Here's some info on Kazakhstan as I imagine most people don't know much about the country. Settle down for a history/geography lesson. Information provided is taken from World Partners Adoption website.
Kazakhstan is the second largest country, geographically, to come out of the former USSR and possess enormous untapped natural resources. Oil is abundant, with the world's tenth largest reserves and a plentiful supply of other minerals and metals. It also has considerable agricultural potential as well, as the steppe lands are perfect for livestock and grain production.
Kazakstan is roughly five times the size of France or slightly over one-third the size of the continental United States. It shares borders with China to the East, Russia to the North, Uzbekistan to the West and Kirghizian to the south.
At the end of the 14th century the Kazaks began to appear as a distinct Turkic-speaking people. Living as nomadic shepherds each clan was like a nation unto itself and eventually several of these clans came together to form one Kazak nation, but by 1730 they were already seeking Russian assistance to help in their struggle against Mongolian invaders. As history would show, this turned out to be a mixed blessing. With the communist takeover in 1917, the Soviet Union took the land as State property and under Stalin close to 2 million Kazaks died. After World War Two, so many Russians moved to Kazakstan that the Kazaks became a minority in their own country. Migrating Russians began to threaten the Kazak way of life. As a republic within the USSR (1920-91), Kazakhstan suffered greatly from Stalinist purges, from environmental damage, and saw the ethnic Russian portion of its population rise to 37% while other non-Kazakhs made up almost 20%.
Today much has changed. Russians are still to be seen in large numbers, but Kazakstan is now an independent nation. It still is influenced a great deal by its big brother to the north and it looks like this tendency will increase in the near future. Current issues include the pace of market reform and privatization; fair and free elections and democratic reform; ethnic differences between Russians and Kazakhs; environmental problems; and how to convert the country's abundant energy resources into a better standard of living.
The population of the country is just over 17 million people of which most, if not all speak Russian. Kazak, although the official language, is spoken rarely in day to day living. The population breakdown is Kazak 46%, Russian 34.7%, Ukrainian 4.9%German 3.1% Uzbek 2.3%, Tatar 1.9%, other 7.1% (1996).
Our waiting children are as young as 6months old at the time of placement up to age 10 years! We work in several regions which include a Maternity Hospital and several Baby Houses. The Staff in both the hospital and baby houses are very dedicated to our waiting children and take very good care of them until they find their forever families!
The ethnic background of most of the children available is Asian-Kazakh, however Eurasian and occasionally Russian Caucasian, German, Korean, Tatar and Gypsy children and other ehtnicities are available.
The infants in the Maternity Hospital remain there until they are 6 months old, then they are transfered to a baby house. We try to place them before they are moved from the hospital. In both the hospital and baby house, our children receive specialized care from the doctors and nurses. The Baby houses are actually medical facilities that consist of a staff of Doctors, Nurses, and a diverse team of Specialists. These include Neurologists, Orthopedic Specialists, Speech Pathologists, Physical Therapists, and Teachers. The children are evaluated on a daily basis in terms of their medical health and overall development. A common day in the baby house consists of music lessons, massage therapy, physical education, play therapy, and speech therapy.
Kazakhstan is known for it's high standard in child care, and the baby houses are impressive in terms of cleanliness and genuine love for the children. Our facilitator is a neurologist who has an excellent rapport with the baby house doctors, and with this unique team of experts, we are able to gather the most comprehensive information available about the child or children you wish to adopt. Photographs, videos and medical reports will also be available for your review.
The children, as mentioned above, are very well cared for in Kazakhstan. The adult/child ratio in the baby house is 1:6. The children remain with their own age group (usually 10-12 children) and each group always has at least two caregivers. This stability in their environment facilitates their emotional development and ability to form attachments with their caregivers.
So that's some background info for you on Kazakhstan, the culture, and the children. What's next? Now we submit our application to our agency of choice, apply for immigration clearance, and sign up for the home study. Just a note- any time during this process, we could be rejected for whatever reason. Just because we picked a country or decided to adopt by no means makes it a "sure thing."
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