ROCHESTER, N.Y. — It has now been more than one year since Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a war between the two neighbors that has had impacts across the world.

For families looking to adopt children from Ukraine, the entire process has come to a standstill due to the war.

Many families like Melissa Nowicki’s are still struggling to bring their children home.  

“He was with us for four weeks and we just absolutely felt like he was just the missing part of our family that we didn’t even know we were missing,” said Nowicki, a parent in the process of adopting from Ukraine.

The family first hosted 12-year Oleksii during Christmas 2021 and began the adoption process in January 2022.

“So we were actually right around halfway through our adoption paperwork when the war started last year and it was really very devastating for us,” Nowicki said. “Had the war not started, he would’ve been home with us. Our adoption would’ve been finalized and he would be here.”

This is why they’ve partnered with families locally and nationally who share their position and their worry.

“We have done everything from talk to immigration and adoption attorneys, to working with groups that have really been advocating for us to get the kids home temporarily,” she said. “That’s really our goal at this point, to get them here just so they have a safe, loving place to be until adoptions can open up again.”

But a year into the war, the families are now at a standstill without help from the federal government. 

“Basically our cry and our plead and our beg here is for the U.S. government to step in and help us,” Nowicki said. “What we really need is we really need the U.S. government to put forward a formal request to the Ukrainian government and without that we really are just kind of spinning our wheels.”

Until then, she tries to give Oleksii hope. 

“He’s constantly asking how much longer,” she said. “’I really want to come home, mom please just bring me home.’ And, unfortunately, there’s really nothing we can do at this point.” “So we just give him hope. We let him know that we are working, that we have been working, and that we will never stop until he makes it back home.”