Thank You

AmBuer

Firstly, I'd like to commend you for doing your homework on the country of Ukraine and learning that pre-selection is prohibited in their adoption protocol. Although this system poses certain challenges for the adoptive parents such as the one you mentioned, it allows the family to be in control of the selection of their child rather than relinquishing that process to a third party.

Saying that, unless you're absolutely set on adopting a girl and have indicated that in your "Petition to Adopt", you might be surprised to have the National Adoption Centre in Kiev propose a boy to you! Many families fall in love with children that were not the same gender or age that they were planning on adopting.

One rule of thumb ...institutionalized children tend to be smaller for their biological age so I would wait till you've found your child before you start buying any clothing.

You can purchase almost everything in Ukraine and save
yourself the trouble of carting it overseas. Try not to over pack since the cars in Ukraine are more compact and the markets have similar products for less the cost.

I would however take, or buy once you get there, the following items for your journey:

Alcohol swabs (10)
Antibacterial wipes (20)
Antibiotic ointment
Antidiarrheal medicine
Antihistamine (for sneezing, runny nose, itchy/watery eyes, & itchy
throat)
Band-aids (60)
Bath visor for shampooing their hair
Clotrimazole cream (for infected diaper rash)
Cold/cough preparation
Desitin (for diaper rash)
Dosage spoon or syringe calibrated in cc or ml
Hydrocortisone cream
Lice removal shampoo
Nasal aspirator
Oral rehydration salts (Pedialyte or powered Gator Aid)
Pain reliever/fever reducer
Pepto Bismol tablets
Thermometer (the forehead-sticking or the electronic types are
easiest)
Diaper wipes and several pull-ups
Vaseline (for use with thermometer)
Zip-loc bags- they're great for storing things and keeping luggage clean
One sippy cup, one bottle, some bottle liners, one pacifier
A soft baby blanket, and a couple of baby toys
A few ziploc bags of animal crackers, raisins, cookies, cheerios, etc. Use age appropriate medication (Infant, Children's, Juniors), but use the child's weight to determine dosage
Bring a weight chart that you can obtain from your pediatrician
Latex gloves to be used when changing diapers to guard against Giardia Lambia or other intestinal parasites
Soft sided vinyl photo album filled with photos of your new family while you are in Ukraine. The children LOVE looking at these
Video camera (you won't regret it)
Digital camera

Take as many videos and photos as you can..you can't
re-live those moments! Whatever you do, bring along
a good sense of humor, a load of patience and
some reading material!