Could it be true?

The rumor mill is such a scary place! A place where sometimes rumors are facts and sometimes rumors are just rumors. It's definitely a place to remain cautious and to be sure to shield your heart until you know if those rumors are true!

FRUA is a board I lurk on. It's called Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption and you can find tons of good information on there. Things like how to get a cellphone in Russia, travel info, parenting tips, court procedures for specific regions and even support. Well, today on FRUA, someone posted some info hinting that accreditation is just around the corner and that Cradle of Hope (an agency) has received word that all 4 Russian depts have signed off on their docs and they are just waiting for their accreditation certificate.

For those of you not in the adoption world 24/7 like some of us, let me explain as best as I can. Agencies must be accredited with the Russian government in order to process adoptions as an agency or and NGO (non-governmental organization). Currently, there are no agencies with their accreditation. I don't know the details, but the jist is that the Russian government decided that they needed to take a look at their accreditation process. They have been asking for documents from the US government and agencies regarding US laws for orphans (aka are they treated the same as US citizens), post placement reports, etc... So, throughout this process, agencies have been complying and some are even "on hold".

By "on hold", what I mean is that they are unable to process adoptions, even "independently". Certain agencies (ours included) are able to process adoptions independently - basically acting as a liaison for the person wanting to adopt. My agency is one of them. There are other agencies that are at a dead stand still. Families that have met their children on trip one and then their agency's accreditation expired are STILL waiting for trip 2 to pick their child up. We're talking a year, sometimes more!!! I can't even imagine the sadness they must feel.

I hope that this is true. I hope that the MOE (Ministry of Education - the governing body on international adoptions in Russia) is ready to start handing out certificates in the next few weeks. I hope that families will be reunited with their babies or children and that they can bring them home! If this is true, this will be an exciting time for so many people. I, of course, am cautiously optimistic as we wait for "the word" from our agency.

If our agency does get accredited, it simply means that they can process adoptions in other regions that are currently at a stand still. For some families, nothing will change because they are being process independently. For others, it means they can start moving up the line again.

You know, this post was going to be 3 sentences long. I swear. Why is it that I can't ever just keep it simple? I always feel the need to babble on and "explain" things! :-)

So there you go - your lesson in re-accreditation 101. Of course, I may have things wrong so those of you that have been going through this, speak up!

Fingers crossed folks!!
Have a great weekend!
Becky

P.S. (Yes, there is more!) Went to visit a daycare today with Laura. Scary. They let us in without knowing who we were, we had an appt and they acted like it was a surprise, it was rather run down and was quite a bit cheaper than all the rest! Needless to say, it's a big fat uhhhh NO! Back to the drawing board...