1993: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Ternopil orphans: global controversy

The Ukrainian government's May moratorium on adoption of Ukrainian children by foreigners was both a consequence of and an impediment to the resolution of the case of 54 Ternopil orphans.

Brought to the United States from Ternopil, Ukraine, by the "Thoughts of Faith" Lutheran ministry of Wisconsin in January 1992, the original 124 children were placed with Chicago-area Ukrainian American and Lutheran families for four months of warm environment during the winter.

American sponsor-families were led to believe that the children were true orphans and that after the four-month period they could be adopted. In fact, two-thirds are wards of the state while the remaining one-third have either a parent, grandparent or legal guardian.

While the majority of the children were eventually returned to Ukraine, 54 have remained in the custody of their American sponsor families who are trying to adopt them. Two commissions from Ukraine, numerous documents, meetings with Ukraine's Consul General to Chicago Anatoliy Oliynyk and 23 months later, some 40 families continue to pursue the adoption of their Ukrainian foster child.

The battle for the Ternopil orphans had taken on epic proportions as the Ukrainian government attempts to mediate between the adopting families and the raion councils responsible for deciding the children's fate.

After close to two years of conflict, Ukraine's Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Zhulynsky in November gave the 54 adoptions carte blanche, but the raion councils have stymied their processing for political reasons. For its part, the American government permits the adoption of any child who has been in the legal custody of or resided with the adopting parents for at least two years.

The two-year anniversary of the Ternopil children's arrival to the United States is less than a month away.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 26, 1993, No. 52, Vol. LXI

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