SNOHOMISH, Wash. — Countless Ukrainian children are caught in the crosshairs of the ongoing war. One local family who was planning to adopt a little boy before Russia's invasion of Ukraine is now struggling to bring him to America.
A warm, welcoming bedroom is ready and waiting at the Page house. A Spiderman blanket covers the bed. Clothes are neatly hung in the closet.
All it needs is a little boy to make it his home.
"It's hard. When he first left I had a really tough time coming in here," said homeowner Katie-Jo Page.
Katie-Jo and her family hosted 11-year-old Ukrainian orphan Mykyta at their Snohomish home last December through an international adoption agency.
They hadn't intended to adopt the blonde-headed boy, preferring to give him a special, month-long experience and then say goodbye as he headed back to Ukraine, but they immediately fell in love.
"He calls my three daughters his sisters. He calls us mama and papa. We're his family," said Katie-Jo.
The family put Mykyta on a plane bound for Ukraine when his one-month stay was up and began the adoption process. Three months later Russian forces invaded.
Mykyta spent a week and a half in an underground bunker with limited food, water and electricity before making a four-day journey to a refugee camp.
"I was told they had angels watching over them because it was a very scary situation," said Katie-Jo.
Mykyta and the family have been able to keep in touch, on and off, through video chats and text messages from the refugee camp in which he's living.
The texts are filled with crying emojis and images of American flags.
Katie-Jo worries her the little boy is losing hope. He has been in an orphanage for 6 of his 11 years.
"At the beginning of the war he kept asking if we could come save him," said Katie-Jo. "Eventually he hit a point where he said we couldn't save him anymore. The airports were closed and it was too dangerous."
International aid agencies estimate the number of Ukrainian orphans at about 100,000. That was before the war broke out.
The number is certainly climbing with families separated, countless people killed and Russian forces continuing a relentless offensive.
Katie-Jo and many other American families are urging the U.S. government to formally ask Ukraine to allow the children currently in the adoption pipeline to come to the states until the war is over.
After that, they would return while the adoptions are finalized.
But no one seems to be listening.
"We've written to our representatives, to President Biden and we hear nothing," said Katie-Jo. "The countries in the European Union have all made the request and have been allowed to temporarily house the children. So far the United States has not done that. We don't know why."
The U.S. State Department has asked Ukraine to expedite adoptions that have already been approved and is requesting the establishment of virtual court proceedings that would speed the process up.
For now, all Katie-Jo can do is touch the skin of her arm where Mykyta's name is already tattooed alongside those of her three little girls.
She plans to visit the camp where he's staying next week to volunteer, let Mykyta know he has not been forgotten, and remind him his bed is still warm and waiting.
"We won't stop trying to save him," she said. "We'll do anything we can. We will not give up on our son."
A petition encouraging pushing the United States to invite children going through the adoption process with American families into the country has gained 19,000 signatures so far.