The visit started with a meeting at the Embassy of Ukraine chaired by Y.Pavlenko and Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Olexander Motsyk involving Ukraine’s Consuls General in New York and Chicago, as well as a representative of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in San Francisco. They discussed a way to promote cooperation with the U.S. families who adopted Ukrainian children with respect to submitting post-placement reports to Ukraine’s diplomatic missions in the United States. Also, the participants talked about topical issues the Embassy and Consulates General deal with on the rights of the adopted children.

While in Washington, Y.Pavlenko met with Special Advisor for International Children's Issues to the U.S. Secretary of State Susan Jacobs and Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families Bryan Samuels. Also, he held meetings with representatives of the U.S. NGOs dealing with children’s rights, Ukrainian community, visited American families who adopted children from Ukraine, and delivered a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

During the meetings Ukraine’s Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights discussed various issues of Ukraine-U.S. cooperation in inter-country adoption, timeliness of receiving post-placements reports by Ukraine’s diplomatic missions in the U.S., and measures taken by the American side to ensure Ukrainian adopted children’s rights.

At the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Y.Pavlenko delivered a speech on the adoption of the Ukrainian children by foreign citizens.

In the picture: meeting at the Embassy with American families who adopted children from Ukraine