Kate and Jim explain the database

edited to add: I am happy to have you share this information. You are welcome to link it in your blogs. However, please do not publicly post the address of this blog on any forum or in any chat rooms or on the st. p yahoo group. My agency reads many of them (esp. FRUA) and I don't want them to be reading this blog. You can share it via pm, e-mail, etc. Many thanks for your help! -Катя

This is another l-o-n-g post. Sorry. I know I've had a lot of those lately...

I've had some off-blog questions about the database recently. I thought the best way to explain it would be...to take Jim's explanation off the FRUA website and paste it here. (Jim, let me know if you're opposed and I'll paraphrase. But, your graphic is so nice...and the translations will be helpful to those reading this who don't read Cyrillic.)

First off--this is a site meant for Russians who are planning to adopt. It has also been helpful for finding early photos of children who are already home. (I pulled Rachael's daughter's photo from here before it disappeared. It was funny--I recognized the photo b/c I'd only seen a photo of Katya at that point. To Rachael who'd seen the in-person changes in her daughter, it didn't look much like her.)

Some PAP's like to use this to get an idea of the number of children available in a region. Some like to guess who their referral might be. They have stronger hearts than I do! I am giving you these instructions with a very strong caution!

Okay, log onto the databank and click on the words Банк данных о детях-сиротах. They are right under the rainbow and the children holding hands.

This gives you your search page. You can now choose which criteria you will use to narrow your search.

The first choices are for the sex of the child
мужской is boy and женский is girl.

The second criteria is eye color.

карий = brown
голубой = light blue
серый = grey
зеленый = green
черный = black

The next is hair color.
темные = dark
русые = light brown
черные = black
светлые = blonde ("bright")
светло-русые = dark blonde ("bright light brown")
темно-русые = medium brown ("dark light brown")
рыжие= red

Under that you can enter the year of birth.

On the right side of the form, the next choice is region. (Below is Jim's region list.)

• Агинский Бурятский АО = Aginski Buryatski Autonomous Okrug (Aginskoe)
• Алтайский край = Altaiski Krai (Barnaul)
• Амурская область = Amurskaya Oblast (Blagoveshchensk)
• Архангельская область = Archangelskaya Oblast (Archangelsk)
• Астраханская область = Astrakhanskaya Oblast (Astrakhan)
• Белгородская область = Belgorodskaya Oblast (Belgorod)
• Брянская область = Bryanskaya Oblast (Bryansk)
• Владимирская область = Vladimirskaya Oblast (Vladimir)
• Волгоградская область = Volgogradskaya Oblast (Volgograd)
• Вологодская область = Vologodskaya Oblast (Vologda)
• Воронежская область = Voronezhskaya Oblast (Voronezh)
• Еврейская АО = Jewish Autonomous Oblast (Birobidjan)
• Ивановская область = Ivanovskaya Oblast (Ivanovo)
• Иркутская область = Irkutskaya Oblast (Irkutsk)
• Кабардино-Балкарская Республика = Kabardino-Balkarskaya Republic (Nalchik)
• Калининградская область = Kaliningradskaya Oblast (Kaliningrad)
• Калужская область = Kaluzhskaya Oblast (Kaluga)
• Камчатская область = Kamchatkskaya Oblast (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky)
• Карачаево-Черкесская Республика = Karachaevo-Cherkesskaya Republic (Cherkessk)
• Кемеровская область = Kemerovskaya Oblast (Kemerovo)
• Кировская область = Kirovskaya Oblast (Kirov)
• Коми-Пермяцкий АО = Komi-Permyatski Autonomous Okrug (Kudymkar)
• Корякский АО = Koryakski Autonomous Okrug (Palana)
• Костромская область = Kostromskaya Oblast (Kostroma)
• Краснодарский край = Krasnodarski Krai (Krasnodar)
• Красноярский край = Krasnoyarski Krai (Krasnoyarsk)
• Курганская область = Kurganskaya Oblast (Kurgan)
• Курская область = Kurskaya Oblast (Kursk)
• Ленинградская область = Leningradskaya Oblast (St. Petersburg Region)
• Липецкая область = Lipyetskaya Oblast (Lipetsk)
• Магаданская область = Magadanskaya Oblast (Magadan)
• Москва = Moscow (City)
• Московская область = Moscow (Region)
• Мурманская область = Murmanskaya Oblast (Murmansk)
• Ненецкий АО = Nyenyetski Autonomous Okrug (Naryan-Mar)
• Нижегородская область = Nizhegorodskaya Oblast (Nizhny Novgorod)
• Новгородская область = Novgorodskaya Oblast (Novgorod)
• Новосибирская область = Novosibirskaya Oblast (Novosibirsk)
• Омская область = Omskaya Oblast (Omsk)
• Оренбургская область = Orenburgskaya Oblast (Orenburg)
• Орловская область = Orlovskaya Oblast (Orlov)
• Пензенская область = Penzenskaya Oblast (Penza)
• Пермская область = Permskaya Oblast (Perm)
• Приморский край = Primorsky Krai (Vladivostok)
• Псковская область = Pskovskaya Oblast (Pskov)
• Республика Адыгея = Adigia Republic (Maikop)
• Республика Алтай = Altai Republic (Gorno-Altaysk)
• Республика Башкортостан = Bashkortostan Republic (Ufa)
• Республика Бурятия = Buryatia Republic (Ulan-Ude)
• Республика Дагестан = Dagestan Republic (Makhachkala)
• Республика Ингушетия = Ingushetia Republic (Nazran)
• Республика Калмыкия = Kalmykia Republic (Elista)
• Республика Карелия = Karelia Republic (Petrozavodsk)
• Республика Коми = Komi Republic (Syktyvkar)
• Республика Марий Эл = Mari-El Republic (Yoshkar-Ola)
• Республика Мордовия = Mordovia Republic (Saransk)
• Республика Саха (Якутия) = Republic of Sakha-Yakutia (Yakutsk)
• Республика Северная Осетия (Алания) = Republic of North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz)
• Республика Татарстан = Republic of Tatarstan (Kazan)
• Республика Тыва = Republic of Tuva (Kizil)
• Республика Удмуртия = Republic of Udmurtia (Ishevsk, Glazov)
• Республика Хакасия = Republic of Khakasia (Abakan, Beley Yar)
• Республика Чувашия-Чаваш = Republic of Chuvashia-Chavash (Cheboksari)
• Ростовская область = Rostovskaya Oblast (Rostov on Don)
• Рязанская область = Ryazanskaya Oblast (Ryazan)
• Самарская область = Samarskaya Oblast (Samara)
• Санкт-Петербург = Saint Petersburg (City)
• Саратовская область = Saratovskaya Oblast (Saratov)
• Сахалинская область = Sakhalinskaya Oblast (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)
• Свердловская область = Sverdlovskaya Oblast (Ekaterinburg)
• Смоленская область = Smolenskaya Oblast (Smolensk)
• Ставропольский край = Stavropolski Krai (Stavropol)
• Таймырский АО = Taimirski Autonomous Okrug (Norilsk)
• Тамбовская область = Tambovskaya Oblast (Tambov)
• Тверская область = Tverskaya Oblast (Tver)
• Томская область = Tomskaya Oblast (Tomsk)
• Тульская область = Tulskaya Oblast (Tula)
• Тюменская область = Tyumenskaya Oblast (Tyumen)
• Ульяновская область = Ulyanovskaya Oblast (Ulyanovsk)
• Усть-Ордынский Бурятский АО = Ust-Ordinski Buryatski Autonomous Okrug (Ust-Ordinski)
• Хабаровский край = Khabarovski Krai (Khabarovsk)
• Ханты-Мансийский АО = Khanty-Mansiski Autonomous Okrug (Surgut, Nefteyugansk)
• Челябинская область = Chelyabinskaya Oblast (Chelyabinsk)
• Чеченская Республика = Chechenskaya Republic (Grozny)
• Читинская область = Chitinskaya Oblast (Chita)
• Чукотский АО = Chukotski Autonomous Okrug (Anadyr)
• Эвенкийский АО = Evenkiski Autonomous Okrug (Tura)
• Ямало-Ненецкий АО = Yamalo-Nenetski Autonomous Okrug (Salekhard)
• Ярославская область = Yaroslavskaya Oblast (Yaroslavl)


The region list above is current for the selection list used on the usynovite.ru database search page. However, several regions in Russia have recently merged or are scheduled to merge in the near future.

Under that you have the options for child placement. Choose this box, Возможные формы устройства and choose the first choice, усыновление, when you search. That way you will be searching only children available for adoption. (note: This is not foreign adoption. It is children available for adoption to Russian families. Children are only available for foreign adoption after 9 months on the database. There is no way to tell how long a child has been on the database.)

The last choice Наличие братьев и сестер is about the presence of siblings. (*note: this is not always reliable)
Есть братья или сестры = has brothers or sisters
Братьев и сестер нет = no brothers or sisters

Hit the grey искать button and you're off and searching.

You can run the results through a search engine like Language Tools or you can use the guidelines below. I hope this has helped. (And I hope Jim doesn't mind being the special guest star...without any prior notice. I could just link you to the FRUA post, but...I don't really think he'll mind.)

So now, to read the entry, over to Jim--




Here's what each numbered item represents:

1. This is a database record number. I think it's probably specific to the usynovite.ru database and may not have meaning in any other context.

2. This is the name of the Russian region in which this child is located.

3. This is the name of the child. First name followed by family (last name) initial. No patronymic information appears to be provided.

4. This identifies whether there are any known siblings in the system. Possible answers include:

Есть братья или сестры = Has brothers or sisters.
Братьев и сестер нет = No brothers or sisters.
NOTE: This field has been known to be an inaccurate indicator of whether or not a child has siblings.

5. Возможные формы устройства = Possible arrangements. This item refers to the possible forms of arrangement for each child. Possible values are:

усыновление = Adoption
опека (попечительство) = Guardianship (Trusteeship)
приемная семья = Receiving family
патронатное воспитание = Patronage training

6. Дата рождения = Birth Date. Only the month and year are shown.

7. Пол = Sex (Gender). This item is sometimes mistranslated as "floor," since the Russian word for "floor" is also Пол. It could also be incorrectly rendered as "half" by an automated translator. Possible values are:

мужской = male
женский = female

8. Глаза = Eyes (Eye Color) Possible values include:

карий = brown; hazel
голубой = light blue
серый = gray
зеленый = green
черный = dark; black

9. Волосы = Hair (Hair Color). Possible values include:

темные = dark
русые = light brown
черные = black
светлые = blonde
светло-русые = very light brown
темно-русые = medium brown

10. Характер = Character. This field is a brief attempt to describe the child's character. Some possible answers include:

спокойный = calm, easygoing
беспокойный = uneasy, anxious
общительный = sociable, amiable
замкнутый = reserved, unsociable
капризный = capricious, playful
веселый = cheerful, jovial
доброжелательная = good-natured
упрямая = stubborn
заботливая = concerned for others
NOTE: There are a large number of descriptive words possible. This is not a complete list.

11. Куда обращаться = Where to inquire. This is a link to the contact page for the regional databank operator for this specific child. Note that they probably aren't expecting foreign adopters to contact them directly using the information included here. This contact information is intended for Russian citizens living in Russia. (emphasis by Kate)