The Libou Family

In March 2001, I finally decided to move forward with my decision to adopt a baby as a single mom. My friend adopted his daughter with Brightside and after speaking with them, I decided to work with their "sister" agency, Happy Families. Nine months later, I was in Almaty, Kazakhstan adopting my beautiful baby girl. She was born on May 4th and I adopted her on December 14th, 2001. These last few months have gone by so fast that I can't believe she is almost one year old already.

I boarded a plane from JFK on November 30, 2001, arriving in Almaty (thru Moscow), early morning on December 2nd. I met my daughter that same day. I had not slept in almost three days when I met her so luckily she was sweet and calm throughout our entire visit. My impressions of the orphanage, Baby House #2, were of a clean, well-maintained, well-run establishment. They are very open there. Many of my visits with her were in the nursery where the other babies were. They keep them busy, don't let them lie there and cry. The toddlers are very friendly and precocious.

All of the children that I saw seemed to be in great shape. Each day my driver picked me up to take me to the orphanage for my two hour visit with my daughter. After 14 days, I went to court and adopted her. Everything went very smoothly. I adopted her hours before the start of a huge national celebration and did not get custody of her until 3 days later, which happened to be my birthday. The first few days were rough and the flight to Moscow seemed very long. Our two day stay in Moscow did us both a world of good. She calmed down and by the time we flew home, she was in great spirits which made for a peaceful ten hour flight home.

I felt well prepared by Happy Families for my journey. I also joined a chat group on yahoo with others adopting from Kazakhstan. I was glad that I brought a lot of books and music with me as I had a lot of free time to fill. My driver took me out several times to some local "must-see's".

This helped to pass the time. The apartment was very spacious and clean and had a telephone in it. I recommend bringing a touch-tone converter since a lot of the phones are rotary and the calling cards need tone. The neighborhood I stayed in was very upscale. There was an internet cafe around the corner with frequent bus service to a store called Zuum where I bought lots of souvenirs. Tatyana made herself very available. She has a cell phone and she keeps a very strong presence.

For those of you considering adopting from Kazakhstan, I recommend Happy Families. If I decide to adopt another child, I plan to use them again. Good luck.
Fondly.
Sara