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Khristina Lew   Ukrainian Weekly   13-Jun-1993   Ukrainian children are being exported
The demand for Ukraine's most precious resource

The Ternopil Case

by Khristina Lew

Like the Eastern European countries that opened their borders to foreigners before it, Ukraine in 1991 became a hotbed of golden opportunity.  German, Dutch, Japanese and American businessmen flooded Kyyiv's airports and hotels, exploring the newfound terrain and setting up businesses.  Ukraine's resources were ripe for the picking, and many would claim that included its children.

Suddenly Ukraine's orphanages were playing host to Germans, Italians, Americans � prospective parents hoping to forgo the prohibitive cost and wait of adopting a child in their own country.  As many Ukrainians wish to adopt, foreigners, among them Westerners of Ukrainian descent, were put on a waiting list along with everyone else.  But foreigners could provide the orphanages what Ukrainians cannot � donations in the form of vitamins and medicines, toys, clothing � which sped up the adoption process.

Ukrainian children make up close to half of all Commonwealth of Independent States adoptions.  And while the adoption of Ukrainian children had not reached the fevered pitch of Romania, the incidence of suspect adoption practices prompted the Ukrainian media to bring the matter to the fore in late 1992.  Frequently cited on the pages of the Ukrainian press was the situation involving Lutheran Pastor John Shep, whose Thoughts of Faith ministry in January 1992 brought 124 orphans from Ternopil, Ukraine, to the United States for a four-month stay.  According to Deputy Minister of Education Anatoly Pohribny, whose ministry oversees adoptions in Ukraine, the case of the 124 orphans and others prompted the Ukrainian government, like the Romanian government before it, to halt the adoption of Ukrainian children by foreigners on May 12 until a new law on adoption is passed.  The new law is expected to be approved in early 1994.

The directive halting adoptions by foreigners, issued by Minister for Humanitarian Policy Mykola Zhulynsky, was directed to oblast administrations (while adoptions are processed on the raion level, permission to adopt is granted by the oblast) and has not been made public in Ukraine.  An official at the U.S. Embassy in Kyyiv said the American Embassy in Moscow has been alerted to the Ukrainian government's moratorium.  The Embassy in Moscow, which is larger and better equipped to handle adoptions, reviews and American citizen's petition to adopt a Ukrainian child and issues that child's immigration papers.

In March of this year, the American Embassy in Moscow processed 38 adoptions of Ukrainian children; in April, 31, and in May, 32.  Presumably, adoption documents presented or dated before the May 12 deadline were still honored.  In the first nine days of June, three adoptions of Ukrainian children were processed, but the Embassy expects a serious drop for the remainder of the month.

This is the first in a series of articles about the demand for Ukraine's most precious resource � its children, whom Minister Pohribny calls Ukraine's "national capital."


JERSEY CITY, N.J. � What began as a simple gesture of goodwill by a Midwestern Lutheran organization in the winter of 1992 has escalated into a tense stand-off between 40 American families and the Ukrainian government.  At stake is the future well-being of 64 Ukrainian children, and at issue is respect for Ukrainian law.


The orphan project


On January 28, 1992, 124 children from a Ternopil orphanage arrived in Chicago for a four-month stay with Chicago-area Ukrainian American and Lutheran families.  Organized by Thoughts of Faith, a Lutheran ministry based in Stoughton, Wisc., that had actively assisted Ukraine in the past, the project was a means of providing a warm environment for Ukrainian orphans during the winter months.

Shortly after the children arrived in the United States, two issues were raised with Thoughts of Faith by their foster parents: Could the children, many of whom had legal guardians in Ukraine, be adopted?  Could they remain with their foster families until their visas expired on July 27?

In arranging for their visas to the United States in January, Pastor John Shep, executive director of Thoughts of Faith, had assured officials at the American Embassy in Moscow that the children would return to Ukraine on May 12, 1992.  After consulting with then Minister of Education for the Ternopil Oblast Bohdan Havarivsky, Pastor Shep advised those parents wishing to adopt to seek legal counsel for Chicago-area attorney Roxolanna Harasymiw and await the decision of a special commission from Ternopil that would travel to the United States to determine whether adoption was possible.  The foster parents were instructed that all decisions should be reached by June 30 and that Thoughts of Faith was not responsible for any children remaining in the United States past May 12.

On May 12, 54 children returned to the orphanage in Ternopil.  The majority of the foster parents of those children who remained retained the services of Ms. Harasymiw, who had assisted Pastor Shep in arranging the children's stay prior to their arrival.


Rumblings in Ukraine


The June 30 deadline came and went with no visit from the Ternopil commission.  On July 27, six more children departed for Ukraine, bringing the number of children remaining in the United States to 64 (one little girl arrived from Ukraine on July 27 to join her twin sister who is living with one of the foster families).  The children's visas were extended for another six months, until January 27, 1993.

From July to October 1992, the fate of the 64 children remained uncertain.  In August Pastor Shep traveled to Ukraine to teach at the Kyyiv Polytechnic Institute for one month.  Ms. Harasymiw made arrangements for the Ternopil commission to travel to the United States.  Mr. Havarivsky was relieved of his duties as minister of education and replaced by Mikhailo Mykolenko.  After numerous delays, the seven-person commission finally arrived in Chicago on October 27 to meet with the families and children involved.

After the commission returned to Ukraine in November, local Ternopil newspapers began running stories about the orphans in the United states: that they lived in shabby conditions, that they were being sold into slavery, that they were being trained to become Lutheran missionaries.

Pastor Shep tried to assuage the oblast's panic by submitting an article in the February 13, 1993, issue of a local Ternopil newspaper, Ternystyi Shliakh (The Thorny Path).  Today he admits he is not very popular with the Ukrainian government nor the American Embassies in Kyyiv and Moscow: "[On May 28] I was awarded an Honored Worker for Ukrainian Culture plaque by President Kravchuk's assistant.  [On June 1] I was reprimanded by Moroz of the Ministry of Education" for the orphan scandal.

Lutheran Pastor Darald Gruen of Antioch, Ill., who is currently trying to adopt one of the Ternopil orphans, Volodia, calmly responds to accusations of "training Lutheran missionaries."  "We were just sitting here minding our own business when we were told that our church would be assigned 60 children" from Ukraine, he explained.  "As I approach it, my children can be what they want to be.  I'm not gearing them to be Ukrainian missionaries."  Pastor Gruen's oldest son is a computer programmer, his second son in undecided, son number 3 is a Lutheran pastor, "and my Ukrainian boy wants to be a soccer coach."

Despite the attacks in the media, a commission was set up in Ternopil to examine and reach a decision on each adoption request from the American foster families.


The American End


In November 1992, Ukraine's Consul General Anatoliy Oliynyk arrived in Chicago and shortly afterward became involved in the adoptions of the Ternopil orphans.  He met with every child to ascertain whether in fact he or she wished to be adopted by their foster family and assisted the foster families in preparing and translating adoption documents to the satisfaction of the Ukrainian government.  According to Mr. Oliynyk, as of March of this year, no adoption papers were submitted to the Ukrainian government by any of the foster families.

Ms. Harasymiw says the hold-up in the adoptions of the orphans is the result of complicated paperwork and the Ternopil commission's reluctance to process the adoption requests.  "The children were brought here and stayed beyond with the understanding of the officials at that time.  The new officials see no reason to have these children adopted...  You're dealing with a situation where you have a clash between Ukrainians feeling that Ukrainian children are being exported abroad and Americans who feel they have a right to adopt them."

For Ms. Harasymiw, the most difficult aspect of processing the adoption papers is obtaining the consent of the orphans' legal guardians.  She feels that many have been pressured to terminate their legal rights.

Vladimir Goncharoff of Rolling Meadows, Ill., says the legal guardian of the two little girls he is trying to adopt, Svitlana and Tetiana, told him "don't you dare send these kids back."  Mr. Goncharoff traveled to Ternopil with a group of foster parents in March in an attempt to resolve the adoption dispute, and like several of the other foster parents is a former client of Ms. Harasymiw.

Ms. Harasymiw, who represents "not quite 30 families," says she has obtained consent for some of the families to adopt, but feels she is being scapegoated for the problems encountered during the adoption process.  She and Pastor Shep have severed ties and refuse to comment about one another.

In May a second group of foster parents traveled to Ternopil to pursue their adoptions.  But whereas Pastor Shep assisted the first group of parents in arranging meetings with Ternopil officials, the second group had to fend for themselves.  "We have so many other projects at Thoughts of Faith," Pastor Shep explains.  "We are not an adoption agency.  If we got involved, it would never end."


A special case


The May 12 moratorium on adoptions has spread fear to the foster families and the children they are trying to adopt.  "It is very difficult to go to bed at night," said Pastor Gruen.  "To lose Volodia now after a year and a half would be like death."  On May 28 the foster parents received a letter from Consul General Oliynyk advising them that the Ternopil authorities have requested that the children return to Ukraine.  Some foster parents fear that if the orphans return to Ternopil, their adoption requests will not be honored.  Some families can't afford to fly the orphans and themselves back.

Mr. Oliynyk is sympathetic to the plight of the children and their foster families, but emphasizes that the situation must be handled according to the laws of Ukraine.  "This case will have moral and political consequences.  We must take into consideration that we are deciding the fate of little citizens of Ukraine as well as the relationship between the American families and Ukraine."  According to Mr. Oliynyk, two little orphans who departed for Ternopil before July 27 have been adopted by their American foster parents and returned to the Chicago area in April.

Mr. Oliynyk points to the orphan case as an example of "how not to deal with an adoption."  Mr. Goncharoff says, "I know that this is not the way adoptions are done, but at this time we can only do what is right for the kids...  We've grown to love these kids and they love us.  We can't part."

In light of the May 12 moratorium and Consul General Oliynyk's letter, the status of those children who remain in the United States is not clear.  In early June the foster parents received word from Kyyiv that a program on Ukrainian television indicated that the plight of the orphans will be treated as a special case, and that a "national-level commission" will travel to the United States to review the adoption requests.  As one foster parent put in, the ball is in Ukraine's court.
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