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New York Congressman calls for federal action to support Ukrainian orphans

Rebecca Conley
/
Maine Public
Tracy Blake-Bell and her husband have been trying to adopt a pair of brothers in Ukraine. As of March 7, 2022, they say the boys are safely out of the country, along with most of the 60 other kids in their orphanage. But the future remains uncertain.

New York Congressman Joe Morelle is calling for federal action to support orphans from Ukraine who have been displaced by the Russian invasion. Some of the children, including a pair of brothers who were on the verge of being adopted by a family in Leeds, Maine, now face an uncertain future. The boys have been evacuated to Poland but are in a legal limbo with no way to enter the U.S. Morelle says others are still trapped in Ukraine.

"We have talked to a number of families just in our region. There's probably at least a half dozen which are in a similar situation which is they have these relationships, they're going through a process and now young people who will call them Mom or Dad and think of them as family, they hear them in this war-torn place," Morelle says. "They hear them dealing with all the horrible consequences of this conflict, this invasion and can't do anything about it."

Morelle says he's calling on the State Department to grant the children new, six-month B visas so they can be swiftly brought to the U.S. and reunited with their prospective adoptive parents. He also wants the federal government to work closely with Ukrainian authorities to implement a system to record the movements and locations of Ukrainian orphans.

Morelle says he'll reach out to members of Maine's congressional delegation and others for support. "This is a heart-wrenching situation, and we have to do everything in our power to make it right," he says.

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