Hundreds of Ukrainian orphans were stranded as their prospective adoptive American families struggled to save them with local bureaucrats standing in the way.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine amid the continuous threats Russia received from the US and its Western allies, all international adoptions were quickly put on hold.
Several Americans who are looking to adopt from Ukraine were put on hold with adoptive families. Even for temporary shelter while the war in Ukraine continues, Americans can no longer complete the adoption process to bring the Ukrainian children to the U.S.
Early this year, Americans Jenny Bradshaw and husband Holt hosted an eight-year-old orphan, Katya from Ukraine for a month. They also revealed that they’re part of a group of 200 “prospective adoptive parents” looking to adopt from Ukraine, an international hosting program that is designed to give “children a break from institutional life and give them a small window into what stable family life is like.”
According to the couple, the child had to go back to Ukraine before they started the international adoption process but it had to be stopped due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The lessons are usually enough to say, you know, ‘I love you. How are you?’ I’ll ask her how her day is. I ask in Russian and she answers in English. But right there, after the invasion, she said this funny word ‘voyna’ a couple of times. And I put it to the translator, and it was the Russian word for war,” Bradshaw claimed.
Bradshaw also revealed that they had to contact the child virtually as the international adoption coordinator in Ukraine was able to provide Katya with a phone.
Katya is from the Odessa region, a major port city and integral to the world economy which has experienced intense conflict with bombs and gunshots between the Ukrainian and Russian forces since the war began Feb. 24.
“I watched Katya and other orphans playing on piles of construction debris with stray dogs roaming around,” Bradshaw said and added that following her meeting with the child for a few hours over the course of four days, she was later informed by the Romanian officials that she was to have no more contact with Katya.
“They will not give her letters. They will not give her packages. She couldn’t even send basic essentials like underwear, socks and pajamas, and she was subject to a zero-tolerance policy from the authorities. Romanian officials won’t answer emails, texts or relay any messages to Katya,” she added.
