Written by Inessa Shiryaeva

We are very pleased to report that since the beginning of the year we have assisted more than 50 families from different states with their adoptions from Russia.

Currently, we have many families in different stages of the adoption process: families preparing their dossier; families having submitted their dossier with a great relief of having paperwork accomplished and now waiting for their invitations and first trip travel dates; families currently on travel in Russia in different regions on their first and second trips, and families waiting for their court dates and second trip travel dates. As we informed in our previous newsletter, the summer months are typically the vacation months for the officials in the regions in Russia. The month of August has already proved to be the end of the vacation season: many families have happily received their invitations to travel on first and second trips. Although the process in some of the regions is still affected by the end of the summer season and results in some delays for the families.

To update you on the present wait times, currently we see approximately 2 to 4 months waiting time for an infant or toddler boy, and 5 to 7 months for an infant or toddler girl after dossier submission. The first trip is approximately 4 to 8 weeks after receiving the invitation from the Ministry of Education. Your second trip is approximately 8 to 12 weeks later. The first trip is usually 7 days long, and the second trip is approximately 15 to 20 days. The children available are 9-10 months and older.

We continue to meet and cooperate with the home study agencies in different locations and states in assisting our families in the process of home study process preparation, post-placement visits and reports and all other adoption related issues. Beginning in July - August we are sending the schedule of post-placement reports to the families and home study agencies in order to assist them with scheduling the post placement visits and reports submission.

We also would like to mention with great delight that for all FTIA staff and especially for Russia program it was a great pleasure and a unique opportunity to see many families and their children during our FTIA Family Reunion on July 24.

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