Dear Families,

As the accreditation process continues to run its course, we continue to wait patiently. Our understanding of the process is that after being approved as an NGO by the Department of Justice, we registered with the Ministry of Education for accreditation. According to the new regulation, the MOE has 3 months to review the submitted paperwork before issuing accreditation. During this time, our accreditation request and documents are also sent back to the United States to be reviewed and approved by the US Department of State. This insures that not only are we in good standing with Russia, but that our reputation in the United States is solid, and that we have followed all US rules and regulations regarding adoptions.

If you have already completed your adoption with Bless This Child, Inc. please make sure to send your post placement reports to us in a timely manner. It is extremely important that we keep up with these reports and submit them by their due dates. Any late reports could cause a delay, or possibly the denial of our accreditation. If you need more information about an upcoming report, please give us a call or email us at blessthischild@ipa.net.

Currently there are regions allowing independent adoptions until agencies begin to receive accreditation. These regions include Smolensk, Stavropol, and Voronezh, from which we are still receiving referrals. The referral wait time has increased recently due to new laws issuing monetary incentives to Russian families who adopt from the orphanages. With fewer regions to work in, and more Russian families adopting, it has become more difficult for our coordinators to locate healthy children quickly. But, rest assured that our coordinators are some of the best and have been successful in finding our families wonderful children, despite these recent events.

We truly hope the adoption process will accelerate once accreditation is approved, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and confidence in us. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call.

Sincerely,

The Staff at Bless This Child, Inc.