Karolina Dehnhard, a partner in family law at Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C., recently traveled to her native Poland to serve as a panel moderator at the World for Ukraine Global Summit.

During the Summit, Ms. Dehnhard focused not only on the need to lift the adoption moratorium affecting Ukrainian orphans who have been displaced to Poland during the war, but also her firsthand observations on the urgent need for humanitarian relief.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Ms. Dehnhard, along with former New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak and other local civic leaders, has visited more than 1,000 of the estimated 4,000 displaced orphans who are now in Poland due to the war and liaised with government officials in the US, Poland and Ukraine to advocate for lifting the moratorium.

“It is more critical than ever to facilitate the expeditious placement of these children with safe and vetted families,” Ms. Dehnhard stated. “I’ve been fortunate to be able to dedicate my career to being a voice for women and children. I have been involved in the plight of orphans long before the war in Ukraine started.”

Representing clients who do not have children of their own yet yearn to be parents, Ms. Dehnhard is familiar with the challenges of adopting children from Eastern Europe. She is highly experienced in handling complex international family law matters for clients who live and work both in New Jersey and Eastern Europe, including international adoptions, custody and divorce.

In addition to addressing the adoption moratorium, Ms. Dehnhard, as vice president of the Poland-based H.E.L.P. Foundation, has also partnered with the New Jersey-based Lesniak Institute for Human Leadership, Germany’s Mediciner healthcare association and other philanthropic and NGO groups to organize medical relief, clothing and education supplies for the displaced orphans.

“It is essential that while we address the legal aspects of the adoption process, we remain vigilant in providing much-needed aid to these children,” concluded Ms. Dehnhard.

About Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. (www.lindabury.com)
Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C., (“Lindabury”) is a mid-sized general practice law firm, located in Central New Jersey. From its offices in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, the firm services clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Lindabury provides litigation and transactional counsel to a broad spectrum of clients, including corporations, privately held businesses, insurance firms, healthcare institutions, trade associations, employee benefit funds, banks and financial institutions, nonprofit organizations and individuals.