Ukrainian Government Requests that U.S. Adoptive Parents Submit Required Post-Adoption Reports

On October 2, 2017, the U.S. Department of State issued a notice reminding adoption service providers and adoptive parents of Ukrainian children to comply with Ukraine's post-adoption reporting requirements [PDF version].

The DOS explained that under the Ukrainian Family Code, all adoptive parents of Ukrainian children are required to provide post-adoption reports in each of the three years after an adoption is finalized. Subsequently, the adoptive parent must provide one report every three years until the adoptive child obtains the age of eighteen.

The report must include information on the child's:

General welfare;
Education;
Upbringing; and
 Health.

The report form may be found on the Ukrainian Ministry for Foreign Affairs' website. Post-adoption reports may be submitted either by email or my regular mail to the Ukrainian Embassy or Consulate in the adoptive family's jurisdiction.

The Ukrainian government informed the DOS that there are currently over 1,500 outstanding post-adoption reports that have not been submitted by U.S. adoptive parents of Ukrainian children. In response to the high number of outstanding post-adoption reports, the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy commenced a commission to review its intercountry adoption policy. The DOS stated that since this review began, prospective adoptive parents have reported process delays.

The DOS strongly advised adoptive parents of children from Ukraine to cooperate with Ukraine's post-adoption reporting requirements. The DOS stated that “[y]our cooperation in filling these mandatory reports will help ensure that intercountry adoptions can continue with Ukraine.”

In the case of Ukraine, it appears that U.S. parents seeking to adopt children from the Ukraine may already be facing delays due to the high number of post-adoption reports that have yet to be submitted. In addition to being required under Ukrainian law, it is very important for adoptive parents of children from Ukraine to comply with post-adoption reporting requirements in order to ensure that U.S. parents will continue to be able to adopt children from Ukraine. The reporting requirements are hardly arduous, and complying with them will go a long way toward the placement of Ukrainian children in the future in homes in the United States.