Comments for Kazakhstan Adoption

Comment on Petropavlovsk Baby House by Patti

Patti — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:28:17 +0000

Chris,
I’m not certain which orphanage you were in, however I was in the Baby House as pictured above. My darling son had strider and scabs in his head, and wasn’t very strong at 6 months, but I can ASSURE you, he has NO issues what-so-ever. Momma Galena at the Baby House took very good care of him as well as all the other ladies in his group. I wished someone would send me an email address of the baby house so I can provide them with some much needed children’s vitamins! My son was born 05-18-2004, someone may remember him……..that adopted at the same time, or may read this from KAZ. I want to shout from the Heavens!! HE IS A WONDERFUL CHILD ~ THANK YOU PETRO AND KAZ…..I HAVE KEPT MY PROMISES TO CARE FOR YOUR KAZ CHILD!! And yes, he loves Dombra music, and KAZ, and Momma Nikita that carried him in her tummy, and Momma Galena that took care of him in the Baby House, until his Momma from the U.S. could finally find him, and bring him home.

Chris, maybe you don’t know what Kefir is, but this is what the babies were fed instead of plain cows milk, boosting their immunity tremendously….each night the Baby Hosue Mom’s would make it for them……and YES, they were loved and talked to.

I was there for 58 days, 2 x a day, stayed at the Skiff, and decided to eat one of everything on the menu. I loved the food, I loved the people, and I miss it so much. I want my son to go back to Petro and see Momma Galena, stay at the Skiff, sleep in the same room as we slept, eat the food and know the kindness they showed. I was there alone, and not a day went by that “locals” spoke to me. Quite frankly if your child or others has so many problems, please disrupt, place him in the care of CHASK and I will adopt them……Kazakh children are special gifts from God!!

Comment on The Skif Hotel, Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan by trish

trish — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:10:52 +0000

I loved the Skif. I was there for 58 days during Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations. The staff was friendly, and kind….a place I would look forward to visiting agin. It’s not fancy, but it IS homey!! Being in the middle of winter, I wasn’t able to do a lot of walking, site seeing due to the terribly cold weather. I resigned myself to starting at the top of the menu and working my way down, so I would have an idea of the food in my child’s birth country. When I returned home, I longed for their fresh bread, butter tea, and tropicanka (fruit with yogart on top). Blini’s were awesome. (Crepe like with curds for breakfast). Stuffed chicken leg, soup for lunch with fresh bread, butter and cheese, and later in the afternoon tea. They had a small beauty salon off of the lobby area, and laundry can be done for a price, but I did mine by hand and hung them in the room to dry.
The feast for New Year’s Eve party was wonderful. I think to attend was $50 USD, but it was an all night affair, and an abundance of delicious food and entertainment.
I LOVED the Skif and look forward to taking my child back to see where we stayed waiting for the paperwork to be finalized…..it was home!!

Comment on Great list of Kazakhstan Adoption blogs by Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:58:57 +0000

Feel free to add our blog to this list of Kaz blogs – http://morningstarhappenings.blogspot.com

We traveled to Karaganda in January-March of 2009

Comment on Escorting adopted kids home by Power of Attorney

Power of Attorney — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:28:24 +0000

Apostille always work. It is an international standard of document authentication for the countries that are party of the Hague Convention of 1961. So the Power of Attorney bearing an apostlle will be recongnized in the countries party to that convention so you do not have to sign infront of the foreign notary public. Also, there are other couriers which will deliver the document faster than USPS like FedEx or DHL. And the price will not be much diferent.

Only issue with an Apostilleon POA is that you might need it to get translated if your state would not affix it on documents written in language other than english. Some states do not care.

Comment on Petropavlovsk Baby House by Chris

Chris — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:22:42 +0000

Agreed. The situation is depressing and the outside of the building leaves a lot to be desired but the inside halls were clean. Towards the end of our time there we got to take a look at the renovated sections and they are pretty stunning. Clean, bright and all new furniture and toys. They are definitely trying to improve the facilities. Unfortunately our daughter was in one of the rooms that had not yet been renovated so at the time I wrote this post that was my context.

As far as the care that was received, I’m of a mixed mind on that. The caretakers seem to do their best but it was not abnormal to see the TV in the children’s room tuned to a Russian soap opera or to see 1 year olds spending upwards of 15 minutes sitting on a potty. They also had a habit of putting them in walkers and tying the walkers to the wall with rope so they couldn’t move more than a few feet. The medical care our daughter received was also rather substandard on any scale. They missed a digestive parasite that had been stunting her growth for upwards of a year – they wrote it off to a food allergy (she has none) and they removed two birthmarks via a couple of surgeries that were extremely botched and left nasty scars. The normal western practice is to shrink the birthmark with steroid injections.

So I’d agree they were all cared for to an acceptable level of standard for a second-world country. Loved is a bit of a stretch and they were definitely not well adjusted. Every single child that we know who was adopted had behavioral issues that will take years to work through completely. International adoption is something you need to go into with open eyes. The kids all have issues, some significant, and you need to be ready to handle them. To say anything different sets the wrong expectation for those who are embarking on this path.

Comment on Petropavlovsk Baby House by Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:42:16 +0000

I must say I have to disagree about the baby house being depressing. The situation is certainly depressing BUT my experience at the baby house was that these children were very loved and cared for. The baby house was so clean that they required that you take your shoes off when you enter and there was NEVER even the slightest hint of a mess. The sick children area, yes, I will give you that as depressing but overall, the house was clean, bright and decorated very much to suit the children. These children (the healthy) all were happy and well adjusted and seemed to be thriving in this enviroment. (I was there in 2006).

Comment on Kazakhstan foreign investment not so hot anymore by Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:22:43 +0000

Yep. She is settling in and becoming part of the family. All a matter of time now. Good luck with getting your LOI.

Comment on Kazakhstan foreign investment not so hot anymore by Yael

Yael — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:32:59 +0000

Glad to see your daughter finally arrived. hoep the adjustment process is going well. We are still waiting….I really hope we will be called before the end of the year.
Best regards,

Yael, from Paris

Comment on Improved WiFi at the Skif Hotel by Aimee

Aimee — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:22:26 +0000

I am not disputing that there may be infrastructure problems or that things might be very different than they are here in the US. Every country and culture are different. My point was that (and any adoption agency would tell you this) negative comments reflect poorly on potential adoptive parents. If every American writes about “suffering through their time in country,” how does that make us sound? I’d also like the Kazakh government to think I’d speak favorably to the child of his/her native land as he/she grows.

Comment on Improved WiFi at the Skif Hotel by Chris

Chris — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:24:16 +0000

Kazakhstan is a former Soviet republic that is slowly crawling its way back from years of underinvestment. Luckily they have significant natural resources and oil deposits so unless the government self destructs they are very likely going to pull off their transition to a first world country. That being said, Petro is a former munitions town that has not seen nearly the investment that has happened in the south so if for anyone that is thinking about traveling there for an adoption they’d better go in with their eyes open and be ready for the reality of spending upwards of twelve weeks living there. It sounds really easy until you try and do it – especially with other young children along as we did.

So I’d suggest you save your “spoiled Americans” comments until you’ve actually completed your adoption and integrated an institutionalized child into your family – and suffered through your time in country. Then you might appreciate the information I put up here on this blog – it is all the truth. They are entrusting their children to us as they have no internal adoption culture and the alternative is institutionalizing them until they are 18 and then putting them on the streets to fend for themselves (a few of whom we met). The orphanages seem to be well run and well maintained but they are still institutions and the chances of a 2+ year old getting placed in a Kazak family are very low.