NJoniec+Blog


 * March 4th, 2013 - Russian Protestors rally in favor of adoption ban**

On March 2nd, Russian protestors gathered in Moscow to protest in favor of the recent adoption ban that Russia placed on foreign adoptions. The bill prevents Russian children from being adopted by United States families.

The series of events that brought this ban into legislation directly resulted from the unfair treatment and abuse of a few Russian born adopted children with American families.

One of the cases that resulted from an adopted child being abused includes a case in which a three year old Russian child died in January: “Moscow has seized on the death of Russian-born three-year-old Max Shatto - who died in January in Texas, where his adoptive parents live - as justification for the ban that has increased tensions with the United States” (Reuters). According to Reuters, the rally participants were also in favor for the brother of Max Shatto to be returned to Russia after the death of his older brother: “Activists on Saturday called for Max Shatto's younger brother Kris to be taken from the family and returned to Russia.”

In this case, there are mixed feelings regarding the return of the younger sibling back home. Russian activists in support of the ban are protesting and blaming the abuse and subsequential death of Max Shatto on his adopted family; whereas the investigators that found no evidence that shows that the parents of the Russian child purposefully hurt the child: “On Friday, law enforcement officials in Ector County, Tex., announced that after an autopsy, a medical examiner had ruled that Max’s death was ‘accidental’ — the result of blunt trauma to his abdomen and laceration of a major artery. Texas officials said the boy ‘had previously been seen for a behavioral disorder that manifested itself in self-injury’” (New York Times).

Although the rally was supposedly organized to show support for Putin and his decision to put forth the American adoption ban, the fact regarding the vast quantity of Russian children without families still stands. The New York Times estimates a figure of over 600,000 Russian children living outside of the custody of their biological parents, and of that figure, 130,000 of them reside in the country’s troubled foster system.

Sources: [|Forbes] [|New York Times] [|Reuters]


 * February 25th, 2013 - Families affected by the Russian-American adoption ban finally get their adopted children**

Since the foreign adoption ban has been put in effect, Russian orphans up for adoption have been declined further progress in their adoption process. For the orphans in the process of being adopted this meant that their chance to meet their adopted family was lost, until as of early February.

According to Fox News, two women, Jeana Bonner of South Jordan, Utah and Rebecca Preece from Nampa, Idaho, who traveled to Russia to pick up their adopted children have been through the entire legal and political journey: “They found themselves caught in a legalistic blind alley. Although officials said adoptions approved before the ban would go through, the judge who was to issue the decree formally granting custody said the ban meant there was now no mechanism for him to do so.”

The United States Supreme Court issued a decree to allow the two families to take their adopted children back home, but it took some time for the Russian government to finalize the deal. When it was finalized, the families rushed over to the adoption agency to see their newly adopted children. Although the families have went through a lot, finally getting to see their children completed their experience: “The pleasure of finally having the children has smoothed over much of the last month's distress and the women expect to leave Russia with favorable memories” (Fox News).

According to Reuters, “American families adopt more Russian children than those of any other country, with more than 60,000 cases since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, including 962 in 2011.” This results in more orphans that will remain in Russia and not have a chance to be adopted by an American family for the time being.

It is unfortunate that children in Russia will be subject to even longer wait periods due to this piece of legislation. The grounds for this bill were based on the deaths of nineteen Russian born children that were adopted by American families throughout the past decade.

Sources: [|Fox News] [|Reuters]


 * February 11th, 2013 - U.S. Foreign adoptions at lowest point in decades **

According to the New York Times, the United States' foreign adoption rates are at their lowest levels in decades. The increasing amount of legislation and strict regulations on adoptions has been increasing in the most recent years and as a result, the foreign adoption rates have fell. Some nations, including Russia, have even placed complete bans on overseas child adoptions to America. All of these factors combined contribute to the decreasing total of adoptions into the United States.

The United States report “2012 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption” states that the total adoption rate for 2012 was 8,668 (Intercountry Adoption). The article on the New York Times also compares the 2012 adoption rate to the 2004 adoption rate: “Some prospective parents, nonprofit adoption agencies and members of Congress are raising concerns about the sharp decline in foreign adoptions, which dropped by 62 percent to 8,668 in the 2012 fiscal year from a high of 22,991 in 2004, according to a report released by the State Department on Thursday.”

Resulting from the recent ban on adoptions from Russia, the United States adoption rate is expected to plummet even further.

Another contributing issue to the decrease in U.S. adoptions is the problematic situation that has became prevalent in the past few years, child trafficking. The UNICEF official definition of child trafficking is: “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation” (United Nations Children's Fund). Child trafficking has also made countries rethink and tighten their security on adoptions and orphans.

Another example of the heightened regulations on child adoptions that may have effected the adoption rates includes the Hague Adoption Convention. According to the United States Department of Intercountry Adoption, the Hague Convention “establishes international standards of practices for intercountry adoptions”. The United States is one of the many countries that has joined the Hague Convention.

The Washington Times also states the popular opinion amongst the critics of the current Hague Convention adoption process in an article from May 2012: “the guidelines, which were devised to ensure transparency and child protection after a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, also have been used by leading adopting nations, such as the U.S., as a pretext for freezing adoptions altogether from some countries that are out of compliance”.

This opinion suggests that the more legislation and regulations imposed on foreign adoptions, the worse the adoption rate will suffer.

In some countries, even the requirements for adopting a foreign orphan have adversely affected the adoption rate: “some countries are now refusing obese or single adoptive parents and requiring proof of a certain amount of cash in the bank” (Washington Times).

Consequently, all of these effects have ultimately impacted the thousands of orphans waiting for domestic families to adopt them. With the adoption rate dropping, more and more orphans will be forced to remain in orphanages or on the street, as the Washington Times concluded.

Sources: [|New York Times] [|Washington Times] [|U.S. Intercountry Adoption - 2012 Report] [|U.S. Intercountry Adoption - Hague Convention] [|United Nations Children's Fund - Child Trafficking]


 * February 4th, 2013 - Russian President Vladimir Putin signs adoption ban into legislation **

As of January 1st, Russian president, Vladimir Putin has signed restrictions in to effect regarding the adoption of children. American citizens wanting to adopt children abroad will now not be able to adopt children from Russia. Not only will this restriction affect families who are in the process of searching for orphans, but it will also affect those who have already started the adoption process. Orphans waiting to meet and travel home with their new adopted families will be declined further processing. This legislation is seen by some as an an anti-American attempt by the Russian government; one of the most prevalent in recent years (Newsweek).

According to CBS News, “The law is in response to a measure signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama this month that calls for sanctions against Russians assessed to be human rights violators.” There also have been some cases in which American families that have adopted Russian children, neglected them and put them through suffering and abuse. This horrifying thought has observed by many Russians since foreign adoptions started; a prime example of this according to CBS, is when a toddler was neglectfully left in a car in a hot day and died:

“Many Russians have been distressed for years by reports of Russian children dying or suffering abuse at the hands of their American adoptive parents. The new Russian law was dubbed the "Dima Yakovlev Bill," after a toddler who died in 2008 when his American adoptive father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours.” Another case of this includes a child sent back to Russia, with the reasoning that he could “no longer be taken care of”: “2010, when a Tennessee woman who was the adoptive mother of a 7-year-old boy sent him alone on a flight back to Russia with a note saying she could no longer handle him.”

The grounds for this ban are in retaliation to the aforementioned bill that the United States signed into effect back in November regarding Russian human rights violations. The U.S. creation of the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act” includes any person involved in “Magnitsky’s detention, abuse, or death from visiting the U.S., owning property there, or holding a U.S. bank account” (Newsweek).

Making things more difficult, the Americans responsible for multiple offenses of abuse and torment inflicted upon the adopted children were not charged of any wrongdoings. Russian president Vladimir Putin reinforced these outcomes by stating: “Do you think this is normal? What’s normal if you are humiliated?” he asked a critic of the law. “Are you a sadomasochist?” (Newsweek).

The effect that this ban may have on U.S. foreign adoptions is staggering, as each year many Russian children are adopted into American families, including a sizable amount of children with disabilities. Newsweek reports that 956 children were adopted by U.S. families from Russia last year, 89 of them which had disabilities.

The sad, yet truthful, realization is that ban on adoption will prevent needy orphans from being adopted by caring, affectionate American families wanting to adopt a Russian child. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, “UNICEF”, there is an estimated figure of 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia and not nearly enough willing families to take care of them (CBS News).

With the ban effectively active January 1st 2013, all that we can hope for now is for a compromise to form between Russian and United States government officials; the fate of the needy Russian orphans is now in their hands.

Sources: [|CBS News] [|Newsweek] [|Newsweek] [|New York Times]