To Ukraine, With Love
FLOWER MOUND (CBSDFW.COM) - By their own admission Lisa and Jon Hendrickson say their family and their home are run like a a well-oiled machine.
They live in a nice home, plan out their dinners for the week, grow their own spices and have tons of time and attention for their 11-year-old son Joshua.
But earlier this month, the family made a decision that has now permanently altered that routine and way of life.
Lisa Hendrickson says she received a text with a link from her friend about orphans in Ukraine that wind up in the sex trafficking trade once they are released as wards of the state. One of those orphans, Julianna, stood out to Lisa. "There she was. The more I read, the more I shook, the more I cried."
After talking about it with her husband Jon, the couple proceeded with the adoption process. The road ahead is a tricky one.
The cost to adopt Julianna alone is $16,000 they said. They said there are home studies, medical exams, visas and immigration papers to fill out and get to the Ukraine and time is of the essence.
"One thing we were told by our facilitator is you have to travel by August to save her," Lisa says.
She says that's because Julianna turns 16 in December and once that happens she is released and vulnerable to the Eastern European pimps known to wait on the other side of the orphanage.
Ukraine has difficulty combating trafficking, the 2007 U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Person's Report placed Ukraine on a watch list, according to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugees Agency.
"Children once they are no longer wards of the state are very susceptible to either being lured away, manipulated or just flat out abducted," says Jon.
"The one thing my family is really good at, immediate and extended, is loving unconditionally," says Lisa.
They said they plan to travel to Kiev and were told to plan on staying three to eight weeks for the adoption process. It's a long road to getting Julianna the life they say she deserves, but say they are committed to expanding their home of three to four.
