Kemerovo Closed . . .

The last couple of weeks have been difficult reading/hearing the rumors of "changes". Involuntary thoughts & questions have rolled through my mind until Friday, when my agency officially communicated the “changes”. It has been hard to concentrate! My mind has wondered in & out of thoughts of hope, and then despair.

Part of my heart was hopeful, thinking it would be good news, since my dossier is already in Kemerovo waiting for registration. I thought, “Maybe I’m far enough along, it won’t affect me!” But a bigger, more realistic part of my heart knew that, once again, we were in for more delays & more wait. And, yes, unfortunately, the latter is true. Kemerovo is closed to International Adoptions until further notice. Below is the official update from my agency.

Kemerovo Update:

This region is currently on hold due to number of adoptions completed this year. Russian government asks all the regions to provide statistics on foreign and domestic adoptions. This year Kemerovo did too many international adoptions so the governor decided to put adoptions on hold for a few months because they exceeded the quota.

Families who went on trip 1 will finish their adoptions as planned! Court dates will be assigned. If you have accepted a referral but not made the first trip, you may wait for Kemerovo to reopen and continue the process. Right now there are no international adoptions in Kemerovo but there is a chance that a local family can choose the child. This is a risk that comes with every adoption, it will be your choice if you would like to wait.

The officials hope Kemerovo will reopen sometime in the summer (July, August). We hope we will have new referrals as soon as the region will reopen.

There is one saving grace to all of this . . . I have only been waiting with AA for 2 months and in February, when I signed, there was an estimated 6 month wait until referral. So, realistically, August would be the earliest in my time line to receive a referral, anyway. But, that was with referrals moving along at a steady rate. With the new delays, I don’t know if that August date for a referral will still hold true. Only time will tell . . .

So, preparing for more wait . . . Will it ever end?