:IL;

:Sep 3, 2008;

:FOCUS: Family Law;

:6

International hosting an opportunity

Hosting not the same as adoption when Ukranian orphans visit Indiana.

By Rebecca Berfanger rberfanger@ibj.com



    To encourage families looking to adopt an older child from another country, approximately 25 Ukranian children stayed with about 20 host families in Indiana from Franklin to Fort Wayne for three weeks beginning in late July.

    Michele Jackson, who has done international adoptions for eight years and has been active in orphanage relief programs for nine years, helped organize the children’s trip to Indiana. She works with the recently-formed Carmel law firm Jocham Harden Dimick Jackson and has her own adoption practice, MLJ Adoptions.

    “Only a few countries allow for hosting programs, and Ukraine is one,” she said. “I had done adoptions in the Ukraine prior to starting hosting programs, so I’m very familiar with Ukraine’s system, which has a stable law that applies to hosting.”

    The children were also accompanied by translators and chaperones from the Ukraine, where the spoken languages are Russian and Ukrainian, or a mixture of the two, depending on the region. Jackson speaks some Russian, which helps from time to time.

    The visit included The Children’s Museum, Indianapolis Zoo, day camp, and a performance by the Russian Ballet in Indianapolis. An evening barbecue and a luncheon at a church that featured Russian food was also a part of their experience.

    “The most important thing is the families are just hosting,” she said. “The kids are coming just for a good time. It gets them out of an orphanage that maybe they’ve never left, … which is (true for) a lot of them.”

    The children, ages 6 to 12, live in orphanages in Odessa, Kotovsk, and Nikolaev.

    “They get to spend two or three weeks in a family setting, and they’re getting spoiled, too,” she said. “My biggest concern was that they didn’t feel like they were trying out, so they wouldn’t feel rejected if they weren’t adopted.”

    The idea of hosting children isn’t a novel concept, but Jackson said to her knowledge it’s not done all that often in Indiana. Agencies in other states may have hosting programs where Hoosiers can participate. So far, Jackson has taken part in four hosting programs, and has brought about 70 people total so far from the Ukraine including the children.

    She added Lydia Tarr, Ukraine hosting and adoption director for MLJ Adoptions, had helped bring about 100 orphaned children for hosting programs prior to working with Jackson. Tarr has adopted three children from the Ukraine, including a girl she hosted in 2007 who was 7 at the time, and the girl’s sister who is a year younger.

    Hosting volunteers may not ultimately adopt, but they could influence friends, relatives, neighbors, and coworkers simply by participating as hosts.

    Families volunteering to host also have an advantage in participating – it is free. The catch? If a host family chooses to adopt after the experience, they will be asked to pay so those funds can go toward the cost of hosting for another interested family.

    For host families who choose to adopt after the experience, Jackson added that it is impossible to promise the families will receive a specific child when adopting from the Ukraine due to that country’s adoption policies. What families can do is request a child and mention in their petition to adopt that they already know that child.

    However, due to outside circumstances such as a child being adopted by someone else in the Ukraine or another country, if they are in foster care, or if their biological parents take them back because their economic situation has improved, there are no guarantees, Jackson said.

    But for children who participate in the hosting program, there may be a better chance for them to be adopted than other children, which is by design.

    “If they are in our hosting program, typically they have been on the registry at least 14 months,” Jackson said. “… According to Ukrainian law, children are not adoptable until they’ve been on the list for 14 months, but they can be in hosting if it’s been less time. … Through the program, we’re looking for families for these children or children like them. (We want them to see) a family can function normally with an adopted older child. They may have different issues than a child who wasn’t adopted, but if parents are educated about bonding and education, it can be done.”

    She added the program is crucial when it comes to drumming up interest for adoptions of older children.

    “If not for hosting, these kids would never be adopted,” she said. “Most parents want to adopt young children, toddler age at the oldest.”

    Jackson said about 80 percent of the hosting families or people who have learned about the process of international adoption through hosting families have adopted children as a result of the program.

    She added that sometimes parents have adopted sibling groups of boys and girls, and for some the sibling may still be in the Ukraine.

    “We’ve had people adopt three or four children at one time, and they had an instant family,” she said.

    Jackson’s work also directly helps the orphanages, bringing whatever they can to help.

    “We also … send money (between visits) to help pay for projects, school supplies, clothing, over-the-counter medicines,” she said.

    Examples of projects include a pharmacy, new showers, and a new microwave within the orphanages, whatever they may need.

    Jackson said they follow up with the orphanages and have ongoing relationships with them, visiting at least once a year.

    At the end of the day, she said, “Our goal is to assist (orphans) in some way, either through adoption, or projects for their orphanages. … We’re building bridges in the Ukraine and other countries. We basically assist orphans, so it might just be a toothbrush or a towel, but it’s something they didn’t have before.”

    For more information about Michele Jackson’s work and international adoptions, visit www.mljadoptions.com. Jackson will also present at an all-day CLE program, Legal Aspects of International Adoption, for the National Business Institute Nov. 13 at the Hilton Indianapolis North, 8181 N. Shadeland Ave. More information is online, http://www.nbi-sems.com/seminfo/ nbi-moreinfo.asp?session-id=46329.
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