OVIEDO, Fla. – Kelly Lee cried tears of joy after the 16-year-old Ukrainian girl she trying to adopt, Anya, made it into Hungary.
“When she crossed she was literally taking us step by step like ‘I just, I’m in line in the Ukrainian border’”, Lee said.
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Anya is a Ukrainian teen whose parents passed away and is being raised by an older sister.
“We’ve been in her life since she was 11, coming summers and winters hosting her,” Lee said.
Kelly and her husband are part of World Children Resources, an organization that helps families host children from all over the world.
Lee said from the first day they met Anya at the airport, the connection was instant.
“She just sort of fit right in, it wasn’t like us trying to get used to a new child,” she said.
The mother of five said when the opportunity to adopt Anya came up, they started the process to expand the family.
Kelly and her husband already have four adopted children and one biological son.
“She’s very affectionate, she loves to spend time with my husband and I,” she said. “Literally, like you know we have some teenagers who go hide in rooms, and then she like wants to spend a lot of time with you.”
The conflict in Ukraine has now put a hold on the adoption process, Lee said.
“Everybody is trying to get out and get visas and there’s just lines and lines of people right now so we just are waiting for guidance from our agency our adoption agency our hosting agency at what is the next step,” she said.
According to Lee, the paperwork for Anya’s adoption is ready but it was supposed to be sent to Ukraine. Now, they’re trying to see if the paperwork can be sent to Warsaw, Poland.
To learn more about World Children Resources or to become a host family, visit their website.