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Adopting a Child from Russia
We have had a number of adoptive parents stay with us and our apartments are equipped to make your stay relaxed an easy and we have all the necessary equipment and facilities you will need to care for your new child. Most people coming to Russia for the adoption of their child have not previously been to Russia and may be in for a culture shock, especially if you are adopting from an orphanage that is outside of Moscow and you are required to spend several days in the Russian city where you are adopting your child from.
While Moscow itself will be a culture shock, it is a true ‘capital city’ and there is almost nothing that you cannot find or buy in Moscow - even though it may not seem like that to a new arrival, but it may also come at a high price. The smaller cities are very different to Moscow and your time in those cities can be frustrating, very limited in activity and often rather ‘limited’ in terms of what you may be accustomed to by the way of basics of living. Apartments and hotels are likely to be very poorly equipped and fitted out and offer you very limited facilities. That is one of the reasons why we do everything we can to make our Moscow apartments as comfortable as possible and to have them fitted out with as many of the same facilities and conveniences that you would enjoy at home.
In this page we have outlined some basic information about the services that we offer, to assist you in making your decision to stay with Best Moscow Apartment Rentals when you are in Moscow. We are able to offer a service unmatched by anyone else in Moscow, as we provide you with direct access to the native English speaking owner of the business, so that you can receive real advice and real help with any issues that you may have. Being able to talk to someone who actually speaks the same language and has the same cultural background, is different to simply speaking to someone who understands the English language. Our apartments are more expensive than many others available in Moscow, but this is because we provide more included facilities in our apartments than any others in Moscow and because they are maintained to the highest level of cleanliness and operating efficiency.
While this page offers limited information about some of the adoption specific issues relating to young children and babies, we would strongly encourage you to read our FAQ section for more information about many of the other issues that may arise in Moscow/Russia and that may answer many of the questions that you have. If you do not find the answer to a question that you have, please contact us and we will tell you what we know or see what we can find out for you. The information in our FAQ section is updated on a regular basis, so feel free to check back again if you don’t see the answer the first time.
Visa Invitation
Yes, we can provide you with a Tourist Visa Invitation for your trip to Russia. Our invitations are provided by one of the largest official agencies in Russia and we can provide all types of Visa Invitations. If you require more information about our Visa Invitations, please go to the Visa Invitation page of the website. The price for a Tourist Visa Invitation for parents adopting from Russia and staying with us for at least 1 night is US$20 and they are provided (via return email) within 24 hours of the request being received. For the direct link to the Adopting Parent US$20 Tourist Visa Invitation order page, click here. Please note that the Tourist Visa Invitation is NOT the same as the actual Tourist Visa. Once you receive from us your Tourist Visa Invitation (with hotel voucher), you must then lodge that with the appropriate paperwork and forms, with your nearest Russian Embassy or Consulate to have your actual Tourist Visa placed in your Passport.
Registration
Yes, we can provide you with Registration when you arrive in Moscow. The Registration is provided through what is described as a ‘Juriditical’ (legal services) firm here in Moscow and the Registration has been used by a number of previous adoptive parents to obtain their adoptive child’s Russian Passport, so there are no currently difficulties with the Registration being accepted by the Russian Government Passport Agency. Registration will take two working days to be completed - we lodge your paperwork on day one and we can collect the paperwork after 7:00pm on day two. If you need your Registration for any purposes when you arrive in Moscow, please be aware of the time constraints. The fee for Registration for parents adopting from Russia and staying with us, is 500 Rubles per adult person (16 years and above). You will only need Registration in Moscow if you are staying here for more than 3 business days or if you need Registration for some official purpose.
Cot/Crib
For those children that require a cot (crib) they are available for your use free of charge. The cot (crib) provided is a Chicco Lullaby model, which is a modern style, Italian fold-out cot, made of hard durable moulded plastic, with canvas style sides and bottom. The cot is fully washable for hygiene purposes. The cot also has two lockable wheels so that it can be firmly locked in one place, but also easily moved if required. There have been no difficulties with any parent using the cots to date and they function fine within the apartment designs.
Child Bedding and linen
The cot is provided with a mattress (10 cm thickness) designed to fit firmly into the base of the cot so there are no gaps between the edge of the cot and the mattress. We also supply a doona to fit the cot, a doona cover, a bottom sheet (not fitted), a pillow and pillow case, one large synthetic blanket and one large cotton blanket. You are provided with extra supplies of bed linen for the child. All bed linen is cotton and the mattress, pillow and blankets are low allergenic and designed for children.
Washing machines and washing powder/softener
Each apartment also contains a fully automatic washing machine for easy washing of any soiled or dirty clothes and we provide washing powder and fabric softener that is appropriate for infants and young children. There are clothes hangers in the apartments for drying clothes.
Highchair
We can also supply you with a highchair if required. The highchairs provided are either a French made Bebe Omega or an Italian design Chicco highchair. Both are adjustable and are made of modern durable plastic and steel construction that is very sturdy, but can be easily cleaned. The highchairs both have a detachable food tray that can be easily cleaned (the Bebe also has a removable plastic cover on the food tray). The necessary straps to secure children using the highchair are also attached.
Baby Stroller
We have available for use (presently only 1 as most people bring their own stroller) a Maclaren Triumph Baby Stroller. The stroller features a 5 point harness, lockable swivel front wheels, removable washable seat, 5 second one hand fold (that trick needs practice though!), foot operated linked parking brake, light weight aluminium construction, ergonomic foam insulated handles, multiple recline positions and is suitable for babies from 3 months to a weight of 15kg (55lbs). The stroller has been tested by some of our families and handles the mud and snow (during Winter) and streets around Novy Arbat okay.
Baby bottles/bottle steriliser
For those with younger children, we have a supply of good quality baby bottles (you may need to purchase the appropriate teat, although we have several) and we also have a French made Tefal 10 minute thermoplastic microwave steam steriliser that can be used for sterilising the bottles and teats.
Babies and Baths
All of our apartments are suitable for guests with children, but if you prefer a bath/shower combination, then we recommend you book either Olga or Anastasia. The apartment Vladimir does not have a combination bath/shower and only has a shower cabinet. Parents have stayed in Vladimir with babies and there have been no problems, as we supply a proper ergonomic design baby bath to use in the shower cabinet that seems to work fine.
DVD’s
For those of you that may be adopting a slightly older child or that are bringing another child with you to Moscow, we have a small library of children’s DVDs that you are able to use. All of our apartments have a DVD player. The DVD player is region coded for the Russia region, so if you are bring DVDs with you from overseas that are coded for your region, then they will not play on the DVD players. Any non-coded or ‘home made’ DVDs should work fine. We also have an extensive library of DVDs for the grown ups as well! The DVD code for Russia is 5. We are working on finding the appropriate devices to break the regional coding on the DVD players and once we have that done, we will update this section of the website.
Calling Home - Phone Cards
We do not provide unlimited telephone calls back to your home country, simply because we cannot give everything for free. We can provide you with a telephone calling card that can be used from the apartment and we can lock that card to the apartment telephone - this avoids you having to dial all the serial numbers and follow the prompts, which are in Russian in any event, each time you wish to use the card. Cards come in a range of values - 100 rubles, 200 rubles, 300 rubles and 500 rubles and the cost of calls is 1.29 rubles per minute to land lines in most major Western countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, UK, US etc). The cost of calls to mobile (cell) phones is considerably higher and will range from 6 to 14 rubles per minutes. We can buy the card for you in advance so that it is ready for when you arrive, but we will charge you for the price of the Phone Card.
Staying in Reach - Mobile (Cell) Phones
There are three important aspects of the mobile phone system in Russia: (1) it is not like most countries where ‘roaming’ is a national thing, in Russia you ‘roam’ from city to city, so to pay local call rates, you need a Sim card for each city you are in; (2) the mobile phone system is GSM which means it is NOT compatible with the phones or Sim cards from the Americas (Canada, US, South America), unless you have a specific GSM compatible phone; and (3) inbound calls are free of charge to a phone with a local Sim card (even calls from overseas). We have a GSM mobile (cell) phone that we are able to lend to parents while they are in Moscow, so that they are able to take that with them and receive telephone calls free of charge - from their family and friends overseas (but they will pay more than calling the apartment phone), from the agency in Moscow or from us if we need to contact you. The phone only has a small amount of credit so it is not intended for making outbound calls, but if there is an emergency or some need to call us, then the phone is also able to be used for that. If you wish to have a mobile (cell) phone available for making calls while you are here, you can use that phone and we can increase the amount of pre-paid credit on the phone (but we will charge for the credit that is paid) or we can obtain another Sim card for you and have that pre-paid for you as well. The Sim card plan that is in use in the phone is the Megafon Ediny plan which offers call out rates of 3 rubles per minute within Russia and between 3 - 7 rubles per minute outside of Russia. The mobile (cell) phone pre-paid amount can easily be added to at several thousand machines around Moscow (commission free) and there are at least 5 within Novy Arbat itself and we can easily show you how to do that yourself.
Baby shops, baby food and baby supplies
Across from our apartments and located on Novy Arbat street are 3 important shops for new parents. The first is the Novyarbatsky Supermarket which is open 24 hours and in addition to carrying all the usual supermarket produce lines, also has very good supplies for babies. They stock a very good range of baby food, formula and drinks and they also stock all the necessary baby health care products - nappies, baby soaps (eg. Johnson & Johnson), creams, lotions, wipes and all things that you need.
The second shop is called Detsky Mir (which literally means Children’s World) and that is one of Russia’s oldest and largest retail chains catering for children. Detsky Mir also carries carries a full range of baby formula and foods and virtually everything else that a baby will need for hygiene, health, safety and eating. In addition to that, they also stock a large range of clothes, toys, linen, the same as you will find in any large children’s store. The following is a link to the Detsky Mir website and although it is in Russian (every product has photos), you will be able to have a look at the range of products that they sell online, to have an indication of what they have available: Detsky Mir website link.
The third shop is called Mothercare and is part of the global Mothercare empire. That shop stocks a very similar range of products to Detsky Mir and it is largely a question of price differential and different brands. The website for Mothercare is again in Russian, but there are plenty of pictures, so you can again see the range of items that they are able to supply: Mothercare website link.
If anybody is looking to buy products from Detsky Mir we do have a discount card for their chain of stores that provides a minimum 5% discount. The more it is used the higher the discount will go, so we encourage people to ask for the card and use it.
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