Dear Ukrainian Lawmakers,

Two of your Ukrainian babies are my daughters now. I know you want what is best for them because I spent 7 weeks in your beautiful country and visited the orphanage in Vorzel numerous times.

My girls were so well cared for... dressed in clean appropriate clothing, in clean diapers and they had clean hands and faces. Their baby houses were clean and their caretakers were working hard. My girls were loved by their doctors, their caretakers, and the facilitator and translator we used to complete our adoption. One of my girls was even lucky enough to have paternal grandparents who visited her regularly and showered her with the love of family. These girls had the best your orphan system has to offer.

But you know, as I know, that they were living this life on borrowed time. Eventually (and not too far off for my older girl) the day of transfer would come. A simple birthday would change everything they had ever known and life in a mental institution would ensue.

In their cases, before that fateful day arrived, you allowed them the privilege of a forever family in the United States. I do believe that it was brave of you to let them go far across the ocean to a world you know only through negative press. I promise you it was the right thing to do for them.

Now they have everything they had before and more. The children they play with everyday will always be with them, even as adults. Their caretakers are now a mama and papa who will always care for them. Their bedrooms, their toys, their books and clothes will always be theirs even after they turn four years old. They now have the security of a family, and family is for always.

So on December 16th as you consider voting to close down the international adoption program, think about the one thing your system cannot provide, the one thing that money and laws cannot grant an orphaned child, the greatest gift that adoption gives to a child... ALWAYS. Please don’t vote to close the door on the blessing of forever families for your orphans.

Thank you,
Masha and Autumn’s mama & papa