Russia
The Florence Crittenton League is happy to announce that our agency has been re-accredited in Russia. This is a permanent re-accreditation, and does not have to be renewed every year, as before. We have been working with Russian adoptions for more than 13 years and have completed over 200 adoptions. We work with Arna and Aleksa in New Hampshire (they are Russian professors at the University of New Hampshire, and Aleksa adopted her daughter when Russia first opened for adoption. She has two adopted children, now grown. ) Aleksa and Arna help us communicate with our facilitators in St. Petersburg. They also work with couples to help get the paperwork ready for a Russian adoption. All of our team are educated professionals, all with advanced degrees. We rent an office in St. Petersburg, Russia for our program. Our team helps you plan your trip, gives you personal attention, and keeps you informed of changes in the adoption process.
Florence Crittenton League works in St. Petersburg, Orenburg and Perm directly. We are always looking for other sources in Russia. We place children 9 months and older, and sometimes sibling groups. Current waiting times vary depending on the sex, age, and medical issues requested. (The wait for a baby girl is longer than for boys or toddlers). We estimate that your adoption will be completed within one year (or less) of your documents being filed in Russia. Many adoptions are completed within 6 months. Although most of the children we have placed have been relatively good health, parents must remember that all children in orphanages are considered at risk. Parents should be ready for a child with developmental, speech and other delays. Your agency will help you find support services and early intervention help.
COST: International adoption is costly. Document preparation, submission costs, mailing, translation , notarization and legalization of all documents in Russia, administrative costs, on-site translation in Russia for adoption, driver and car in the city of adoption, salaries of team members in Russia, translation services, orphanage aid, filing fees, court fees, legalization of the child's documents for the US Embassy, all cost something. Parents are responsible for their own document preparation costs, travel to Russia, travel to Moscow to the US Embassy to obtain a visa for the child to enter the US, US Embassy fees, driver and car in Moscow. Fees are reduced for handicapped children, siblings, and adoption of more than one child at a time. You can request more details about the adoption costs.
DOCUMENT PREPARATION: If you are an out of state family, we will send your in state agency the format for the home study that is required. All referrals are given by the Committee on Employment and Social Security of the People. No information is given to parents before they travel. The first trip is to receive the referral from the Committee, meet the child, review the medical and social information, and make a decision. All children can be seen by an independent pediatrician in Russia during your first trip. Parents receive a written medical report after the blood test results are available.
COURT: The second trip (4-8 weeks later, both parents have to go to court) is the court trip which finalizes the adoption. There is a 1 0 day waiting period for the court decree to become final, lately that has not been waived. Parents can stay in Russia, or return after the 10 days. They then travel to Moscow to the American Embassy for the child's visa .You are always accompanied by our Russian team.
You can contact Aleksa and Arna at SCATadoption@comcast.net. You can call Florence Crittenton League at 978-452-9671, or email us at info@fcleague.org.
