There were 5 more U.S. agencies accredited in round 2. Unfortunately, ours was not one of them. :-(

It took about 2 weeks for the second batch to be announced so maybe round 3 will occur sometime around August 1st.

Labels: accreditation

I’m really excited about the list of agencies that received their accreditations, but it made me wonder... why them?   Is it just sheer luck that they’re in the first group or is there some sort of pattern?

I looked at the list of the 8 renewed agencies and compared them to the MOE’s list of expired agencies that’s ordered by expiration date.   That list seemed like a reasonable order for reaccreditation to me.   And sure enough, the first 3 on that list were chosen but then the pattern broke.

So, I decided that if anyone would know the answer to this question, it’d be Yoda, I mean Jim.   I posted a message for Yoda Jim on FRUA and his response was that the chosen agencies probably had to do with their post-placement reports being up to date rather than expiration date.

Ahh... now it all makes sense!   Our agency required us to pay for all of our post-placement reports when we completed our dossier.   I thought this was crazy at the time.   I believe I even made some sort of comment like, "We have to pay now for follow-up reports on a child that we don't even have yet?"   I guess this is their way of assuring that we’ll follow through with getting those PPR reports done so that they’ll stay in good graces with the Russian MOE.

Thanks Yoda Jim for your sage advice!
 

Labels: accreditation

The rumors were true - there was good news yesterday!   Russia issued reaccreditation to 8 agencies (7 U.S. agencies and 1 French agency).   Although ours wasn’t one of the 7, this is a sign of goods things to come, hopefully in the very near future.

This is the first accreditation that has been issued in 16 months and it is starting to look like the wait is coming to an end.   We’re holding out hope that our agency will be in the next batch and that it’ll come soon...
 

Labels: accreditation

I hope that everyone had a chance to have their guilt-free Wendy’s Frosty this weekend.   I had mine last night!

I spent most of the weekend getting caught up on the posts over at FRUA.   A rumor that one of the adoption agencies has received accreditation was posted on Friday.   This is certainly some exciting news.   I hope that it’s real and that all of our agencies get the same great news in the coming weeks.

I was having a discussion with a friend on Friday who was asking me when we are going to get our child.   It’s a question that we’re asked frequently, as probably many of you are also.   Rob & I have decided that our new canned response is, "Each day, we’re one day closer."   It sure sounds more positive than our old answer of, "We don’t know."

I hope we all have lots to post about next week but if not, just remember, we’re at least one day closer!
 

Labels: accreditation

Sometimes just hearing something is a comfort.   The information below was posted on the FRUA board yesterday and on several other adoption blogs I read.   Nobody seems to be real sure what it means time-wise but again, just hearing something has us all hopeful that something will happen soon!

Alina Levitskaya, a key player in the Russian MOE went to Washington and met with NCFA (National Council For Adoption) officials to discuss the accreditation situation.   Her visit to the US was in direct response to the USA Today article (on 4/10).   Levitskaya said that she expects several agencies to receive renewal of their accreditation in the ’imminent future.’   She acknowledged receipt of the (US) State Department’s statement with respect to the rights granted Russian children adopted by American families and thanked the NCFA for their assistance in the matter.   She also said that once the backlog of accredited agencies has been cleared, that the MOE would consider the idea of accepting applications for accreditation from new agencies.

Labels: accreditation

As noted all over the adoption circle, USA Today posted an article yesterday Russia curtails American adoptions that stated that Russia is shutting its doors on American adoptions.

Our agency has assured us that this is not true and the Russian MOE is still working towards agency reaccreditations.   There were 3 agencies that still had valid accreditations but they expired in April.   Since there are no accredited agencies left, the media has used that to stir up the rumors.   The reaccreditation situation is no different than it was last month, there are just 3 more agencies that’ve joined us on the waiting list.

We’re all still holding out hope that the reaccreditations will come soon...
 

Labels: accreditation

As most of you in the adoption circle know, last week the Russian Ministry of Education requested another document from all foreign adoption agencies as part of the accreditation review process. This of course means that there’s just no way the agencies will have their reaccreditations completed by the end of March.   <sigh>

In the meantime, we’re trying to stay positive and continue to work on getting our expiring paperwork up to date so that when the time comes, hopefully everything will move quickly and we will have everything ready.

Thanks for your comments and support!   Maybe April will bring good news for all of us.
 

Labels: accreditation

January has come and gone and still no news about accrediatation. We have heard rumors that the Russian M.O.E. (Ministry of Education) has contacted some of the agencies for additional paperwork. I guess that is a good sign that at least something is happening and the paperwork is not just sitting idle on a desk.

Labels: accreditation

CHI was very hopeful to receive accreditation by the end of November. However, during the interim period, they changed the staff with the Federal Ministry of Education and have yet to issue any new requirements for non-expiring accreditation. Today, we heard that during the next two weeks, the Federal Ministry of Education will publish on their website the updated requirements for the documents for accreditation. As soon as these are published, agencies can submit the documentation. CHI has submitted all documentation which was previously requested and will submit any new requirements as soon as possible. Should everything proceed according to plan, they believe that accreditation will be granted by the end of January, after the Russian holidays.

It was specifically asked if the holdup was due to anti-international adoption sentiment, and it was stated that this is definitely not the case. Even in the Duma, the agreement is that international adoption is the only solution to their growing problem. In fact, many infants are still being kept in the baby hospitals because there is no room for them in the orphanages. So even though domestic adoption within Russia is on the rise, they can't keep up with all of the children coming into system.

At this time, we continue to wait on a daily basis for news of accreditation.

Labels: accreditation

On November 4th, the Prime Minister signed the law about NGO registration and non-expiring accreditation. Now CHI is just waiting on the Federal Ministry of Education to sign their accreditation document. So they are another step closer to accreditation.

Labels: accreditation

Well, things seem to be progressing again finally. We got word just this afternoon that CHI is now registered with the Ministry of Justice as an NGO under the new regulations. This is the first step for the new process of non-expiring accreditation.

In May, 2006, the Russian government implemented a non-expiring accreditation for agencies working in Russia. To complete this process, the first step was to register as an NGO with the Ministry of Justice. This must be completed by November by all agencies in order to continue their work in Russia. The second step in the process is for the approval to be passed by the Duma. Then the last step for accreditation will be for the agency to be signed by the Ministry of Education. Our agency reports that they expect this to happen by November, should there be no further delays.

Once that happens, we'll be registered with the Moscow office of our adoption agency and we're supposed to be family #6 in the queue.

Labels: accreditation