Son and Daughter Adopted from Eastern Europe

The Cemarka Family

We chose to adopt internationally because most adoptions in the US are open adoptions. We didn't feel comfortable with the birth parents interviewing us in order to decide who would be the legal parents of the child. We also didn't trust the legal system to be on our side if the birth parents ever decided that they wanted the child back. We chose to adopt from the Eastern Europe because we wanted to have a say in which children we would spend the rest of out lives with. We also chose the Eastern Europe because the children are Caucasian looking in appearance, which is what we wanted.

Traveling into the unknown was scary! We had heard many good stories and some bad ones about adopting in the Eastern Europe. I took a quarter of Russian before we left so that we would be able to get around some on our own. It did take some of the fear out of the whole experience.

We were greeted by God's Families staff at the airport and they were very reliable and caring throughout the adoption process. They all seemed to have a good knowledge about most of the children's diagnoses and whether or not they were possibly accurate or misdiagnosed. The paperwork was handled very well. At the time we left, we received all of the paperwork which was done precisely and had all of the appropriate certifications. The God's Families staff sometimes bent over backwards to help us stay within our time line or to find out answers to our questions. When we were trying to make an appointment with the American Embassy in Warsaw, the Embassy said that they didn't have any record of our BCIS paperwork! Jim immediately sent them a copy and the next day we were allowed to make our appointment. Jim was also very good about keeping in touch by phone. Over all, our experience in adopting in the Eastern Europe was very good!

We are thrilled with our two children, Lilia and Paul. They are both healthy and they are much happier and more beautiful then we ever thought they would be! We fell very fortunate that we have two such wonderful children who bring us much joy! If we were to adopt again, we would definitely adopt in the Eastern Europe!

Sincerely,
Mary Ellen Cemarka