Kyrgyzstan ‘family-oriented'

Published Thursday April 8, 2010

Kyrgyzstan ‘family-oriented'

By Juan Perez Jr.

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Neil Moseman and his wife, Maureen, never encountered tumult or violence in two visits to the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.

The Omaha couple adopted their now 3-year-old son, Thomas, from the former Soviet state in 2008.

“We found it actually to be very family-oriented, very agrarian,” said Moseman, who is the director of the Nebraska Energy Office and a former agricultural adviser to then-Sen. Chuck Hagel.

“The people were very friendly,” Moseman said. >

He said the place felt and looked a lot like western Nebraska or eastern Wyoming. The climate was very similar, too.

Wednesday's violence, which killed dozens and wounded hundreds of people in the Central Asian country, took the Moseman family by surprise. “We knew the political climate could change at any time,” Moseman said, “but we just didn't see this sort of unrest.”

Adopting from Kyrgyzstan had been an appealing option because, unlike in many other countries, the adoption process there moved quickly, he said.

“In many countries, you get on a waiting list and you can wait years before you're eligible for a child or able to bring one home,” Moseman said.

But in the years after Thomas came home, Kyrgyzstan has closed to international adoptions.

The couple had hoped that would change so they could adopt another child from Kyrgyzstan. But a violent change in the government is unlikely to open the country's borders soon.

“If there's a change in political leadership,” Moseman said, “the odds of a country being more open to foreign adoptions are probably diminished.”

Contact the writer: 444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com