Richard and Anastasia
Nikiski, Alaska
January 2007, Magadan

Adopting from Magadan through AIA tops our list of positive accomplishments in life. After many disappointments with a large agency we switched over to AIA. From the first time we talked to Olga, we knew everything was going to be ok. Our homestudy was completed in October 2006 and by mid January 2007 we had already returned back from Russia with our son!

Olga runs a first rate agency. She is knowledgeable of the process both here in the US and in Russia. That horrendous paperwork that we all hear about can be completed easily with just following the well prepared directions given to you by Olga. She is honest and factual. Our process went smoothly because we were prepared for everything which we must credit AIA.

Our time in Magadan was wonderful. Zoya is professionally outstanding. The staff at the Children's Home were super. They take very good care of these children::our children. The director, physicians, social workers and other staff were kind and made us feel welcome. The children may not have much but they are safe, fed and clean. We felt comfortable leaving after our first trip and knew our son would be fine until we came back to get him. Court was simple. We just had to show up and answer questions. Olga and Zoya dealt with the hard paperwork/translation stuff. Of course, we must mention our stop in Moscow for the final paperwork and once again, everything went smoothly because of more organized AIA personnel. Just keep your eyes closed when Andrei is driving.

There is much to do to prepare for an adoption but the process is bearable and can be enjoyable through AIA. With AIA, we are people not a number. We felt like we were her first clients. Our son Nikita is here today with the wonderful guidance of Olga and the staff at AIA. If we decide to adopt again, it will definitely be with AIA and hopefully back to Magadan.

David & Laurie Guilford
Mandeville, LA
April 2008, Magadan

I'd pretty much lost hope that we'd ever have children when my wife was told about Alaska International Adoption Agency. After five years of trying, two miscarriages, numerous fertility treatments, and two failed domestic adoptions, I was at the end of my rope with the whole process.

My wife learned of Alaska International Adoption Agency from a group of local families who adopted children from Russia and Eastern Europe. A number of the families used Alaska International Adoption Agency and recommended the agency without reservation. I was a little harder to convince, but thanks to my wife's persistence, we decided to give it one more try.

From the very beginning the agency director, Olga Byrnes, put us at ease. She made no secret of the fact that there is a mountain of paperwork involved in the process and she was upfront about how things would happen. One of the things that impressed me most was that, unlike the domestic agencies that want all the money up front, Alaska International Adoption Agency didn't really ask for a lot of money until they were sure they could place us with adoptive children.

Two children were identified for us in Magadan We were actually afraid to look at their pictures at first because we didn't want to set ourselves up for another heartbreak. When we finally got the courage to look at them, we fell in love on the spot. Those were our sons.

Our first trip to Magadan was in February of 2008. The warmest is got while we were there was 27 degrees below zero! Not exactly a vacation spot. We met Zoya, the Alaska International Adoption Agency attorney, and she was wonderful. She speaks perfect English and the children absolutely love her.

We were not at all prepared for what we saw at the orphanage. Having seen pictures of orphanages in Moscow and St. Petersburg, we were prepared for the worst. When we came through the door of the Children's House, we were greeted with laughter and singing. The place was spotless and every child we encountered met us with curious smiles. There were bicycles, balls, swings, even an Astro-Jump for the children to play on. Unlike the orphanages in urban areas that sometimes house up to 500 kids, the Children's House in Magadan had 48 kids living there. The ratio of children to caretakers was about 6 to 1.

We met Ludmila, the orphanage director, in her office and then they brought in Igor (4 ? years old at the time). He was so little! He smiled and said, "Zdrosvitcha" (Russian for Hello) in the tiniest voice. When Zoya explained to him that we were going to be his mama and papa, his face lit up and he came right to us. Then we met his little brother Pasha (3 years old). For a little kid, Pasha was all personality and definitely had a mind of his own. While Igor came right to us, Pasha was much more reserved. We played with them both for several hours. Pasha was friendly and smiled a lot, but kept us at arms length. Igor and I must have played catch for almost an hour straight. When it was time to leave, we told Igor that we would see him tomorrow and he was fine with that, but Pasha started crying and when they asked him why he told them that he didn't want us to leave! Needless to say, getting on a plane back to America without them was very difficult.

Luckily, it only took not too long for us to get a court date. Unfortunately, the date conflicted with a mandatory meeting my wife had in Washington D.C. The Magadan court was very accommodating and moved our court date back two weeks.

When we returned in April, our court date lasted about an hour. We had a very understanding judge and she even waived the ten-day waiting period for us. We got to Magadan on a Tuesday and our boys were flying home with us that Friday.

The boys were extremely well prepared to be adopted. The orphanage must have explained everything to them in language they could understand, because they didn't hesitate to leave with us. In fact, they were both very excited about the prospect of riding on an airplane. We had occasion over several days to observe the caretakers with the children in the orphanage and the level of care and concern was amazing. It truly is like a big family over there. The kids are very well cared for.

In the short time we've been home (about 4 months), they have become true American boys. Their English blows me away. George (Igor), now 5 years old, can swim the length of an Olympic-sized pool by himself. Paul (Pasha) can swim the width. They are smart as a whip and very athletically inclined. Paul has mastered English to the degree that he now feels comfortable smarting off to us. Yesterday, when my wife told him something he didn't necessarily agree with, he looked her dead in the eye and asked her, "Have you lost your mind?"

In conclusion, we couldn't be happier with Alaska International Adoption Agency. They took a very difficult and complicated process and streamlined it. Everything Olga said she would do she did, and in a timely manner. They are extremely professional and I would (and have) recommend them for any family thinking about expanding.

Jeffrey & Helen G.
Morristown, NJ
June 2008, Magadan

We learned about Alaska International Adoption Agency from FRUA and Yahoo forums. All the reviews we read were very good, and came from people who have already completed their adoption. As soon as I contacted Olga, I knew that she is an honest, reliable person who cares both about her clients and her kids (who are her clients too).

No matter how many questions I had, no matter how trivial they were, Olga was always ready and willing to talk to me. I was almost always able to talk to her at once, but if she was not available, she would return my call the next morning. I could tell that she wanted us to succeed and be parents, and I trusted her completely. I feel very lucky that such caring people as Olga and Zoya in Magadan were working on our behalf.

We submitted our dossier in December 2007, and received the referral of our 11-month old girl at the end of January 2008. This was too good to be true; I could not believe we were going to be her parents. She is beautiful, smart and attached well to us and to her older brother and to her grandparents who live with us. She is more than we could ever dream about. Of course, she and her older brother have their moments of sibling rivalry, but as soon as they wake up, they look for each other and are inseparable.

The baby house is exceptional - not only are the kids well fed and looked after, but they receive a lot of physical and occupational therapy. The gym is equipped with two small trampolines, a treadmill and a lot of developmental toys. There is even a recreation room with special lighting and easy chairs where the children can be soothed and feel relaxed. The therapist keeps very detailed records of the children's developmental milestones and works with kids a lot. The nurses are caring; I could see that our daughter was really attached to them.

Our Trip 1 took place at the end of March (I could not come sooner because of my job), and Trip 2 at the end of May. The court went well; the judge was asking fair questions to make sure that our child will do well in her new family. Our accommodations on both trips were great, both in Moscow and in Magadan. Andrei took very good care of us in Moscow. He is a man of few words, but auto races are his favorite topic. He really values his clients' time and helped us complete our adoption as efficiently as possible. Of course, the flights are long, but for our daughter we would travel to the end of the world.

We are forever grateful to Olga and Zoya and everyone at Magadan Baby House and all the people who helped us along the way. Olga really made our adoption happen; she is the person I trust completely.