China
Guatemala
Russia
Vietnam
India
EthiopiaFTIA is accredited by the Russian Adoption Officials to facilitate adoptions from the Russian Federation.
After you submit your dossier to us, your dossier will be translated and an abstract is submitted to the Ministry of Education at the Regional level. This abstracted information is what is used by the Ministry of Education to advise us when they have a referral for you. Under the current adoption practices and in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation, you will have a child referred to youduring your first of two trips to Russia. While in Russia for your first of two trips, the Ministry of Education in the region presents the child's name, date of birth and orphanage location information to you at the beginning of your first trip. Your are invited to travel on your first trip when the Ministry of Education has a referral of a child for you according to your age and gender preference.
After receiving the referral information from the Ministry of Education, time permitting, you will travel to the orphanage that same day to visit your child and ask questions about the child's condition and development. Typically you will be provided medical and possibly developmental and other information at the orphanage on your child, but we will also provide information for you to ask the orphanage director or orphanage doctor during your visit to help you get as much information as possible. Also, during the orphanage visit you should be able to take pictures and possibly videos depending upon the orphanage. After your orphanage visit and meeting your child, you will return to the house/hotel to contact your international adoption expert in the United States. We make this requirement because we do not want you to make an emotional decision, but an informed decision. In addition to obtaining an independent medical opinion from an international adoption professional, you are more than welcome to contact any local pediatrician or other medical professional you know to review the information.
When you accept a referral, you will go to the courthouse in the region to file your Petition to Adopt. In addition, FTIA will send a form upon your return from your first trip to indicate the acceptance in writing to FTIA.
The purpose of the first trip is to meet the child and file your petition with the courthouse in the region. The first trip is approximately seven days.
After returning to the United States, we anticipate the time between the first and second trips to be approximately 2 to 4 months. Once FTIA is notified of your court date, we will contact you immediately. You will also need to prepare a few updated dossier documents for your court session.
You must arrive in the region one to two days before your scheduled court hearing to visit your child prior to the court date. You must then appear in court for the adoption hearing. After the court hearing, Russian adoption law states that judges must wait ten days to issue the actual adoption decree. On occasion, the judge may waive the ten-day period, which can result in adopting parents being able to complete the entire adoption trip in 10 to 15 days. If the judge does not waive the ten-day requirement, your trip can be 15 to 22 days. The decision on whether a judge will waive the ten-day period is handled on a case-by-case basis, and typically has to do with true urgent circumstances as to why adopting parents must return to the United States or if it is in the child's best interests for the waiver to be granted.
If married, both parents must travel to Russia for both trips. On the second trip, one parent may return after the court hearing.
The above explanation is an overview of the referral process. Please note that any individual case can have variations. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by e-mail or toll free over the telephone.
