Explore Park would-be developer Larry Vander Maten said he has not given up on returning three Ukrainian girls to his Florida home.

While Vander Maten remains tight-lipped about his plans for the "Blue Ridge America" project on the Explore Park property, he was eager to talk about his attempts to bring 13-year-old Katja, 11-year-old Dasha and 9-year-old Tanya back to the United States.

"I just got back from Ukraine after spending three weeks [there]," Vander Maten said.

Vander Maten's attempts to keep the girls in the United States resulted in a televised standoff in Florida in September with members of a sponsor group that set up the girls' stay.

Vander Maten said Tuesday that he's been faced with bureaucratic obstacles that have prevented him from adopting the three girls.

The dispute has attracted notice in international adoption circles, with some worrying that it could damage programs that rely on good will among foreign bureaucracies and orphanages to smooth the way for U.S. couples to adopt.

Vander Maten, a nursing home developer who said he operates an overseas relief foundation, first met the Ukrainian sisters while on a mission trip to their country. He said their parents were dead and their guardian asked him if he could do something for them. Vander Maten said he agreed to either adopt them or become their guardian in the United States.

To bring them from Europe, Vander Maten turned to Frontier Horizon, a Virginia Beach-based group whose programs include coordinating summer exchange programs for 90 orphans.

Vander Maten fought to keep them in Florida at the end of their visit to his home. A judge ruled against him, and sheriff's deputies removed the girls from his home.

Vander Maten said Tuesday that he's on good terms with both the Ukrainian government and the girls' guardian. The problem now, he said, is the U.S. government and what he considers a veritable maze of confusing and nonsensical regulations.

But he said he has not given up.

"I'm hoping to go to Washington this week and talk to the assistant secretary of consulate affairs, if I can get an appointment with her," Vander Maten said. "I'm still in touch with the chief of [Florida U.S. Sen. Bill] Nelson's staff. I do talk with the girls every week. The guardian has been very helpful. He is a very simple man from the rural area of Ukraine, a Christian. He and I have a bonding where it's his desire to see the girls come to the United States. ...

"There's absolutely no reason they should be turned down for any reason except for guess what? I didn't go through a hosting agency, and I kind of ticked off the hosting agency I used the first time."