LAST week, the Sofia Echo was tipped that no matter how kind the staff, childrens institutions in Bulgaria have become self-perpetuating entities requiring closer investigation-and some of them, clearly, do not stand up to scrutiny.
Opportunity for adoption abroad offers most children and infants a wonderful life. But is also a highly profitable business.
The increasing length of time it has been taking foreign parents to get through legal hoops here, and the unpleasant querying by the courts and ministries some say they have experienced, indicates there may already be strong suspicions within the Bulgarian legal system that something is not right in the state of many childrens institutions.
This week, we asked foreigners who have adopted children in Bulgaria to tell us their stories.
D.s story
The familys ordeal began with a Russian adoption which ended with the child dying in their hotel room during the ten day waiting period.
We never got a refund because the agency wanted us to keep our mouths shut if we took what they offered. So we set our hopes on Bulgaria.
The wait took ten months, and during that time the agency deliberately froze us out in retaliation for us filing a complaint against them with the (government agency) which oversees their license (theres not a lot they can do until the US puts Hague Convention regulations into effect) and even dropped a hint they would stop the adoption on us if we kept misbehaving. We almost gave up a few times, but for realising this would condemn A to a life in institutions.
It took two years in all, and they picked up their boy ten months their papers started to be processed.
The Bulgarian facilitators were much nicer to us than the agency had been and A turned out to be much more outgoing and vivacious than we had expected, as well as physically healthy, but is in early intervention programmes to help him make up for the developmental delays he has a result of being in the orphanage. We came home five days later without anything going wrong.
But we have been waiting a long time for some media interest in this subject. Material we provided to the Ministry of Justice after our adoption was cited in the arrest of our agencys Bulgarian facilitator and the directors of the three orphanages it worked with early last year.
Loris Story
I am a 30 year old, single mom to two Bulgaria children. My girls are bio-siblings that were adopted separately from the same institution. They are both truly amazing children and I am so proud to be their mom.
My first visit with S in May of 99 is one I will never forget. I was able to take her back to the flat that I was staying in and here too she walked around taking everything in. I got lots of hugs and kisses. I credit the orphanage with her loving nature. It was obvious that she was loved and well cared for.
Upon my return to Bulgaria in November 1999 to complete the adoption of S, I was honoured to be able to see her little sister, then 8 months old. It didnt take long after arriving home with S that I knew, adding her sister to our happy family would not be a problem, and started the process for the second adoption in Jan 2000.
This adoption was a much longer process. My papers got stuck in the Ministry of Health for four months. Im not really sure what the hold up was, but two of us with the same agency were stuck together. I had hoped that it would move quicker since she was a sibling and had mild special needs. She was developing slower and had low muscle tone in her legs.
The adoption took 13 months and she returned for O at the end of January 2001.
My experiences with my US agency and my Bulgaria agency were top notch.
And the Bulgarian process itself, I respect. My complaint is in the length of time it takes. I understand that now adoptions are routinely taking more than a year to complete. These kids need to get out of the orphanage environment as soon as possible in order for the best chance to live a normal life.
Your papers last article stated that most of the children are of Roma (Gypsy) descent. I realise that most of these children dont have a chance of being adopted by Bulgarians as most Bulgarians want to adopt Bulgarian children and are not interested in minorities. That is their choice and I respect that, but I also think for this reason that special needs children and minority children should be made available much sooner for international adoption.
The Wynman Story
(from their web site)
Joe and Mary Wynman have dedicated an entire web site to their Bulgarian ordeal. It is a sinister story of orphan brokerage, neglect, abuse, direct or indirect requests for bribes and donations, lies, harassment and massive costs.
Having decided on a Bulgarian adoption, they contacted a highly regarded agency about a beautiful 15 month-old baby girl.
They wondered, however, why so much expense and awards were being lavished on the orphanage director when they hadnt even left US spoil, however, and were soon to find out attention to the womans cause was part of the donation of large quantities of toys, clothing, and over the counter medications for the orphanage. Other couples working with the agency agreed with each other to ask to see, physically hold, and photograph each others children once they got to Bulgaria, but in those contacts heard disturbing tales.
Many orphanage directors would use the donated items in order to make extra money for themselves. Anything with new clothing tags would be taken out and sold in the streets.
Their Bulgarian representative mentioned that delays could be handled by shortcuts (bribes), and the agency also suspected the orphanage director was skimming funds slated for the orphanage, making specific requests for extra staff but never hiring them.
On arrival, they were given time with their new daughter outside the orphanage but not allowed to see the children of other prospective parents as agreed. They soon learned it was due to injury and neglect, including one child whose broken leg had been put in a cast over dirty nappies and had sat in them for many days.
In the end, the adoption was completed, but costs originally quoted at $25 000 turned out to be $36 000.
The story concludes that the orphanage director was found guilty of misconduct (children selling) though counts of child abuse were dropped. She appealed her conviction and lost. She has been replaced by a male orphanage director. Her old staff has been replaced.
The Wynmans urge other prospective parents to learn from their mistakes.
Find out if you are working with a real adoption agency performing all of the required tasks or simply with a baby broker. A baby broker will rely on a foreign facilitator to do the actual work. They are at the mercy of the facilitator, just as the client is. A baby broker can decide on what facilitator to use, and establish some basic operating rules and ethics.
Learn the process of the country you intend to adopt from. It is absolutely amazing how many agencies and brokers casually make up a process, or make changes to an existing process in order to place blame on the adoptive country government. Make sure your know what you are signing in a contract.
Teri Atkinsons story
We adopted our son from the Childrens Hospital in Buzovgrad. He was found wandering in the streets when he was approximately 18 months old. Announcements were made on television and when no one came forward to claim him, he was placed in the Hospital.
The family arranged to visit in February 2000 through their adoption agency.
He was very well taken care of in the orphanage. We met the doctor who ran the hospital and she was very nice and polite and seemed to be very caring of the children. Unlike what you said in your article, he was tested for HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C as standard information for all adoptive parents. Our son is of Roma or Turkish ethnicity, we are not sure as we have no information on the parents.
When they were ready to returned to Bulgaria in March 2001 to pick up their son, the agency rang to say that their records had been seized by the police and that there was an investigation concerning baby selling. However they consulted their embassy who retrieved their records and after arriving in Bulgaria everything went smoothly.
We returned home with a wonderful, healthy little boy who has amazed us with his adaptability. He was speaking English in a very short time and has attached to us and his sister with no problems.
Rebecca Laras story
Carina Marie was 5 years old when I brought her home in Dec. 2000. I adopted my Georgy, 8 at the time, and he came home in Dec. 2001.
Carinas adoption went very smoothly. I came to Bulgaria three times to see her and also to start Georgys adoption. But Georgys adoption was a bit of a nightmare. We had a female judge that kept playing games, asking for ridiculous paperwork, saying she would sign the adoption decree, then never doing so. Finally the court dismissed her and the next judge reviewed and signed the adoption decree the same day! Georgys adoption took 15 months! Carinas took only 8 months.
Georgys orphanage was very, very. He was actually quite spoiled when he came home, and demanded to eat only certain foods. Within a couple of months he was eating almost all the new foods.
But Carinas orphanage was very poor and I dont feel she was nearly as well taken care of there, nor loved as George was in his.
Opportunity for adoption abroad offers most children and infants a wonderful life. But is also a highly profitable business.
The increasing length of time it has been taking foreign parents to get through legal hoops here, and the unpleasant querying by the courts and ministries some say they have experienced, indicates there may already be strong suspicions within the Bulgarian legal system that something is not right in the state of many childrens institutions.
This week, we asked foreigners who have adopted children in Bulgaria to tell us their stories.
D.s story
The familys ordeal began with a Russian adoption which ended with the child dying in their hotel room during the ten day waiting period.
We never got a refund because the agency wanted us to keep our mouths shut if we took what they offered. So we set our hopes on Bulgaria.
The wait took ten months, and during that time the agency deliberately froze us out in retaliation for us filing a complaint against them with the (government agency) which oversees their license (theres not a lot they can do until the US puts Hague Convention regulations into effect) and even dropped a hint they would stop the adoption on us if we kept misbehaving. We almost gave up a few times, but for realising this would condemn A to a life in institutions.
It took two years in all, and they picked up their boy ten months their papers started to be processed.
The Bulgarian facilitators were much nicer to us than the agency had been and A turned out to be much more outgoing and vivacious than we had expected, as well as physically healthy, but is in early intervention programmes to help him make up for the developmental delays he has a result of being in the orphanage. We came home five days later without anything going wrong.
But we have been waiting a long time for some media interest in this subject. Material we provided to the Ministry of Justice after our adoption was cited in the arrest of our agencys Bulgarian facilitator and the directors of the three orphanages it worked with early last year.
Loris Story
I am a 30 year old, single mom to two Bulgaria children. My girls are bio-siblings that were adopted separately from the same institution. They are both truly amazing children and I am so proud to be their mom.
My first visit with S in May of 99 is one I will never forget. I was able to take her back to the flat that I was staying in and here too she walked around taking everything in. I got lots of hugs and kisses. I credit the orphanage with her loving nature. It was obvious that she was loved and well cared for.
Upon my return to Bulgaria in November 1999 to complete the adoption of S, I was honoured to be able to see her little sister, then 8 months old. It didnt take long after arriving home with S that I knew, adding her sister to our happy family would not be a problem, and started the process for the second adoption in Jan 2000.
This adoption was a much longer process. My papers got stuck in the Ministry of Health for four months. Im not really sure what the hold up was, but two of us with the same agency were stuck together. I had hoped that it would move quicker since she was a sibling and had mild special needs. She was developing slower and had low muscle tone in her legs.
The adoption took 13 months and she returned for O at the end of January 2001.
My experiences with my US agency and my Bulgaria agency were top notch.
And the Bulgarian process itself, I respect. My complaint is in the length of time it takes. I understand that now adoptions are routinely taking more than a year to complete. These kids need to get out of the orphanage environment as soon as possible in order for the best chance to live a normal life.
Your papers last article stated that most of the children are of Roma (Gypsy) descent. I realise that most of these children dont have a chance of being adopted by Bulgarians as most Bulgarians want to adopt Bulgarian children and are not interested in minorities. That is their choice and I respect that, but I also think for this reason that special needs children and minority children should be made available much sooner for international adoption.
The Wynman Story
(from their web site)
Joe and Mary Wynman have dedicated an entire web site to their Bulgarian ordeal. It is a sinister story of orphan brokerage, neglect, abuse, direct or indirect requests for bribes and donations, lies, harassment and massive costs.
Having decided on a Bulgarian adoption, they contacted a highly regarded agency about a beautiful 15 month-old baby girl.
They wondered, however, why so much expense and awards were being lavished on the orphanage director when they hadnt even left US spoil, however, and were soon to find out attention to the womans cause was part of the donation of large quantities of toys, clothing, and over the counter medications for the orphanage. Other couples working with the agency agreed with each other to ask to see, physically hold, and photograph each others children once they got to Bulgaria, but in those contacts heard disturbing tales.
Many orphanage directors would use the donated items in order to make extra money for themselves. Anything with new clothing tags would be taken out and sold in the streets.
Their Bulgarian representative mentioned that delays could be handled by shortcuts (bribes), and the agency also suspected the orphanage director was skimming funds slated for the orphanage, making specific requests for extra staff but never hiring them.
On arrival, they were given time with their new daughter outside the orphanage but not allowed to see the children of other prospective parents as agreed. They soon learned it was due to injury and neglect, including one child whose broken leg had been put in a cast over dirty nappies and had sat in them for many days.
In the end, the adoption was completed, but costs originally quoted at $25 000 turned out to be $36 000.
The story concludes that the orphanage director was found guilty of misconduct (children selling) though counts of child abuse were dropped. She appealed her conviction and lost. She has been replaced by a male orphanage director. Her old staff has been replaced.
The Wynmans urge other prospective parents to learn from their mistakes.
Find out if you are working with a real adoption agency performing all of the required tasks or simply with a baby broker. A baby broker will rely on a foreign facilitator to do the actual work. They are at the mercy of the facilitator, just as the client is. A baby broker can decide on what facilitator to use, and establish some basic operating rules and ethics.
Learn the process of the country you intend to adopt from. It is absolutely amazing how many agencies and brokers casually make up a process, or make changes to an existing process in order to place blame on the adoptive country government. Make sure your know what you are signing in a contract.
Teri Atkinsons story
We adopted our son from the Childrens Hospital in Buzovgrad. He was found wandering in the streets when he was approximately 18 months old. Announcements were made on television and when no one came forward to claim him, he was placed in the Hospital.
The family arranged to visit in February 2000 through their adoption agency.
He was very well taken care of in the orphanage. We met the doctor who ran the hospital and she was very nice and polite and seemed to be very caring of the children. Unlike what you said in your article, he was tested for HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C as standard information for all adoptive parents. Our son is of Roma or Turkish ethnicity, we are not sure as we have no information on the parents.
When they were ready to returned to Bulgaria in March 2001 to pick up their son, the agency rang to say that their records had been seized by the police and that there was an investigation concerning baby selling. However they consulted their embassy who retrieved their records and after arriving in Bulgaria everything went smoothly.
We returned home with a wonderful, healthy little boy who has amazed us with his adaptability. He was speaking English in a very short time and has attached to us and his sister with no problems.
Rebecca Laras story
Carina Marie was 5 years old when I brought her home in Dec. 2000. I adopted my Georgy, 8 at the time, and he came home in Dec. 2001.
Carinas adoption went very smoothly. I came to Bulgaria three times to see her and also to start Georgys adoption. But Georgys adoption was a bit of a nightmare. We had a female judge that kept playing games, asking for ridiculous paperwork, saying she would sign the adoption decree, then never doing so. Finally the court dismissed her and the next judge reviewed and signed the adoption decree the same day! Georgys adoption took 15 months! Carinas took only 8 months.
Georgys orphanage was very, very. He was actually quite spoiled when he came home, and demanded to eat only certain foods. Within a couple of months he was eating almost all the new foods.
But Carinas orphanage was very poor and I dont feel she was nearly as well taken care of there, nor loved as George was in his.
