HISTORYThe Republic of Kazakhstan is situated between Russia and China, giving it a rich culture and history. Because of its location in Central Asia, its multicultural population of nearly 15 million is composed mainly of people of Kazakh descent (a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes, giving natives a Eurasian look) and Caucasians. There are nearly 80,000 orphans in Kazakhstan, many of which are true orphans or have parents who were not able to care for them. The orphanages are in most major cities as well as their outlying regions. Both Eurasian and Caucasian children are available for adoption. Kazakh orphanages generally house anywhere from 30–70 children with approximately 5–8 children per caregiver. Due to government regulations, the youngest child available for adoption is 7–8 months old. Sibling adoptions are also available. Boys are more readily available for adoption than girls.
PROCESSThe Kazakhstan adoption process can be successfully completed in as little as 12 months. It is usually necessary for families to make two trips to complete the adoption, or one extended trip. The process is begun by collecting documents to compose the dossier (or set of paperwork), including a home study completed by a social worker. The document gathering process takes an average of 3–6 months to complete. Once the documents have been collected, they are translated and submitted to the Kazakhstan Consulate in New York. The documents are registered and then sent directly to our experienced staff in Almaty, who will submit their paperwork to a specific region, based on several factors, such as child request, average wait time, and availability of children. A visa invitation is then sent to notify a family that they have been approved to travel to Kazakhstan to adopt a child. America World assists them in the details of their travel planning and they will generally have 2-3 weeks to prepare.
Kazakhstan is set apart from many other countries in that families do not actually receive information on a child or children prior to travel. Families are given the benefit of interacting with one or more children before making the decision to proceed with the adoption process. The first trip to Kazakhstan is approximately 3–4 weeks. Upon arrival, families will be taken to the region in which they have been registered. They will then have the opportunity to visit a baby or child house and meet with a child(ren) who matches their request. Once a family has officially accepted a child, they begin the visitation process. The government requires that families spend 14 days visiting with their child before applying for a court date. Once this time has expired, a court date will be held approximately one week later. Families are then allowed to travel home during a wait period of approximately one month. Some regions will waive the wait period, and an additional 9 days to process the paperwork for immigration would be required. It is only necessary for one parent to return for trip two, which consists of picking up their child from the orphanage and completing the necessary requirements for US immigration. This trip lasts approximately 5–7 days. Families who desire to stay in-country will be in Kazakhstan for a minimum of 45 days. Families will then return to the US with their new son or daughter!