Alabama doctor aiming to adopt 9-year-old Ukrainian boy struggles to get him out of war zone
As Russia attacks Ukraine, Dr. Christopher Jahraus tells Fox News Digital about his efforts to bring 9-year-old Sashko to the US
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Alabama doctor is fighting to save a boy whom he and his wife want to adopt from Ukraine.
Christopher Jahraus, 49, a radiation oncologist from Chelsea, Alabama, was set to begin the process of adopting a 9-year-old named Sashko. Now, the family is focused on pulling Sashko away from a war zone as soon as possible.
"We’re hoping to just get him out of Ukraine right now," Jahraus told Fox News Digital.
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Jahraus said that Sashko is currently taking shelter in the orphanage basement in Ukraine, as are several other children with potential adoptive parents in Alabama.
"You realize that this child, who you picked up and held and hugged and loved, is in a war zone," Jahraus added. "That’s pretty rough."
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Jahraus said that in December, he, his wife and their five children hosted Sashko in their home as part of a pre-adoption program with Bridges of Faith, an Alabama-based nonprofit that helps orphans in Ukraine find forever homes with American parents.
Dr. Christopher Jahraus (left) is doing everything he can to bring 9-year-old Sashko (right) to the U.S. from Ukraine after Russia invaded the country earlier this week. (Dr. Christopher Jahraus)
By the end of his visit, Jahraus knew he wanted Sashko to be his son.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It was a really great experience," Jahraus told Fox about Sashko’s stay.
"You realize that this child, who you picked up and held and hugged and loved, is in a war zone. That’s pretty rough."
Jahraus described the 9-year-old as "remarkable," "exuberant" and "energetic."
"He has so much warmth and so much love," Jahraus said.
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When Sashko and eight other Ukrainian children visited the U.S. with Bridges of Faith in December, Jahraus helped drive them from the airport in Atlanta back to Alabama.
Jahraus told Fox News Digital that when he met Sashko, he very quickly saw the child's love for others.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On the drive from the airport, Jahraus stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things, he recalled. Jahraus said Sashko started asking him for a pack of gum and Jahraus eventually conceded.
Sashko then began handing out pieces of gum, first to the person in the checkout line at the store — whom Jahraus didn’t know — and then, to the other children in the program.
"We’re hoping to just get him out of Ukraine right now."
When Jahraus got back in the driver’s seat, he found three pieces of gum that Sashko had left on the dashboard just for Jahraus.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jahraus described 9-year-old Sashko as "remarkable," "exuberant" and "energetic." "He has so much warmth and so much love," Jahraus said. (Dr. Christopher Jahraus)
"How beautiful is that, to see his heart was for his friends and even somebody he didn’t know," Jahraus said.
"If I can look at him, showing a simple but nonetheless real manner of love to a total stranger and to his friends, how can I not show him that same level of love by doing everything I can to get him over here?"
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After Sashko returned to Ukraine in January, Jahraus and his family were preparing to begin the adoption process by building a dossier, which they would send to the National Adoption Center in Kyiv.
That process typically takes six to nine months; Jahraus said his family expected to bring Sashko back to Alabama in late fall — and before Christmas 2022, they hoped.
Jahraus told Fox News Digital that he, his wife (right) and their five children hosted Sashko in their home for a month, from December to January, as part of a pre-adoption program. (Dr. Christopher Jahraus)
Now, with Russia's invasion, the embassy in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv is closed — making it challenging for Jahraus to obtain visa applications, he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jahraus said he is asking Alabama’s U.S. senators and his representative for help with the process of bringing Sashko and the other children to safety.
Jahraus’s wife also set up a GoFundMe called "Support Sashko (and others)." Its goal is to raise money for Bridges of Faith so that the organization has enough funds to get the children to safety.
After Sashko’s visit, Jahraus said that he and his family decided to adopt Sashko as one of their own children. However, that process is in limbo now that Russia has invaded Ukraine. (Dr. Christopher Jahraus)
Bridges of Faith is also working with attorneys in the U.S. and Ukraine who can help with the process.
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Dr. Tom Benz, founder and president of Bridges of Faith, told Fox News Digital that his organization is trying to get signatures from Ukrainian government officials so that Bridges of Faith can legally take the eight children with prospective adoptive parents out of Ukraine to a NATO country.
"There’s no politics in our love for children."
When the children are able to go to that country, their prospective adoptive parents can reach them — and can begin the process of seeking asylum for the children in the U.S.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We are working very hard to get those eight children out of Ukraine, both for their own safety and then hopefully, to get them all the way to the U.S.," Benz said.
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"Right now, it’s so easy to politicize the whole business in Ukraine," he added.
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"All that stuff doesn’t really matter when you’re talking about a little kid who is now forced into the basement of his orphanage," he continued. "He’s undoubtedly scared and just needs a mom and a dad to put their arm around him and tell him they love him and that they’re going to take care of him and that he’s going to be safe. There’s no politics in our love for children."