Leo and Wendy Van Asten watch the war footage from Ukraine with the angst of a parent.
The Van Astens are in the final phases of adopting a 15-year-old Ukrainian boy and his 14-year-old sister.
They received final approval from the United States and were working through the final steps with Ukrainian government when Russia invaded Ukraine last month.
Since then, all Ukrainian adoptions have been put on hold.
“It has been a nightmare. Literally,” Wendy Van Asten told me through tears. “The question now is ‘will I ever see them again?’ Will they die in Ukraine?”
Leo Van Asten has been working with the U.S government to find a way to bring the teenagers to the safety of the United States.
“Right now, it’s hurry up and wait,” Leo told me. “We believe the kids are losing hope for how this will end for them as a country and how it will end for us as a family.”
