Taldy-Korgan

In November of 2002, a group was formed by adoptive families that adopted from Taldy-Korgan, Kazakhstan – if you have adopted or are in the process of adopting from Taldy-Korgan – please join them ----- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Taldykorganadoption/

Taldy-Korgan is a southeastern city of Kazakhstan and was founded in the second half of the 19th century. Food products, construction materials and diverse light industries predominate. Three parks exist in the city, the largest of which half encircles the city, industrial and agricultural colleges, and a medical school.

In July of 2005 –... more

Ust-Kamenogorsk

If you are adopting or have adopted from this region – please consider joining: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ust-Kamenogorsk-Adoptions/ - the group has almost 200 members – you can chose to receive posts by individual email, daily digest or go to no mail and read on line when you have some free time. I just highly encourage parents to connect with other families who have adopted in the same region that their child is born.

A nice way to give back to this region is through an organization called ACORN – they can be reached at http://acorn.homestead.com/home.html... more

Did you know the other names that Astana is or was known by? Aqmola, Akmola and Tselinograd are the ones listed on Susan’s site at http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/cities/astana.html

I would love to hear from families who have adopted from Astana to see if they ever visit the Duman Entertainment Center – it looks awesome on its website: http://www.duman.kz/eng/index.html The Children’s City sounds like... more

A must bookmark, as mentioned previous times before – would be Susan’s site. Specifically written for Almaty is: http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/cities/almaty.html I promise you won’t regret a moment of time you spend researching and learning there.

During Max’s adoption, we were able to explore Almaty at the beginning and end of our adoption journey. We actually spent a little over a week in Almaty in April of 2001 with Max’s adoption. We returned to... more

I’m blogging about the various cities in Kazakhstan, in hopes of giving adoptive families a quick snapshot of their children’s birth city. Hopefully it will become a source of information for families hoping to adopt also.

Taraz was formerly known as Zhambyl – so if searching the Internet it may be worth entering both variations to obtain information. Taraz is located in Southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan borders it. It is a large and fairly modern city. Long ago it flourished as a stop along the Silk Road. Taraz has a rich history and... more

I’m hoping to help you explore the various cities of Kazakhstan – so families who have adopted can have city information in one blog. Since I have two children from Kazakhstan, I thought I would start with their birth cities.

Max, our oldest is from Semey, which its full name is Semipalatinsky. The name is derived from the seven-halled Buddhist temple (seven palaces) – found in 1718. It is a river port, rail terminus and commercial center. It has one of the country’s largest meat packing plant. It has a theatre and three museums.

I... more