November 14, 2004: Headlines: COS - Bolivia: COS - Ukraine: Adoption: Salina Journal: In 1991, Tricia Nicolau was a Peace Corps volunteer, working with impoverished people in Bolivia. Eight years later, Tricia was ready to adopt a child, but she found foreign adoption programs in Bolivia no longer were being offered. She traveled to the Ukraine and returned with a 7-year-old girl

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Bolivia: Peace Corps Bolivia : The Peace Corps in Bolivia: November 14, 2004: Headlines: COS - Bolivia: COS - Ukraine: Adoption: Salina Journal: In 1991, Tricia Nicolau was a Peace Corps volunteer, working with impoverished people in Bolivia. Eight years later, Tricia was ready to adopt a child, but she found foreign adoption programs in Bolivia no longer were being offered. She traveled to the Ukraine and returned with a 7-year-old girl

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In 1991, Tricia Nicolau was a Peace Corps volunteer, working with impoverished people in Bolivia. Eight years later, Tricia was ready to adopt a child, but she found foreign adoption programs in Bolivia no longer were being offered. She traveled to the Ukraine and returned with a 7-year-old girl

In 1991, Tricia Nicolau was a Peace Corps volunteer, working with impoverished people in Bolivia. Eight years later, Tricia was ready to adopt a child, but she found foreign adoption programs in Bolivia no longer were being offered. She traveled to the Ukraine and returned with a 7-year-old girl

In 1991, Tricia Nicolau was a Peace Corps volunteer, working with impoverished people in Bolivia. Eight years later, Tricia was ready to adopt a child, but she found foreign adoption programs in Bolivia no longer were being offered. She traveled to the Ukraine and returned with a 7-year-old girl

Mission possible
Sunday, November 14, 2004 12:00 am

Salinan travels to Ukraine and returns with a 7-year-old girl


By GARY DEMUTH
Salina Journal

It was a nun who convinced Tricia Nicolau to choose a child over a dog.

In 1991, Tricia was a Peace Corps volunteer, working with impoverished people in Bolivia. When it came time to return to the United States in 1993, Tricia decided to adopt a stray dog. Just before Tricia left with her new companion, a nun took her aside and said something that would change her life.

“She said, ‘I understand you’re taking a dog with you — why don’t you take home a baby instead?’ ” said Tricia, a Salina native. “At the time, she was taking care of 18 babies who didn’t have homes.

“I was only 23 and didn’t feel I was ready to be a mother yet, but I made her a promise — when I was stable in my life, I would come back and adopt a child. I never wanted kids before my Peace Corps experience, but I not only intended to keep my promise, I wanted to adopt internationally.”

Eight years later, Tricia was ready to adopt a child, but she found foreign adoption programs in Bolivia no longer were being offered. She explored other Latin American countries, but found those, too, were closed.

By 2004, she was exploring other countries and contacted adoption officials from Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union.

“I can’t even say why I finally chose the Ukraine,” said Tricia, 36, sales manager at McCune Paper, 254 N. Santa Fe. “I just knew it was the place I needed to go to find the right child.”

That didn’t make the Ukrainian adoption process any less challenging. Tricia discovered potential adoptive parents were not allowed to choose their child before entering the country.

“With most other places, you’re sent a packet on a child with information about him or her, and you can look it over and decide if you want to adopt that child,” she said. “When you go to the Ukraine, you don’t have any idea who you’re going to end up with. When I filled out all the paperwork and was approved to adopt, I was told to be in the Ukraine on Sept. 15 to pick out a child.”

Tricia saw herself as an adventurous woman who loved to explore, and now she was about to embark on her most significant quest. She was a single woman about to travel alone to a strange country, unable to speak the language, and trying to adopt a child she had never seen.

“I never forgot the promise I made to that nun,” Tricia said. “There are a lot of children in the world who want families. I had a good job and was settled and happy in my life, and it was time to make someone else happy.”

Traveling alone

Tricia made an appointment with Ukraine’s National Adoption Center in Kiev, where she would view photos of children and then set up a meeting with a child of her choice.

When she arrived in Ukraine in mid-September, the driver who took her to a waiting train was astonished to see an American woman traveling alone in the country.

“The driver was a former Soviet soldier who spoke English,” she said. “He put me on my train and warned me to lock myself in my compartment and not leave until I got to Odessa. But when I arrived, the facilitator from the adoption agency was not there to pick me up. Here I was, alone in this strange city of 4.5 million people, not able to speak to anyone.

“What happened was I had decided to speak Spanish on the train so people would think I was European. I thought I would be less conspicuous that way. When I finally got ahold of my facilitator, she told me she had asked train officials in Odessa if a young American woman was on board. They told her no, there was only a young Spanish woman. So she left.”

Tricia was taken to the adoption center to look at pictures of children. Tricia had wanted to adopt a healthy girl 2 to 4 years old, but she discovered Ukrainian law first required her to look through files of children with health problems.


©2004 Salina Journal





When this story was posted in November 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

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Story Source: Salina Journal

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Bolivia; COS - Ukraine; Adoption

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