Knight Family Adoption Fundraiser!
We thank everyone who came out to enjoy an evening with the Knight family. Newtown Gives Back is hosted a meet & greet at Countryside Gallery with the opportunity to spend some time with Mr. & Mrs. Knight and the three children they are in the process of adopting.
Ukraine Sunflower Posters by Newtown Art For Kids.
Traditional artwork of Pysanky and handcrafted jewelry by local Ukrainian artist Basia Andrusko.
All will be on sale this month to help benefit the Knight family.
Hello,
My name is Jean Knight. I just wanted to tell you about my four children and why we need help. My wife Zoriana Knight had an older brother in Ukraine, who has a daughter with three kids, the mother was my wife’s niece. She and her husband passed away in 2020, before the war. From that time on, my wife, myself, and my sister-in-law tried to do an international adoption to bring the children here. We spent a lot of money on international lawyers and international adoption agencies to get my wife’s brother (the kids Grandfather) custody of the three, and then to bring the kids here. Unfortunately, when the war started, all the international agencies that worked with Ukraine adoptions had stopped. However, when the war started, it opened new opportunities for us to bring the kids here through other avenues.
Zoriana and I had a little money saved up at that point, so we used it to bring the kids and their Grandfather from Znamenka, Ukraine to Poland (away from the military action) to stay with one of my wife’s classmates and his family. After a few months of living in Poland my sister-in-law decided to bring them here to the US through Mexico. I tried to talk her out of it. I told her to wait because there would be a better way to bring them here. She did not listen and bought them all tickets anyway. She and I ended up going to Mexico to bring the kids and their grandfather to America. She (my wife’s sister) signed paperwork saying that she would take care of them (parental status).
One week after my sister-in-law brought the children here, their grandfather decided that she was not going to be able to provide the kids with a family, an education, or the life that they all deserve and need. He ultimately decided to take them away from her. He had asked me if my wife and I would take them in and raise them as our own. We said yes, despite having a little girl of our own. We took the children in, gave them a home, a family and care that they dearly needed. The kids came here in April of 2022. Three months after they arrived in the United States I bought a house in Holland, Pennsylvania (because of the great school districts we have here in Bucks County). Six months after they came to Holland, their grandfather left and went back to Poland, then Ukraine. He abandoned them. He lives in the Ukraine now with a new wife and her kids from a previous marriage and does not help with any child support. Because of this, we were able to get full custody of the kids through the Bucks County court system.
Right now we are facing a different challenge. Because of the way that my sister-in-law facilitated the immigration, the kids are not technically legal residents in this country. To remedy that, we want to do more than just becoming their custodians. We want to adopt them and get them full legal status.
The oldest Taisia Serdiukova (Taya), is 16 years old, our second child is a 15 is Mykola Serdiukova (Nick), and the third, and youngest, is 9 year old little Violeta Serdiukova (Violette). Not to mention our biological daughter Anna, who is also 9 years old. The two little girls are like sisters. The children are all like a cohesive family. They care about each other, the older two teens help the little ones with homework and they all are getting really good grades. The oldest, in 10th grade, is a straight A student. The teen boy Nick, is in the ninth grade honors program with great grades. The little ones are in the third grade and are doing wonderful. I just want to give them all a future and the opportunity that they would never have had in the war torn Ukraine... I know this because education there is expensive and out of most means. In America there are other ways for these children of ours to get funding for an education (FAFSA, grants, student loans, etc...)
Right now we are facing a very difficult time. We really do need monetary help with paying for the lawyers and all the state services that we need to make this adoption happen. This involves a home study, a family lawyer and an immigration lawyer for everything to come together and to give these kids a proper life and a proper future. We really do need financial assistance for this case, as well as the monetary issues that are associated. I personally thank all of you who will read this and who would consider helping me and my family with this issue, not to mention all the prayers and support from each of you.
Thank you all very much and GOD bless you!
Jean Knight
