CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — In her Castle Rock home, everything is in order for Amy Martin’s girls when they arrive.
“We have their clothes, we have their bedrooms. We have everything set and we’re just waiting now,” she said.
The last time Martin saw the three girls she's adopting was around Christmas. Ever since Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, their adoptions are on hold and even just communicating with each other has become nearly impossible.
“They are in two separate orphanages," Martin said. "They don’t have them together. We have no communication with the younger two. I was going to send them a care box, but this happened, so they won't get it but we have no way of communicating with them."
Martin is one of three families in Colorado facing similar concerns. Nationwide, 175 families are in the process of adopting about 300 children in Ukraine.
“The safety of all the children right now is kind of everyone’s focus,” said Judy Winger, director of adoptions for CCAI, an adoption agency.
Winger said for now, there isn’t much that families can do.
“We're all going to need to just kind of wait and see where there's avenues where we can fundraise and help get services maybe to even get buses or transportation to those orphanages,” she said.
If children end up leaving Ukraine for safety reasons, it could also increase the timeline of reuniting them with families.
“Are these children eligible to be coming across? Are they children that really need to be kept where they are? Are they able to return to Ukraine or not? I mean, there's just going to be so many unknown questions,” Winger said.
Still, Martin hasn’t lost hope. No matter how long it takes, she knows sooner or later the girls will be home for good.
“We'll just have to look at it as red tape that we have to get through to get them,” she said.
