Europe

I will talk about Europe now, or I should say Eastern Europe. Western Europe is very modern and so it's own child welfare and adoption programs are well handled and the kids find homes quickly. You can adopt from there, but there are few, if any, kids available for foriegners.

These countries are: the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The pagan religions that was started in many of these countries are well known and used in America, Canada, Australia and other places. They include the the Asgardian gods, Olympic gods, Roman gods, Celtic gods, Gual/Romano-Celtic gods and Slavic gods, to name a few.

Everywhere in Europe has been historically pagan and the information as to what kind of pagan is easily found. European paganism is the most easily recognizable to us in America and Canada as we came from there. While most people now are Christian, there are a growing number of people returning to the old ways. If you adopt from Europe, you have a whole wealth of easily known history and lore to work with.

Americans and Canadians feel very comfortable with adoption from Europe. Many of our people are related to them or came from there. Since many of us are related, we like kids that look similar to us and so have been adopting from there for years. But then they learned how to take care of their orphaned, abandoned and needy children better, began adopting their own children more and so it became harder for us to adopt from there. There are still many children available for adoption, but in Eastern Europe only. These countries are finally starting to fix their systems too, or clam up and let the kids suffer over their embarrasment and stupidity (like Romania.)

A note of Gypsies: Gypsies, properly called Roma or Romani, live all over Eastern Europe. They originally came from India and immigrated over to Europe throughout the first millenium. Their name comes from a misconception that they were originally from Egypt, becoming slang "Gyptians," and later Gypsies. They have a wandering life style and used to go from town to town trading, exchanging tales and trying to wrangle as much money as they could. When countries formed their borders and later required paperwork to travel (as in passports and visas,) they became trapped and forced into a sedentary life. They do not like it, but have no choice. Many integrated into the societies they were trapped in, many others did not. The ones that did not are the ones we think of today. They tend to have olive skin and black hair. Because of their nonconformist ways and penchant for theivery they are reviled in the countries they live in. Consequently many of them have become very poor and so it is their children that end up available for adoption the most. Just remeber that while Americans tend to have a romantic idea of gypsies, they have different ideals from you and many won't bat an eye while robbing you.

Russia is the largest country in the world, at least size wise. It is on both Europe and Asia (though many people are now removing that old barrier, saying that the mountains that seperate Europe and Asia shouldn't really count as a continental barrier, using the name Eurasia now. Really, if mountains counted, then why isn't India a continent? Becuase, Europe wants to make sure they are their own little world, seperate from the rest. Puh-lease!) though it orinally started out just in the Europe side. When people think if Russians they think of the White russian peoples, which are the slavs, descended from the Vikings, whom they call Varangians, and they are the largest ethnic group. There are other peoples though. Russia is known the world over as the primary motivator of Communism, a philosophy which looks good on paper, but never actually works. With the end of Communism, the country was very poor and thousands of children were adopted by Americans and others and was the main source of adopted children for many years, with Korea and China as well. But this has changed now as they are trying to promote domestic adoption and keep the kids they have, sadly though, they still have too many kids than they can provide for and promoting domestic adoption takes time. To stave off foriegn adoption, they have raised the costs as well, making it one of the most expensive to adopt from, there has also been talk that the government has been purposly fudging the medical records, and sending over kids that are mentally unstable and in need of major treatment, or that the kids were severly mistreated in the orphanages there and came to America as mentally scarred. Despite this, if you have the money, then Russia is still an option.

Could you seriously say "No, I won't adopt you," to this kid? I thought not.

They are mostly Russian Orthodox Christian, but there are also Muslims, Jews and Buddhist there. It seems that the people in the city are one of these religions, but out in the country, many people still follow the old ways and are Slavic pagan, animists and Shamans. Some places mix it all together a lot like China does and is interesting.

The All Religions Temple in Kazan, a multicultural Russian city.

I like the onion domes in Russia, they are very beautiful.

Siberia has its own entry here, not because it is a break away state or anything like that, but because I feel it has it's own culture distinct from the rest of Russia and deserves its own entry. It is here that many peoples practice Shamanism and Animism and other pagan religions. It also holds the largest concentration of "aboriginal" (I don't know what else to call them) peoples of Russia. These are the people like the Yakut, Koryak, Chukchi, Ket and others. They are predominantly still animist and shamanistic and pagan. Many still live the old ways. These are the people that walked across the land bridge to America, the Bering strait, and are the relatives to the Eskimo(some of whom still live in Russia,) Inuit and other northern American native tribes. If it wasn't so darn cold, I think I would love to visit these people and listen to their shamans. Though if I can survive a winter in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia with a sweater and a jacket, then I should be fine up there, at least for the other parts of the year. Most of these peoples have a very Asian look to them, with some European features mixed in.

Siberian Shaman

Romania is famous as the home of the legendary Count Dracula, whose real name was Vlad Tepes Dracul. While many people see him as a monster (and he certainly was) the Romanian people see him as a cultural hero. Why? Becuase he was responsible for keeping the Muslim horde out of Europe. If not for him, they would have swept in and forcibly converted everyone, like they did in all the other places they went (and don't pretend like that isn't what happened, because your own records say that you did!) For a time Romania had many children adopted by Americans, but problems with paperwork and fraud crept in and so they shut it down. Sadly, many of the kids are institutionalized and are still there suffering as the government slowly tries to fix things. There lethargy though has cost all those kids a future, as it has gone on for too many years, having too many kids age out the possibility of adoption. Sadly this seems to happen all too much in 3rd world countries. It is working on being a 1st world country very hard, but until it finally fixes its child welfare system, it will remain third world.

Vlad Tepes Dracul, A.K.A. Dracula, and no, he was not really a vampire

The people originally were a Thracian group called Dacians, but were later conquered by the Romans, where they got there countries name (originally it was Dacia.) Later the Slavs came and settled there. This kinship with other Slavs led to it being so easily taken over by the USSR to became one of its communist satelite states. It was after the fall of communism that they became a poor 3rd world country. There are also many Gypsies there. In fact, when most people think of Romania, they think of Gypsies. I was in Romania a number of years ago and many Romanians hate the Gypsies, they go on and on at great length of how they steal everything are dirty and get away with everything and blah, blah, blah. I saw nothing wrong with the gypsies there, and actually all the ones I met where pretty poor. The only problem I really saw, was that they have their kids bombard you with begging. Rather than trying to work with the gypsies and their own personal cultures, which are now part of Romania, they keep trying to force them to be part of their culture. Its a game of give and take, and they don't want to give.




Bulgaria is country similar to Romania, with a similar history or Thracian, Roman and Slav cultures, then Communist Satelite state to the USSR. Though what is different is that an Asian group, named the Bulgars, moved in and took over during the Medieval age. They then took over much of the southern part of Eastern Europe and had an Empire, which later became known as the Second Byzantium. Later the Ottoman turks took over. With help from Romania, they were later able to rebuke the Ottomans and became a state. This interesting mix of different peoples and cultures shows in modern Bulgaria. Though when I was there is seemed the culture was decidedly slavic/balkan, the people themselves were very mediterranean looking. The largest ethnic groups are the Bulgars, Turks and Roma Gypsies. There are many gypsies there, just like in Romania. They probably entered Europe from here. The people are mostly Bulgarian Orthodox Christian or Muslim.

Roma children of Bulgaria

Bulgaria had many children adopted like Romania, but there are few happening now. I think that was because they were a Hague country and for a while America was not Hague, so we couldn't adopt from them. But America is a Hague country now and adoptions may pick up there again. The only annoyance I know of from there is that you have to do post placement reports for 2 years. I understand they want to make sure the adoption is working, but it is an annoyance.


Ukraine has a strong history tied with Russia, as the Varangian Vikings also settled the Ukraine area and controlled the lands that became the Ukraine, Russia(Western Russia) and Belarus. They have a strong Slavic culture and also ties to Poland. The Ukraine was heavily influenced and controlled by the USSR until it gained its independence in the 1990's. The Ukraine looks too similar to Russia for me to go on at length about their culture. One thing I will mention is that this country is where the beautifully decorated Pysanky eggs comes from. It is from here that the tradition of Easter eggs originated. They do beautiful work and I like to use their designs for my Beltane eggs.


The birthrate in the Ukraine has fallen dramatically and so they are worried about keeping the population up. This may hamper adoptions, and in fact the seem to be going very slowly. Though that has not stopped people from trying and many children are still getting adopted. You have to be married to adopt from here though, so no singles, like me, can adopt. They make you do the placement reports too, but are even worse than Bulgaria, in that you have to do it until the child turns 18. The problems I have with this are that it is rather intrusive in your life, is a constant reminder that your child was adopted and not your own and that you have to keep paying a social worker to come and do the reports, which is not cheap.



Moldova does allow child adoptions, but I see no statistics about it and no listing on the international adoption website. From what I can see, the adoption process is simple and takes 6-9 months after the child referral is made, which is about 4 months after you submit your dossier. I would guess that few kids are available for adoption, or that it was a Hague country and Americans couldn't adopt from there until recently, as to why there is limited information. It has a history similar to Romania, being Dacian, then Roman, then the Russians annexed it and ranamed it Bessarabia. Part of it became Romania, the other part remained an individual state and later gained independence in 1991. Many people question if the people in Moldova are ethnically Moldovan or Romanian. The people are mostly part of the Moldovan Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox) and the Orthodox Church of Bassarabia (Romanian Orthodox.)


Belarus has suspended child adoption to foriegners while they rewrite their legistlation. It has been like this for several years though, so they need to finish it. Apparently they prefer their kids to be institutionalized rather than find loving homes. At least find homes for the kids in your country if you don't want to let them be adopted out.




Poland is known mostly as the place where Nazi Germany began its bid to take over Europe (and the world) when they invaded in 1939, setting off WWII. The poles are a slavic branch of people and had a rather large kingdom controlling much of North Eastern Europe. Then it was erased from existance from constant battles with Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Turks, and was broken into pieces and absorbed by Russia, Austria and Prussia. Later, Napolean reformed Poland, only to have it again broken up and half of it taken by Russia. Then after WWI, Woodrow Wilson, the American president, pushed to have Poland restored and the other Allies agreed. Poland was restored until the USSR seized it and it became a satellite state until it finally again regained its freedom in 1990. This country has been to hell and back, but it has survived. I don't understand why Russia wanted it so bad, and I don't know what reasons Woodrow Wilson had for restoring this nation. I also don't understand why there are so many polack jokes, as to me this says that you agree with Nazi Germany and with Communist Russia. The poles are usually fair skinned with light hair and eyes. For a while many polish children were adopted by Americans looking for other fair haired children (since it is supposed to be hard to find them in America, as they get snatched up right away. I personally don't care what my childs skin tone and hair color are,) but with the implementation of the Hague convention, adoption was halted for a while and is now back on track. The people are mostly Catholic, and they had a large Jewish polulation until WWII, which then shrunk considerably.



Lithuania is a slavic country. It was part of the Polish kingdom, then later part of Russia and then the USSR. It is now a small country in Eastern Europe afte gaining independence in 1991. (China should take note that many of the countries that Russia took over when it was Communist are now free with the fall of communism. The same thing will happen to them if they don't start allowing more freedom and individualism in the states they are brutally controlling.) They are a Hague convention country and this has stalled adoptions until recently. The only annoyance here is that singles have some problems adopting. The people are predominantly Roman Catholics, but a Lithuanian pagan movement has been started as they try to reclaim their old gods and the old ways. They have are called Romuva.




Latvia is another slavic county. Its 2 main indigenous ethnic groups are the Latvians and Livonians, though I don't know what the difference is. I don't know much about Latvia, other than that it was taken over by the USSR and became a satellite state until the 1990's when it regained its independence. Many people are Roman Catholic, Latvian Orthodox or Evangelical Lutherans. But, Latvia is also having a resurgence of its old ways and has its own brand of paganism called Dievturi (meaning Godskeepers.) Adoption here is fine except that they may require you to live in Latvia with your child for a period from a week up to 6 months, depending on what the court decides.


Estonia is yet another slavic country. I don't know much about it. I remember it mainly because of the movie I saw as a kid Encino Man, where they say that the Cro-magnum man they found was from Estonia and I had to look it up. Apparantly it was a kingdom that got taken over by the Swedes, Germans and Russians, becoming a satellite state to the USSR. It was during that time period that many Russians moved to Estonia where today they make up 25% of the population. The adoption program is open and running, having the same wait because of Americas lethargy to enact the Hague convention (which I personally hate because it removes private adoption for foriegners, which I did with my son in a non-Hague country.) A friend of a friend adopted from here a couple years ago. He was a single man and he adopted 5 boys, all brothers. I asked how he was able to handle that many kids at once and he said the oldest 2 boys really help out with the other 3 boys. I don't know how he was able to afford it, but many times they discount the cost when you adopt siblings, so that may have helped a lot.


Serbia is known for the Bosnian War, which was a civil war between Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia which was just a whole rediculous affair that cost too many lives. Later the same thing seemed to happen again, but with ethnic Albanians forming the Kosovo Liberation army, trying to divide the already small nation of Serbia into an even smaller one. Why can't these Europeans just get along and stop trying to make smaller and smaller countries. As far as I know Serbia allows adoptions, but prefers enthic Serbians first (wouldn't we all prefer our own people first, duh!) and very few kids seem to be adopted. This may be that it is such a violent and wartorn area all the time that people are afraid to go there. But it may also be that there are no adoption agencies there to do all the work and few people like to do private adoptions as it takes more time and paperwork, at least that is what the adoption agencies would like you to think. When I did my sons private adoption, I didn't have to fill out that much paperwork, actually less than an adoption agency because I didn't have to fill out their application! The adoption itself was finished within a month. But I will concede that I did already know my son and he was living with me in foster care for a month already and that because I did a private adoption from his parents, I had to wait 2 years before I could get his American visa. This is only if you adopt a child from 2 parents though. If the child is an orphan or only has one parent (legally recorded as one either with no known father or from one parent unable to be found or from death) then you shouldn't have a problem getting them the visa. Check with the embassy at all times though, and then check again because they make mistakes...a lot.


Bosnia-Herzegovina is known for the recent battles and attempts at ethnic cleansing there. Since all these people are actually related, ethnic cleansing is not a term I would use, it was a holy war, plain and simple. Historically the people have been Celtic, Slavic and Roman at one time or another, mixing together. Being so close to the middle east has had strong influences on them and so almost half the people there are muslim. The other 2 main religions are Serb Orthodox and Roman Orthodox Christian religions. I would guess that because most of the people are muslim, that they have a problem with adoption (I don't know why muslims have such a problem with adoption, as their prophet was adopted,) since very few children get adopted. It is stated on the old US intercountry adoption website (since taken down) that they really on allow adoption "if the adoption is in the best interest of the child and if the child cannot be adopted in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” I can't really say anything bad about that, as they are just trying to keep their children, except what do they constitute as not able to be adopted by a native Bosnian. Seriously, you know they let the kids languish there forever before they finally say "okay, you can go live with a family."


Hungary is an interesting place. I liked it when I visited Budapest years ago. It was so laid back and the people were friendly and attractive. I wish I could have stayed longer to really get a good feel for the culture, but sadly I was only there for a short time. It has a whole long history and I would have left this on the Eastern European list because of its history except that it was a communist country and as such it had a period of being poor after the fall of communism, leaving many children available for adoption. It seems to have fared better than some of the other former communist countries though, and so there are few children available for adoption, as far as I know at least. If you adopt from there, there are more boys than girls available and you will have to stay in country for 3-6 weeks. Doesn't sound too bad to me. Because it is not one of the popular program countries, it should also be cheaper. I know it is sad that cost is a factor, but it would be a factor if you were deciding on having more kids anyways. Since it has a long and interesting history, I won't post it here, look it up on your own. Though I will say that I find the wars with the Ottoman turks interesting to read. Thank you for keeping the muslim horde from forcing themselves upon/converting Europe!!! Most people are Catholics or some other form of Christian there, and there is a large group of jews. There is also a growing number of pagans in Hungary following Taltos, a kind of Hungarian shamanism, and a kind of Celtic brand of paganism. There are also many gypsies living in Hungary, like many other Eastern European countries and they have their own brand of spirituality.

Roma children on Hungary

Slovakia has very few adoptions done



Macedonia, the birthplace of Alexander the Great. They don't have too many kids available for adoption.

Croatia has very few children available for adoption.



Slovenia has too many of its own people on waiting lists to adopt, so there aren't enough kids available.

Albania does allow adoptions but it is tightly controlled and is therefore hard to do. More kids get adopted from Albania than the above last 4 countries, but still very few. Albania is mostly nonreligious it seems, at about half the population, with the other half equally divided between muslims and christians(both Orthodox and Catholic.) Though different census' say different things.



Czech Republic has few kids available for adoption.





I would like to go on at length about the pagan religions in these areas, but I think I will save that for later blog entries.