Ukraine Orphan Statistics UPDATED

“For today there are 27 thousand Ukrainian children waiting for adoption, head of the adoption department of the Ministry on social policy Olga Olifer told a press conference, ForUm correspondent reports.


According to the official, the figures constantly change, as there are more and more couples wishing to adopt a child. Olifer also informed that due to the economic crisis there was a certain decline in the adoption process in 2011. According to her data, in 2011 Ukrainians adopted 2114 children. “80% of adoptive parents are couples, and 20% – singles, mainly women,” she said.

In her turn, the head of the deaprtment on adoption by foreigners Viktoria Yalovskaya informed that in 2011 only 914 children were adopted by foreigners, while in 2010- 1202 children, and in 2009 – 1428 children.

Yalovskaya specified that there are only 145 children of 5-6 years old – minimal age for adoption by foreigners, and 90% of these children are with disabilities. Yalovskaya also noted that not all foreigners are ready to adopt grown-up children.”

27 thousand Ukrainian children waiting for adoption
[ForUm 2/17/12]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Availability of which orphans are available for international adoption is important for PAPs to understand prior to signing on with an agency. This article has some information, but it would have been more helpful to have a breakdown of all of the 27,000 in care instead of just listing how many 5-6 years olds are available. Are most of them teenagers? How many are younger than 5? Our guess is that those under age 5 are the ones being domestically adopted.

Update: “Ukrainians adopt two times more Ukrainian children than foreigners, Deputy Social Policy Minister Lydia Drozdova has said.

At a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday, the deputy minister said that the alarming tendency of more Ukrainian children being adopted by foreigners than by Ukrainian citizens had been reversed.

According to the Social Policy Ministry, Ukrainians adopted some 1,300 children, while citizens of other countries 530 children in the first eight months of this year.

According to Drozdova, the number of foreign parents who adopted Ukrainian children in 2011 fell by half compared to 2005.

In addition, the deputy minister said most people wanted to adopt children under five years of age. According to Ukrainian legislation, foreigners can adopt children older than five or children with health problems, she added.

Drozdova also stressed that there are 26,000 children waiting for adoption in the Ukrainian database, including 24,000 children older than five years and those with health problems.

At the same time, more than 1,600 Ukrainian parents are currently in the queue for adoption, and 80% of them want to adopt children under five years of age.

“We need to raise the culture of adoption in the society, and to address this issue not in the interests of adults, but in the interests of children,” she said.”

Ukrainians adopt two times more Ukrainian children than foreigners

[Kiev Post 9/27/12]

So 320 Ukrainians want to adopt children OVER age 5 and are “in queue”. I wonder if they are in queue BEHIND international PAPs?Again, we would like to see a breakdown of those 24,000 by age.