A woman and her 9 year old daughter, Akshina*, were living in Poland*.  The woman, a Bulgarian

A warm reception for Akshina

citizen, has cancer, and has been unable to find work, so she and Akshina, a U.S. citizen, became homeless.  Akshina's father abandoned the family before she was born.  They had been living in Chicago, where she was attending 2nd grade, until her mother's visa ran out.  Her mother is afraid to return to Bulgaria, where she had been receiving death threats, and cannot legally reenter the U.S.  Unable to provide for her daughter in Poland anymore, and too scared to return to Bulgaria, the woman makes the difficult choice to send Akshina back to the country of her birth, the United States.  She contacts ISS-USA with her request and with recommendations of people in Chicago who are willing to care for her child.     

ISS-USA opens the repatriation case, and contacts Child Protective Services in Chicago to begin evaluating the appropriateness and safety of the home that the woman had recommended for her daughter.  Two weeks later Akshina says goodbye to her mother and boards a plane in Poland along with an escort.  She is met at the airport by two members of Child Protective Services, as well as a member of the local Bulgarian community.  Today, Akshina is living in the safe care of the family that her mother had initially recommended.