This is Ksusha (comforting little Polina)
As that Ben Stiller movie title so aptly says, There's something About Ksusha.
Ksusha is 15. She turns 16 in May and her chances of having a forever family then are over.
It shouldn't be this way.
Ksusha is the top student at her school. She is the top English student as well. (She won't speak it out of embarrassment, but she understands me when I talk to her in English.)
Ksusha has no family, no future...no hope.
When I visited last May 2009, she was a bubbly, upbeat, open girl who delighted in being my official guide up to Nastia's old school. She shared her love of books with me, and her dream of studying in America someday. I remember asking her what her greatest dream would be, thinking she would say 'A Harvard degree' or something. She dropped her head, and quietly said 'A Family.'
I came home and advocated for her with no luck.
Aside from being a great student, Ksusha has a heart for children like I do. She always has one in her arms or on her lap! While all the other teens are clamoring for my attention, asking for cosmetics and earrings, Ksusha is following silently behind me, asking for nothing.
I would give anything to find Ksusha a family.
It's not too late! It's very close to being late, but it's not too late yet!
If there were a homestudy ready family ANYWHERE out there, they could get her USCIS approval in time. Do you know anyone?
If you wouldn't mind sharing this info with people who have a heart for adoption, I'd be grateful. next year ksusha will leave the orphanage and become another statistic. Of course I will do all I can to help her. Even now, I'm am trying to see f there is ANY way for her to study in the US. But I've learned through this five year Anya saga that orphans are never granted student visas. Never.
That should change.
Anyway, please pray for Ksusha. She is a really special girl with a great mind and heart and great potential to do good in this world. She needs our love and support.
Thank you.
Posted on FB. Praying . . .
ReplyDeleteWhat is the process for adopting in Siberia?
ReplyDeleteGood Morning and I can feel the desparation for this situation. I will post this on my facebook in hopes the right person sees it. God bless your caring heart.
ReplyDeleteOdie
Oh, you're breaking my heart...
ReplyDeleteI'd host her as an exchange student in a heartbeat if that sort of thing were allowed.
I'll repost on my blog later today to help spread the word.
What a heavy burden your heart is carrying, being there with these kids. I can hardly stand it from afar!
Praying!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope she finds her forever family! I hope.
ReplyDeleteMy heart is heavy as you can tell she is just wonderful! A picture does paint a 1000 words. I posted the link on FB along with a short note. Thank you again Keri!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry my home study is not completed as older children is who I want to foster/adopt. But in lieu of being able to do that, I will pray for a family for Ksusha and donate.
ReplyDeleteI'd bring them all home if I could!! Our soon to be son, Max, is 6 years old, and lives in in northern Russia (Severodvinsk). I"m not looking forward to going to his orphanage and seeing all those little ones that need Mommies.
ReplyDeleteSigh.
One kid at a time right?
Im going to post a link for this on my blog.
ReplyDeleteKeri,
ReplyDeleteShe is beautiful and perfect. I am about out of money and space in my house after these next two come home. Can she come as a host kid or exchange student later? We are homestudy ready but after 30k and then some to LAtvia, I am simply out of resources. But that being said, we would take her. We would. I will post her pic if I can figure out how.
Keri, I'll make another run at the news media. Maybe since it's National Adoption Month there might be more interest. If you have a minute, could you let me know if the following is okay. If you don't have time for edits, just let me know if I can go with it. I'm separating it into several posts because of its length.
ReplyDeleteThanks, and stay strong. You are making a difference in a world of indifference.
Momtwo from FRUA
FOR BOSTON WOMAN, NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH
IS ABOUT HELPING ORPHANS IN SIBERIA
November is National Adoption Month, but for Keri Cahill it’s International Adoption Month and much longer in her temporary Siberian home.
The Boston resident is the mother of a teen who she adopted from an abusive life in this brutally cold region of Russia. So abusive, that the child was hospitalized for several months from the beatings she endured by a “caregiver.“ Slowly but surely she recovered in her new Boston home, not just physically but emotionally, with the kind of mother’s love she had never known before.
But it doesn’t end there. Cahill soon learned that her daughter had an older sister back in Siberia, so she started adoption proceedings to bring the child home and unite the sisters. Unfortunately, adoption attempts failed and the girl, at 16, aged out of her Russian orphanage. Cahill was soon to learn that U.S. policies do not allow older orphans into the country. Her U.S. senators might have been able to help, but they did not respond to her pleas or to the pleas of countless other supporters who asked simply for them to understand that two sisters needed each other and the woman they both regard as their mother.
Hi Keri,
ReplyDeleteI’ll make another run at the news media, now that it’s National Adoption Month. If you have time, could you let me know if the following is okay to send out. If you don’t that’s okay. It can wait. I’ve separated it into several posts due to length.
Thanks, and stay strong. You are making a very big difference in a lot of small lives.
Momtwo from FRUA
BOSTON WOMAN DEVOTED TO SIBERIAN ORPHANS
DURING NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH AND BEYOND
November is National Adoption Month, but for Keri Cahill it’s International Adoption Month and much longer in her temporary Siberian home.
The Boston resident is the mother of a teen who she adopted from an abusive life in this brutally cold region of Russia. So abusive, that the child was hospitalized for several months from the beatings she endured by a “caregiver.“ Slowly but surely she recovered in her new Boston home, not just physically but emotionally, with the kind of mother’s love she had never known before.
But it doesn’t end there. Cahill soon learned that her daughter had an older sister back in Siberia, so she started adoption proceedings to bring the child home and unite the sisters. Unfortunately, adoption attempts failed and the girl, at 16, aged out of her Russian orphanage. Cahill was soon to discover that U.S. policies do not allow older orphans into the country. Her U.S. senators might have been able to help, but they did not respond to her pleas or to the pleas of countless other supporters who asked simply for them to understand that two sisters needed each other. She has spent five futile years trying to get someone to listen.
Hi Keri,
ReplyDeleteI’ll make another run at the news media, now that it’s National Adoption Month. I'd like to send a story I've written about you to you to look at (only if you have time), but I think it's too long to post on your blog. Do you have an email address you're monitoring while in Siberia?
Thanks, and stay strong. You are making a big difference in many little lives.
Momtwo (FRUA)
Commuications professional and freelance writer
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAbout sending Christmas gifts and cards...can I send you something for Ksusha? I would love to be her Christmas family and write her a card! Please let me know how I can help. Would love to talk to you more about her. My email is autemin@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteShe's just beautiful. I hope and pray that she finds a forever home. Love you and all that you are doing.
ReplyDeleteI have been following your journey for a long time, though I have never commented. have thought of Ksusha since you posted her picture in one of your previous posts, and feel driven to ask you about how I would even find out if I was eligible to adopt Ksusha. I am a relatively young single mother who has adopted (domestically) one daughter already and we live in a small apartment, so I feel that I am likely not eligible. If you could share a bit more about the process or eligibility rules, I'd appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteI found out about Ksusha from another blogger while I was looking for bloggers that also have children with RAD & PTSD. My husband and I can't get Ksusha out of our minds. We have a currant home study and I know our social worker would update it from China to Russia in a heartbeat for us, but we don't have currant CIS approval. We used it last December to bring home our second daughter. That was very long to ask what agency you used? We are wondering if we would have time to get CIS approval. From what I understand they are not a Hague country so I'm thinking that mean we could go I6OO route and that is much faster. If you would like to PM me my address is:
ReplyDeletebaymoose at comcast dot net
I keep reading this post over and over again. I can't stop reading it. Will you tell us more about her. I keep checking your blog in hopes that you will have written more.
ReplyDelete'Keep thinking about and praying for Ksusha. Unfortunatley, we are not in a position to adopt. Is there any news for her??? Please keep us posted. She looks and sounds like a lovely girl. (((hugs to Ksusha))) My heart goes out to all the children. MariaG (Canada)
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are praying and hoping to get more information about Ksusha and what agency we will need to contact about adopting her. we can't get her out of our minds and hearts and really want to talk the agency and see if we might have time. Thanks.
ReplyDelete