Dossier is at The Consul...and The Consul is on vacation until April 7th...

We want you all to know what we know...here's an email that we received from our program coordinator today. Looks like it's going to be at least 3 weeks until our Dossier gets to Kaz.



Hi, Cortney & Dustin,

I think there are a lot of factors involved with how long it takes to get an LOI. It does seem like some are faster than others. I can tell you that about 90% of families request the youngest possible baby girl, so families who want that specific referral will naturally be waiting longer. Remember that the regional Department of Education (DOE) issue the letters of invitation when they know there is a child/children available for adoption. If you look at the countries that most active in international adoption, you’ll see that right now, there are not many choices for families. It used to be the China, Guatemala and Russia were the top three countries. Now, referrals in China are taking about 3 years after dossier is sent to country, Guatemala is closed because of issue with Hague and not likely to open up for several months, Russia is still closed to several agencies, and just recently Vietnam shut down. You can see that there aren’t many options for families who are hoping to adopt internationally, and so it is natural that there will be an influx of families switching to Kazakhstan, which will eventually increase wait times because the number of children available will have decreased. There probably won’t be a large number of children available to visit anymore. International adoption is inherently dynamic because you are dealing with foreign governments that have no responsibility to put international adoption on the top of their agenda.

Our second family is in Kaz now and our third family is leaving in a couple of weeks. The family in Kaz now is adopting an 18 month old little boy. The have finished bonding (which they say although was a long time to be in-country was also well worth it for the bond they have now formed) and court. They are about half way through the appeal period now and doing well.

The Consul has been on vacation and will return April 7th so your dossier can be reviewed and sent. I’ll let you know if they tell me when it is released, otherwise, I’ll get an update when it is filed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Have a great Easter,

Kathleen Hiser
Eastern Europe Program Coordinator
Gladney Center for Adoption