Prayers Needed

As many of you know, I still follow many blogs from families that are in various stages of the adoption process.  Mostly families adopting from Ukraine.  And I am still in contact on a fairly regular basis with David Avilla, our US facilitator. Let me just say that this week was not a good week for the Ukrainian adoption community. 

A vote to change the process for international adoptions seems to come up in Ukraine once a year or so (thank goodness I was clueless about this when I went through the process).  I was scared to death that the election last January when we were in process would drive this type of situation.  And almost a year later, it has.  There was a vote last June and the vote was rather close.  It was tabled until the bill could be reworked.  It was up for a vote again this week.  And it passed.  OMG, it passed!
Here is the official wording from the State Department:
The Ukrainian legislature is in the process of voting on a bill that would suspend all intercountry adoptions from countries without bilateral agreements with Ukraine, including adoptions from the United States. The bill passed a first reading and vote, but must still pass a second reading and be signed into law by the president. The second reading could take place in the next few weeks. If the bill passes the second reading, it may be signed into law as early as the end of 2010. The draft bill appears to include suspension of all adoptions in progress. The Department is will post updates as information becomes available.

It matches the Kiev News Blog I still follow with political news.  The link is here:
http://news.kievukraine.info/2010/11/status-of-ukraine-adoptions.html
 
As of right now, the only two countries that have bilateral agreements in place are Spain and Israel.  And their agreements will most likely need to be reworded. 
 
I am heartbroken as families in process are paniced and desperate to determine what this really means and when or if they can bring their children home.  Some are bringing home special needs children that will transfer to life-long institutions if they are not rescued soon, others are bringing home children that they hosted and have fallen in love with, others are waiting to meet their children for the first time.
 
It brings back very real and painful memories for me.  At exactly this time last year we were racing against a timeline to have our dossier completed, translated and submitted before the Ukrainian State Department of Adoption closed for the year and holiday season.  We needed only our immigration paperwork.  And it just plain wasn't coming.  I was petrified that the January election would bring about a change in political powers that would shut down adoptions.  I didn't sleep, I cried at home, I cried in the car, I cried at work; I couldn't focus on anything other than how I was going to get this child home where he belonged.  My mother raised me to be a problem solver yet this was a problem I couldn't solve. 
 
Thank the Lord, it worked out for us.  Please, please, please pray for the families in process that it works out for them too!  And please, please, please pray for the children in the orphanages of Ukraine who will be the ultimate victims.