UKRAINE
CHRISTIAN ADOPTION
UKRAINE
CHRISTIAN ADOPTION FAMILIES GIVE US A REFERENCE
We
realize that the more our web site visitors know about real adoptions done in
the past, the more they know real names, the less mysterious and worrisome working
through us will be. For that reason, we ask our families to talk to you about
us. We believe God is refining us and humbling us so we can help more
children while glorifying Him and honoring Him.
Reference
1:
Hi, I'm Sharon. We highly admire
Kostya. He is a wonderful Christian. We were in the Ukraine this
time last year (April 2001). We adopted our daughter, Alanna Kristan
Alexandria, age 15 months. Kostya was our gift from heaven. He helped us
through hundreds of trials and tribulations before going to the Ukraine and
while we were there 3 and half weeks. I would do it all over. Please have all
your church family and friends put you on their prayer list. God opened every
door that closed, and blessed us through Kostya. He would pray any time we
asked. Sometimes, He prayed before we asked.
My prayer is
to tell our adoption story to anyone that will listen, through our story, one
more family may wish to adopt a "treasure" from the Ukraine. God
will bless you through Kostya. I can't say enough, how he was a blessing to
us.
God will
answer your prayers, If you have a strong heart, the patience of Job, and if
you have
FAITH>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NEVER NEVER ACCEPT THE ANSWER .......NO!!!!!!!!! Trust me, you will learn to
hate that word. God will change the most impossible situations. He will turn
all NOs to YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST KEEP YOUR FAITH. Most of all, what will
help you more than anything else, forget about time...... take each day
minute by minute, don't compare to schedules in America. Because there are NO
SCHEDULES in the Ukraine.
God bless you,
Michael
and Sharon Bodenhausen adopted a girl in April 2001.
Reference 2:
In July 2001, with
Kostya’s expert assistance, we adopted two beautiful children, Lucia
and Sasha. We found Kostya to be an amazing man of God, with a heart
for orphaned children and a desire to find homes and a better life for them.
Every step of the way through the process in Ukraine Kostya prayed with us
for God’s hand to be on the officials, the children, and the process,
and that His will would be done. Kostya has kept in touch with us since our
adoption because he truly cares about the children and is interested in the
progress they are making. In fact he sends birthday greetings to all of our
children. In retrospect we would have skipped the step of using a US-based
adoption agency altogether since Kostya does all the real work and has plenty
of knowledge of what is needed in both the Ukraine and the US.
Kostya should
be a great help to you should you decide to hire him.
Jim
and Rachelle Neal adopted a girl and a boy in July 2001
Reference 3:
First, let me
congratulate you on the decision to adopt a child from Ukraine. We
work with abandoned children here and know firsthand the need for these children
to have loving Christian homes.
Second, I
highly recommend Kostya as a translator and adoption assistant. I have known
Kostya for several years and have worked with him in helping some of our
friends adopt a little girl. Kostya is a Christian man who wants to help
these children find good Christian homes. He will be honest in his dealings
and most helpful to you while you are going through the process.
Kostya and his wife Olga
are also our friends, so I know him in settings other than just business. May
God bless you as you begin the journey of adopting your child from Ukraine.
In
Christ,
Kenny
Payne,
Missionary in Gorlovka, Ukraine. Click here to email
Reference 4:
It's impossible to explain
all the lives that have been touched through this adoption. God consistently
opens new doors for us to talk about the process and share how we were only
able to do this with strength only He can provide.
It is very
easy to live an uncommitted life here. Many people call themselves Christians
by name but their lives show otherwise. That is the biggest thing God has
taught me in Ukraine.
God feels so much closer and so real for some reason.
Stacey and I
want to sincerely thank you, Ira Kaunova, for all your help and support in
adopting Nadya. You made the whole process so much easier and you constantly
helped us look to God when we lacked faith. The process is so intense and so
scary for adoptive parents I want to encourage you to continue the work of
facilitating. You are very talented. Being able to work with a sister in
Christ made all the difference in the world! Your love for, and devotion to,
God truly ministered to Stacey and I.
Eric
and Stacey Roberts adopted a girl in August 2001.
Reference 5:
Kostya, thank you so
much for taking such a good care of Dermot and myself. You made our trip so
wonderful. We love our new daughter LENA so
much. We will always take loving care of her, and Ira is “A STAR”
and has A VERY big HEART. Thanks again.
Love,
Dermot
and Sally O'Brien adopted a girl in October 2002.
Reference 6:
We adopted Anton,
age 9, and Anastasia, age 7, with the help of Kostya and Ira. It was a great blessing
to have people who share our faith by our sides each step of the way; through
the pre-adoption process at home and while we were in Ukraine. Because of
their knowledge of the process and their ability to work through it, we spent
our time in Ukraine
focusing our attention on the children and building our relationship with
them. If God is pulling on your heart to adopt from Ukraine, we
urge you to enlist the services of Kostya and Ira. In them, you will have a
Christian brother and sister who care about you and the children you are
adopting.
Gary and
LaurieAnn Marks adopted a girl and a boy in December
2002
Reference
7:
We highly recommend
Kostya and his associates in Ukraine.
We felt at ease as soon as we got off the plane in Ukraine. Kostya and
Ira took a very good care of all of our needs. They were there to pray with
us whenever we needed them and their constant prayers helped us through
this experience. They were both honest and kind while we were there.
They shared their concerns and their hopes for our new child and us. We would
not hesitate to return to Ukraine
and use their services again. They are a blessing to those who are seeking
God's plan for their lives and the lives of the wonderful children in Ukraine.
Please feel free to contact us for further reference.
Sincerely,
Wendell
and Denise Carroll adopted a boy in February 2003
Reference 8:
We thank Kostya for helping us get our son. We had some struggles,
both physically and spiritually during our process, but Kostya and the Lord
helped us through them. Kostya was wonderful, especially on the spiritual end
of things. He would suggest we pray before going out for the day, or if a
challenge came up. He helped us find out where we could attend church, which
was important to us. He invited us into his circle of friends, who are
wonderful, spiritual people who were also praying for us. He was kind and
understanding. I had a hard time handling some things there, and he was
supportive and helpful. It was great to have someone who understood the power
of prayer and divine help. Thank you so much!
Yes, there were bumps, but why should we have expected
different? Besides, it gave the Lord the chance to show us his power
and love for us. You would be in good hands with him. May he bless you
in all your righteous works. I pray that he will bless you and
your lovely wife and son. Thanks again for all you did for us.
Ray and Lori Walker adopted a boy in September 2003
Reference 9:
We adopted our two sons from Ukraine in October 2003 with the
help of Konstantin Farkovets and his associates. Our experience was very
positive and we are happy to give them an excellent reference. They were very
friendly and professional in all their dealings with us. We were well
supported through the paper work process before we traveled and well cared
for during our entire time in Ukraine. They
are honest and reliable and worked very hard to help us accomplish our
adoption quickly and smoothly. We would love to answer any questions we can and
hope that many more families will have the great experience that we did in
adopting some wonderful children from Ukraine.
Clayton and Natasha Bingham adopted 2 boys in October 2003
Reference 10:
Greetings from the Carolinas!
We are Missy and
Douglas Daffron and live in Durham,
North Carolina. The purpose of
this letter is to inform future and prospective adoptive parents of the
wonderful facilitator, Ms. Ira Kaunova. We were introduced to Ira by way of a
lady who has adopted children from the Ukraine and has now made it her
mission to help Ukrainian orphans and others. We had planned to do the
adoption process on our own, as independents, and set off to find our future
daughter in July of 2003. We went for our appointment at the National Adoption Center
with a family friend that was helping us. After a couple of days we
were matched with a child from the Donetsk
region. Our story is long, like many others adoptive parents; yet I
will shorten it. After we fell in love with this girl, we get to the
inspector and he informs us that the mother’s signature was not
notarized when she released her rights and the child would not be
available until Jan. 2004. After much thought and another trip to the
NAC to see what we could do, we chose to wait until Jan 2004.
We
asked many times about our paper work and if they would hold the child for us
and then everyone said "no problem"! We
decided that we needed the help of someone who know the process and could
hold our hand and walk us through the adoption process. I phoned Ira 2
weeks before we left and after our phone conversation we knew she was
the person for the job. Ira is one of the most devout Christian people
we have ever been blessed to meet. Going way beyond the call of duty to
get everything done as quickly and painless as possible. She is so
knowledgeable, caring and professional, I do not know what we would have
done without her (probably come home empty handed or stayed 2 more
months). I did not have the pleasure to meet her partner Kostya, but I
know that their teamwork and professional knowledge make them the best
in their field! We have had the privilege of traveling in Eastern
Europe several times over the past 3 years and have grown very fond of Ukraine and
their people yet when it comes to adopting a child from this country,
it is very wise to be a part of this Christian Team!!
Sincerely,
Doug and Missy
Daffron, adopted a girl in January 2004
Reference 11:
About Kostya, I
cannot expound enough. He, and his partner Ira, are amazing! We met many
adopting families during our stay in Ukraine (we had the unusual
30 day wait imposed and we stayed the entire time) and none of them had
anyone working with them that could begin to compare with Kostya, he
definitely exceeds everyone in the adoption community. He and Ira are truly
upstanding Christian people and will do everything in their power to make
your adoption experience go quickly, smoothly, and honestly. They go far
above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to taking care of their
adopting families. They will help you in every way possible, even shopping
and cooking for you! They will even go to church with you if you desire. They
are a wonderful team and work together, and with you, wonderfully. Unlike so
many other facilitators we encountered, Kostya really gets involved with
every aspect of the process. He does all of the work not only at the NAC and
other official offices as well as the daily translating, errands, and even
site seeing. When it comes to translating, they both seem to understand every
aspect of adopting (other translators we saw, just didn't understand and
seemed to be learning as they went). He and Ira speak English so well that
not only do people sometimes mistake them for Americans, but also in a phone
conversation I initially thought Ira was my mother-in-law! We truly loved the
time we spend with each of them and hold them as lifelong friends who will
always be a part of our adoptive family. You will be glad that you chose to
use Ukraine Christian Adoptions. Not only will you save time and money by
going with them but you will have a blessed adoption experience that you will
always treasure. Kostya and Ira, we love you guys!
Don't waste time looking elsewhere and don't go with an agency.
Contact Kostya and get started!
Blessings,
Daryl and Natalie Sirota, adopted a girl in July 2004
Reference 12 :
We are so grateful to God for connecting us with
Kostya. We adopted four siblings at once. We had no idea what God had in store
for us, and are thrilled beyond words at the kindness of the Lord in giving
us such perfect and wonderful creations. Without Kostya's wisdom and
insight things could have turned out so differently. In God's wisdom
and providence he connected us to Kostya and everything fell into place for
us to "find" our babies.
Making a decision to adopt is a big decision, and finding someone to
trust to facilitate that adoption is a difficult task. We heartily want
to recommend Kostya to anyone considering adoption from Ukraine.
Ours was a complicated adoption, since we live abroad, yet Kostya was able to
pull all the elements together to make the adoption happen. He is very
professional when it comes to the serious and legal aspects of adoption, but
very friendly and personable during the down time. We are happy that he
is involved in a profession he so obviously enjoys and at which he is so
evidently skilled. We were very pleased with our interaction with
Kostya and the service he provided, so without reservation we refer you to
him and his team.
Fikret and Darlene adopted in June
2005
Reference 13:
When we originally began our process of adoption, we did not know of
or consider independent adoption. We began with an agency, then moved on to a popular independent organization who
helps prospective adoptive parents to gather and inspect their
paperwork. Soon into the process, we discovered that the word
"expedite" as we defined it was not interpreted the same by those
we were paying to help us. Even after paying for the service we
realized that if our adoption was to move forward we would need to find
someone who shared our idea of speed. Both of us were moved by the
testimony of a couple whose small new child, upon learning to speak English
asked them a heart wrenching question. The child asked: "Mommy, if
you loved me, why did you let me stay there so long?" Driven by
this question from a small child we finally found Kostya, who agreed with us
that there was no need for delay. Independent adoption with Kostya at,
and on, our side made the difference and within eight weeks of accepting his
service, we flew home with our daughter. No adoption agency could have
accomplished what Kostya and his team did for us. The equally amazing
part of the whole process was even with the expense we wasted on the other
"expediter", we still saved thousands of dollars and a lot of time
had we stayed with an agency.
Please visit our blog http://ukraineadoption.spaces.live.com/
Jerry
and Jennifer Moellenkamp adopted a girl in March 2006.
Reference 14:
Hi Everyone! We are Landon
and Tonya Kissack, proud parents of 5 beautiful children, the youngest being
a beautiful little girl whom we adopted from Ukraine in Nov-Dec of 2006. We
were in country for 4 weeks and we never hit a hurdle that wasn't cleared
(with a lot of hard work on the part of our facilitators) in perfect timing,
right down to our last minute rush for the train after gaining our daughter's
passport! Our daughter, Lyra, was 22 months old at the time of her adoption.
She is healthy, smart and an absolute delight to everyone who meets her. What
a precious gift God added to our family in a most amazing way.
We worked with Kostya
throughout our entire adoption process and words cannot express how highly
his services are recommended by us. We were one of the families stuck in the
transfer of authority from the NAC to the SDA so our process was especially
long and we had to submit our dossier twice. Both times, Kostya went over our
paperwork with a fine tooth comb, catching all errors BEFORE submission so
that our dossier was never even questioned, much less rejected for paperwork
errors or omissions. He went far above the call of duty for us many times,
even to the point of tracking down, and paying for the release of, a set of
documents lost by UPS. He was always ready with a prompt answer to any
questions we had during the process and was a great encouragement along the way.
By the time we got to Ukraine, we had a good friend there to meet us and help
us through the process. The entire trip was a joy, not because everything ran
smoothly, but because we had friends who prayed with us, laughed with us,
calmed us down, took us sightseeing, answered our questions, asked us how we
were holding up and trusted God to get us over the hurdles, all the while
working professionally to the very best of their ability. We had the
privilege of working with not only Kostya, but also with his assistants Vanya
and Helen as well. Each one of them is a true gem that any Christian parent
would value to have on their family building team.
Kostya and his team are
truly workers as unto the Lord. Blessings as you pursue your newest family
members!
Blog:
www.thekissackfamily.blogspot.com
Landon and Tonya Kissack adopted a girl in December 2006.
Reference 15:
We had the great
privilege and pleasure of using the services of Ukraine Christian Adoption in
the summer of 2007 to adopt our son. We knew from the very first email with
Kostya that he was very experienced and we were in great hands. He coached us
through the Ukrainian adoption process with great expertise. He has a great
eye for detail, and he carefully and thoroughly scrutinized all of our
paperwork, which resulted in a smooth process for our family. We also knew
that we could always contact him with any question (and there were many!) and
he always responded promptly, and graciously explained the many aspects of
the adoption process to us. He was always available to help with our
paperwork, and to answer questions, no matter how small. Kostya always told
us the truth about the process, and I know this is a quality that is not always
easy to find in the adoption business. We started out with plans to use a
Christian agency, but we began to feel that they weren't being completely
forthcoming about the process, and we switched to independent adoption with
Kostya. We are very glad that we did.
We were blessed to
have the opportunity to work with both Kostya and Vanya, and we can't say
enough about their integrity, professionalism, and competence to get the job
done. When you begin the adoption process you need to be prepared for some
bumps in the road, but looking back, I can say that I wouldn't have changed a
thing. We have many precious memories of our journey to Ukraine to adopt our
son. These two men took exceptional care of us, and went above and beyond the
call of duty to make sure that our needs were met. They are now dear friends
of ours, and "uncles" to our children. We are incredibly grateful
to Kostya and Vanya for everything they have done for us!
Blog: http://armstrongadoption.blogspot.com/
Matthew and Tamra Armstrong adopted a boy in August 2007.
Reference 16:
We had so much fun
getting to know the whole Farkovets family on our trip. They were so kind and
so much fun to hang out with. The girls cried when Kostya left. All of us
were very sad. We really enjoyed the time we spent in Ukraine and it was hard
for all of us to say goodbye. Thank you so much for everything Kostya!
Spending time with you and your family was like spending time with old friends.
We will always hold a special place in our hearts for you three. You are
doing such important work and we were so happy with all aspects of the job
you did for us. You were an answer to our prayers.
Blog: http://ukraine-adoption.blogspot.com/
Kevin and Krista Runge adopted 4 siblings in June 2008.
Reference 17:
How many blogs,
group messages and internet sites have I read? Hundreds. How many of those did
the Lord use to bring my husband and I together on the adoption question?
One. This one. No matter what I came across elsewhere, I kept coming back
here. But let me tell you how we got here. We were seeking to adopt a US
child through an agency when they presented the idea of adopting a 4 year old
Ukrainian girl. She was in the agency's foster care after the
parents disrupted the adoption upon arriving home. We fell in love with her
and adopted her. Not knowing anything about Ukraine and their adoption process,
I began to pour over all the internet in order to have some understanding of
Ukraine and adoption at that time. Somehow, God led me to find Ukraine
Christian Adoption and I was almost in disbelief. The care and concern with
which Kostya described orphans in his country was very compelling. He
believes in adoption and it is his ministry to assist in building families.
After conversing with Ukraine Family Locators recommended on the
site, we hired Ivan to research our daughter's background since we had not
been to Ukraine ourselves. His assistance was professional even though
it required some uncomfortable travel arrangements. Maybe hearing about all
that made us have to see for ourselves! Two years later, we were no longer
just reaping information, but we were holding airline tickets for Ukriane and
our dossier was sitting at the SDA waiting on our arrival. Our adoption
experience has come full circle now that we have been to Ukraine, done the
whole Ukraine adoption thing and are now back home with a very lively 6 year
old brother for our 8 year old daughter! If you just think the Lord
might be leading you to adoption, do spend some time here, reading every word
and click on everyone's blog links. It wasn't easy, but we did more than
survive with Kostya and Ivan's help...we thrived. May the Lord be glorified!
Please
visit our blog at http://addingonason.blogspot.com/
Kirby and Miriam Johnson adopted a boy in July 2008
Reference 18:
When we knew that we were ready to
begin our adoption process, people we trusted recommended Konstantin
Farkovets of Ukraine Christian Adoption. Now, 9 months later we are
thankful to say that Kostya has not only been our trusted facilitator of a
successful adoption, but continues now as our brother in Christ and
dear friend. He was patient to answer all our questions throughout the
initial paperwork stage in a timely and detailed manner. When it came
time to submit, he "went to bat" for us, making multiple trips in
order to see it through. We watched others have their dossiers kicked
out due to errors overlooked by their facilitators, but ours went right
in. By the time we traveled to Ukraine, we had complete trust
in Kostya's ability and willingness to do whatever was needed to move
our process along successfully and efficiently. No one believed that a
Ukraine adoption could be done in 30 days (and most of the time, it still
can't) but ours did. We attribute that to answered prayer, and to an
awesome facilitator. Both Kostya and his partner Vanya aided us in the
business of adoption, and made us feel like welcome friends in their
country. As we prepared to head home, they showed the same patience
with our new 5 year old daughter. We recommend them without hesitation!
Read our story at http://fromnctoukraine.blogspot.com/
Eric and Michelle McConnell adopted a girl in December 2008
Reference 19:
My husband and I adopted a 14 year old boy from
Odessa. Kostya helped us make certain that all of our documents were
complete and exact before translated them for submission of our documents to
the SDA. He caught so many mistakes in our documents that we know there
is no way our dossier would have been accepted without Kostya's
guidance. When we arrived in Kiev Vanya met us at the airport and
helped us in every way possible through the rest of our adoption
process. He was a tool used by God to help change our lives. Even
when things looked like they were impossible and the officials were not
cooperating with us, Vanya would tell us to call out our prayer warriors from
home, we would pray and Vanya would go to work. With God guiding his
steps, Vanya would make contact with people who could help and would talk to
the officials until eventually everything worked out so that we were able to
bring our son home. Throughout the process our son loved to talk with
Vanya and get him to translate things we should know. It was so nice to
have someone we could talk to and our son would talk to. Words cannot
express how much we appreciate all that Vanya did for us. He will
forever be part of the family.
Vernon and Vicky Tygart, parents
to Josh, adopted in 2009 vtygart@aol.com
Reference 20:
I can't even begin to thank Kostya and Vanya
for all they have done for our family. They both went above and
beyond their job descriptions. They truly, truly care about these
families and their children. Having a Christian team of godly men on our side
meant so much to us. Anytime we were nervous about something, Kostya or
Vanya would pray with us and they would remind us that God was in
control over all of it. I was pregnant in Ukraine while we were adopting
and Vanya took very good care of me. He was so considerate of my condition
and concerned for my health. Vanya was our region translator so we spent
a lot of time with him. He became part of our family and we miss the
laughter and good times we had with him. He always made us feel at ease and
we loved his sense of humor. It was wonderful having him around during some
very stressful times. Before we traveled to Ukraine, Kostya was so
helpful in helping us get our dossier together. His English was perfect and I
always understood what he was asking me to do. He explained everything in
detail and always responded to every question I had. We were so impressed
with how much he helped us while we were on the other side of the world. We
do not recommend anyone else for your Ukraine adoption. If you really want
the best team, please contact Kostya and Vanya. You will not regret it.
JC and
Ashley Fumia, adopted a boy in 2009 http://fumia.blogspot.com/
"A good
name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than
silver or gold". (Prov. 22:1, NIV).
St. Bessonova
33/206
Gorlovka 84642,
Ukraine
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