married 2 1/2 years Previous divorce is acceptable You may select the age and gender of the child. You may have other children The Agency seeks Christian adoptive parents

If you are leaving soon to pick up your child read this article

Adopting overseas? Ask for discount on airfare

HELP IN THE AIR | Some airlines secretive about specialty airfares

Comments

January 18, 2009

BY JAE-HA KIM

It's been drilled into our heads that the best way to get a cheap airline ticket is to buy it well in advance of your travel date.

But parents adopting children from overseas often have no idea when that date might be. And once their adoption agency gives them the go-ahead to bring home their child, they typically have only a matter of days to make all the arrangements.

» Click to enlarge image

Irina and Andy Prutch of Yorkville traveled to Russia last year to adopt their daughter, Anastasia. They were surprised that a one-way ticket for Anastasia would cost more than a round-trip.
(Keith Hale/Sun-Times)

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TIPS:
• If you're adopting an infant, ask your travel agent or the airline reservation clerk to seat you in the bulkhead section with a bassinet (provided on a first-come, first-serve basis at no additional cost). Bassinets will hold infants up to 20 pounds and 26 inches. Also, ask if they offer baby meals on the flight. Some airlines will provide jars of baby food.
• Don't forget about buying your child's one-way ticket. Infants under the age of 2 years will need a lap ticket (generally about 10 percent of an adult fare) to sit on parents' laps. Older children will need their own seats and will be charged the same fare as adults.

Rather than get stuck paying a premium for last-minute tickets, parents can benefit from adoption airfare discounts. For example, Northwest Airlines "Special Delivery" program has benefits that include 65 percent off the price of full-fare coach tickets, open returns and no penalties for cancellations or changes. (Parents must show proof of U.S. residency and provide legal documentation of the adoption.) Details at Nwa.com/features/adopt.

Some 17,438 overseas adoptions by U.S. parents took place this fiscal year, according to U.S. State Department statistics.

Not all airlines are eager to publicize news about these special adoption fares. The media relations spokespeople for other major airlines either ignored our queries about discounted air fares for adoptive families or point blank said they didn't offer any. However, when we called the reservation lines for Delta, United and Cathay Pacific and questioned the customer service reps, they all said they offer discounted fares.

"Airlines are very secretive about specialty air fares," says Ed Perkins, contributing editor for Smartertravel.com. "They don't advertise them and they're just not going to tell you about them unless you specifically ask. So ask."

Perkins cautioned that consumers need to know the ramifications of their discounted tickets if they can't leave or return on the dates they booked. For instance, will the airline charge a premium to change a ticket if your child is too sick to fly on the date you've planned or if bureaucratic red tape is holding up your departure?

"Given how complex some of the airline policies can be, the best bet in some of these situations is to pay a travel agent to handle this for you," Perkins said. "He or she will have access to consolidator deals and will know which airline is offering the best fare. This is one case where it makes sense to pay someone to deal with the hassles for you."

Portland, Ore.,'s Azumano Travel American Express has been in business for 60 years working with corporate and leisure clients. For the past 15 years, they've also become one of the go-to travel agencies for adoptive parents booking flights overseas. Azumano has adoption fare contracts with a number of airlines, including Cathay Pacific, United, Delta and Northwest.

"A lot of our parents do their research and already have a general idea of what these flights should cost with a few weeks notice," says Erle D'Penha, an Azumano travel consultant. "They could probably do it themselves, but what they're paying us for is our knowledge, relationships and ability to get them seats when the online sites say they're all booked. Sometimes people will look online and won't see options to leave from the cities they want to, but we'll be able to find other hubs. The travel Web sites won't always look for all of those flights. We can help find more options."

Indeed, we gave Azumano dates for a hypothetical trip to Seoul, South Korea. We came up with a $3,000 economy fare with two days advance notice. Azumano came up with a nonstop flight on the same carrier for less than half that price.

Not all carriers offer discounted fares, but there are other ways to get around paying full price. Check to see if you have enough airline miles to use toward a ticket. When Yorkville's Andy and Irina Prutch traveled to Russia last year to bring home their adopted daughter, they were surprised to find that a one-way ticket for their child would cost more than a round-trip ticket. But they weren't allowed to purchase a round-trip ticket for her.

"It would've cost us almost $3,000 for a one-way ticket for our daughter," says Andy Prutch. "We ended up using my miles on American Airlines for her seat. My company's travel agent didn't charge us any fees, so we only paid $52.70 for her total airfare. It was definitely the way to go for us."

Also, it never hurts to be nice to the reservation clerks.

While Shannon Mogilinski of St. Charles didn't get any discounts, she did get an upgrade.

"When my husband and I traveled to Russia to adopt our daughter in 2003, we mentioned to the reservations clerk at British Airways that we were adopting a child and that we were carrying humanitarian aid to several orphanages," Mogilinski said. "She gave us a complimentary upgrade to business class. If we hadn't said anything, we would've been sitting in coach."

Jae-Ha Kim is a locally based free-lance writer.

Discrimination against Roma

Madonna booed in Bucharest for defending Gypsies

Associated Press - August 27, 2009 1:13 PM PDT

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• celebs:
• Madonna

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• topics:
• Musicians

U.S. singer Madonna, center, performs during her concert in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. The concert is part of Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)Associated Press

BUCHAREST, Romania - At first, fans politely applauded the Roma performers sharing a stage with Madonna. Then the pop star condemned widespread discrimination against Roma, or Gypsies — and the cheers gave way to jeers.

The sharp mood change that swept the crowd of 60,000, who had packed a park for Wednesday night's concert, underscores how prejudice against Gypsies remains deeply entrenched across Eastern Europe.

Despite long-standing efforts to stamp out rampant bias, human rights advocates say Roma probably suffer more humiliation and endure more discrimination than any other people group on the continent.

Sometimes, it can be deadly: In neighboring Hungary, six Roma have been killed and several wounded in a recent series of apparently racially motivated attacks targeting small countryside villages predominantly settled by Gypsies.

"There is generally widespread resentment against Gypsies in Eastern Europe. They have historically been the underdog," Radu Motoc, an official with the Soros Foundation Romania, said Thursday.

Roma, or Gypsies, are a nomadic ethnic group believed to have their roots in the Indian subcontinent. They live mostly in southern and eastern Europe, but hundreds of thousands have migrated west over the past few decades in search of jobs and better living conditions.

Romania has the largest number of Roma in the region. Some say the population could be as high as 2 million, although official data put it at 500,000.

Until the 19th century, Romanian Gypsies were slaves, and they've gotten a mixed response ever since: While discrimination is widespread, many East Europeans are enthusiastic about Gypsy music and dance, which they embrace as part of the region's cultural heritage.

That explains why the Roma musicians and a dancer who had briefly joined Madonna onstage got enthusiastic applause. And it also may explain why some in the crowd turned on Madonna when she paused during the two-hour show — a stop on her worldwide "Sticky and Sweet" tour — to touch on their plight.

"It has been brought to my attention ... that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe," she said. "It made me feel very sad."

Thousands booed and jeered her.

A few cheered when she added: "We don't believe in discrimination ... we believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone." But she got more boos when she mentioned discrimination against homosexuals and others.

"I jeered her because it seemed false what she was telling us. What business does she have telling us these things?" said Ionut Dinu, 23.

Madonna did not react and carried on with her concert, held near the hulking palace of the late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said Madonna and other had told her there were cheers as well as jeers.

"Madonna has been touring with a phenomenal troupe of Roma musicians who made her aware of the discrimination toward them in several countries so she felt compelled to make a brief statement," Rosenberg said in an e-mail. "She will not be issuing a further statement."

One Roma musician said the attitude toward Gypsies is contradictory.

"Romanians watch Gypsy soap operas, they like Gypsy music and go to Gypsy concerts," said Damian Draghici, a Grammy Award-winner who has performed with James Brown and Joe Cocker.

"But there has been a wave of aggression against Roma people in Italy, Hungary and Romania, which shows me something is not OK," he told the AP in an interview. "The politicians have to do something about it. People have to be educated not to be prejudiced. All people are equal, and that is the message politicians must give."

Nearly one in two of Europe's estimated 12 million Roma claimed to have suffered an act of discrimination over the past 12 months, according to a recent report by the Vienna-based EU Fundamental Rights Agency. The group says Roma face "overt discrimination" in housing, health care and education.

Many do not have official identification, which means they cannot get social benefits, are undereducated and struggle to find decent jobs.

Roma children are more likely to drop out of school than their peers from other ethnic groups. Many Romanians label Gypsies as thieves, and many are outraged by those who beg or commit petty crimes in Western Europe, believing they spoil Romania's image abroad.

In May 2007, Romanian President Traian Basescu was heard to call a Romanian journalist a "stinky Gypsy" during a conversation with his wife. Romania's anti-discrimination board criticized Basescu, who later apologized.

Human rights activists say the attacks in Hungary, which began in July 2008, may be tied to that country's economic crisis and the rising popularity of far-right vigilantes angered by a rash of petty thefts and other so-called "Gypsy crime." Last week, police arrested four suspects in a nightclub in the eastern city of Debrecen.

Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia also have been criticized for widespread bias against Roma.

Madonna's outrage touched a nerve in Romania, but it seems doubtful it will change anything, said the Soros Foundation's Motoc.

"Madonna is a pop star. She is not an expert on interethnic relations," he said.

___

AP Writers Alison Mutler in Bucharest, William J. Kole in Vienna and Nekesa Mumbi Moody in New York contributed to this report.

Poem i found on adoption

The Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
/ One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,
the age-old question unanswered through the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.

© Author Unknown

Fingerprint appointment

We had our appointment yesterday to have our fingerprints redone for homeland security -USCIS.

Our appointment was for 10 am and we were out by 10:30. There were 2 families infront of us getting their greencard picture and fingerprints done. The lady doing my fingerprints remembered me from before and I remembered her. You know you have had your fingerprints done too many times when the workers recognize you. Today Chris has his physical and then we will mail it to AAI for our homestudy to be completed.

Praying this is the last time we will have to do our fingerprints, they are good for another 15 months. My passport expires next November, so I am hoping we will have a referral before then. Waiting, praying and keeping busy with life!

Waiting on You Lord Song...

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

* Sung by John Walley

9 Year Anniversary

Wednesday August 12th we celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary! We usually try go away to a Bed and Breakfast but this year I wanted to stay home and get some projects completed that keep getting put aside. My mother and father in law took the girls Wed night-Saturday which was wonderful. Wednesday night we went to Rose's Restaurant on the lake and then we watched a movie. Thursday we slept in and worked on some projects (cutting doors, painting them). Friday we slept in and finished painting the doors, put them up and painted the living room window that were installed a couple of years ago and never got done. I am exhausted, but we had a wonderful time together. We did miss our girls, but it was also nice to not have any obligations or places to be, but home together.

Our next project will be the kitchen and repainting our bedroom. We painted it when we moved in 5 years ago but I am not crazy about the color. We are keeping busy during this waiting period. I check other Bulgarian blogs daily and frua.org daily for any chattering about adoptions in Bulgaria. Maybe I need to get back to learning my Bulgarian, I gave up figuring we had a ton of time before we would get a referral.

Caroline will be starting school pretty soon. We have bought her supplies, and most of her school uniform. Next week we will buy the remainder of her stuff. I can't believe my little girl is going into 1st grade. She lost her first tooth today, I almost cried! Praying for our son and thinking about him daily, if not hourly. Wonder what he is doing today and if someone is holding him?