We have been working in Kazakhstan since 1999, and we completed our first adoptions there in 2000. We have been placing children from the same orphanage for over ten years now - we have a great working relationship there, and we love seeing the improvements that have been made over the years.

  This program involves preparing your dossier, traveling to Kazakhstan to choose your child and completing your adoption. You will choose your child from the children who have been cleared for international adoption by the Ministry of Education in the orphanage where we work and complete your adoption while you are in country.  We work only in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, in one orphanage called Shapagat (formerly Mylutka).  We have been working in this orphanage for over ten years.  We may not know how many children you will see on your visit.  Presently, you will make two trips to complete the adoption when adopting from Kazakhstan.  The first trip is approximately 33 days including travel days - you will go to court to adopt your child on this first trip. Both parents have to stay during this time before court and will leave following court. There is an approximate 35 day wait in-between trips, after which your child is escorted to Almaty where at least one of the adoptive parents must return for a few days to complete the Embassy procedure to obtain your child's visa to enter the US. The children available for adoption are normally between 6 months and 1 year - sometimes there are children up to the age of 2 years - and occasionally there are sibling groups available, with the oldest child being up to age 5. You must be open to Caucasian, Asian, and Bi-racial (Caucasian/Asian) race children, of either sex, if adopting through this program.  They are all beautiful and in need of your love!

  Once we receive your dossier, you will travel approximately 3-6 months later - this timeframe includes translating your dossier, processing it at the Kazakhstan Consulate in NYC, and through the Ministries in Kazakhstan.  This timeframe may change in the future, as Kazakhstan is currently in a period of transition, while they work towards becoming a Hague country (please see the "Notice from the Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan" below).  We will update this timeframe should changes occur.

  This program is open to married couples and single women.  Women (both married and single) cannot be over the age of 49 at the time of the adoption.  For more information on this, and possible changes in  age limitations and marital status requirements, please contact our office at 910.763.4414.

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Notice from the Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in NYC, where CAH files are submitted, May 2010: The Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan in New York would like to inform that the Government of Kazakhstan continues to streamline and upgrade its international adoption system and to that end Kazakhstan has joined the Hague Convention on International Adoption. Having joined the Convention, the Republic of Kazakhstan, as prescribed, started the process of bringing its national legislation, including the Marriage and Family Code, in compliance with the Convention requirements.  In this regard and to avoid any mistakes and confusion in the process of building the dossiers for prospective adoptive families due to the ongoing legislation reform, the Consulate General temporarily suspends the acceptance of dossiers for adoption until further announcement.  The Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan in New York apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

Notice from the US Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Children's Issues: On May 17, 2010, U.S. Embassy Branch Office Almaty confirmed that the Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan has instructed Kazakhstan’s Embassy in Washington and Consulate General in New York not to accept new intercountry adoption dossiers.  The Ministry said the moratorium on new adoption cases will remain in effect until Kazakhstan implements a system that is compliant with the Hague Adoption Convention; Kazakhstan intends to put such a system in place by September 2010.  Kazakhstani officials have said the moratorium will not affect adoptions that are already in process.

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At this time, no adoption agencies are able to submit dossiers to the Kazakhstan Consulate or Embassy, while Kazakhstan works towards becoming a Hague country.  We will post more information here when we have it - we anticipate that the Consulate will accept dossiers again by September 2010.  We do currently have dossiers in Kazakhstan, and families are completing their adoptions at this time - check the "news" page of this site to see a list of children recently adopted through our Kazakhstan program.  We encourage anyone interested in adopting from Kazakhstan to not be deterred at this time - please contact Janice, director of CAH, at 910.763.4414 if you have questions on this issue. 

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  For more information on our Kazakhstan program, please fill out the information request form on the contact page of our website.

Revised 07/21/10