This seems like some tit-for-tat with Russia, with children and prospective adoptive families caught in the middle of politics. The US passes a billto restrict human rights abusers in Russia - Russia bans US adoptionof Russian orphans. Rhetorically, what does one have to do with the other?
What impact might this have on future, escalating tensions between the US and Russia? May this have an effect on the forthcoming Winter Olympics in Russia?
What about the families in the US who planned to adopt a Russian child? I presume, in many cases, they have spent a sizable amount of time and money going thru the adoption process - are they just high and dry now?
As there is no factual answer here, I am posting in IMHO.
This happens all the time. Friends were weeks away from getting a baby from Nepal when the program was shut down.
Most agencies will take any U.S. side fees that they still hold and let you apply them to a different program - so your homestudy is good - although sometimes you need to have it updated. Usually, until you get a referral, the in country fees are pretty small, payments tend to be when you get the child or shortly before. So a lot of people waiting for a child won’t be out too much money. But if you were on the verge of traveling, you could have tens of thousands out that you can’t recover. Some agencies will bump you to a equivalent spot in the list in a different program - a friend ended up near the top of the Guatemala list when Russia shut down in the mid - 90s (her daughter is a teenager).
Its tragic for the families involved, but this isn’t the first or last program that will shut down.
This has nothing to do with adopted kids being killed in the USA, it has nothing to do with Russian population dropping, it has nothing to do with the woman who sent the kid back to Russia: this has everything to do with Russian internal politics and Putin’s efforts to keep his political base happy. Putin’s power depends upon keeping a delicate balance between the oligarchs who own most of the country’s mines, wells and factories, the military (including large numbers of retired officers), the intelligence and security services and his base in the population (mostly in factory towns in the hinterlands of Russia.) Of course all the unfortunate events to do with adoptions gone wrong are used as the dinner bell for the Russian nationalists, but the actual point Putin wants to make with the US is that the US cannot go around messing with Putin’s power base buddies (commonly called “oligarchs”) without consequences.
It is the old story of politicians playing Kabuki theater with the lives of ordinary citizens, at home and abroad.
A bit, but I think the main thing is that it is more about the new law banning Russians accused of human rights violations from entering the United States.
I just noticed the graph here, (scroll down) which shows that world-wide adoptions peaked in 2004-5 and have been declining ever since. This isn’t just Russia. Is there a reason? Global warming?
It probably reflects increasing regulation. There was a just a period when many countries quickly became open to international adoptions. I’d guess this is related to the opening up of China and the former Soviet Union, as well as the effects of globalization and improved communications. During this period, there were abuses and other unpleasantries, and I’d guess the benefits to a country were not as large as imagined. By the mid-2000s, many of the standard countries were starting to put a lot of regulations in place, and parents started looking to ever new horizons.
The United States in particular began to take the Hague Convention seriously. The intent of this action was, appropriately, “to prevent the abduction, sale of, or traffic in children, and it works to ensure that intercountry adoptions are in the best interests of children” but it also added a certain additional level of bureaucracy and complexity to the process. Various programs across the world were shut down for inability to completely comply. China’s drop is mainly due to changing internal factors however (and they are a big portion of the global decrease).
And the ban is also named after Dima Yakovlev, a Russian born boy who died after being left locked in an overheating car (and whose adoptive father was acquitted of manslaughter). It kind of puts a different spin on it.
For some countries, the adoption agencies aren’t well supervised by the state, they are private and those agencies can have issues with compliance. Some agencies may be able to pass an audit, others have been shut down to U.S. adoptions because the agency, not the country, was shady. India has had such issues in the past (I have no idea what the current status is) with some agencies being excellent at compliance, and some engaging in outright child trafficking and being shut down to U.S. parents (although the agency may still be active and working with parents from countries not interested in compliance with the Hague Convention).
Yeah, but it* is* “spin.” The adoption ban is a specific response to the Magnitsky law, which prohibits Russians accused of human rights abuses from traveling to the US or owning property here. Americans don’t consider Russia a hot vacation spot, nor do we invest in Russian real estate to the extent the Russian oligarchs buy American. So–let hopeful American parents suffer. And the kids who are unwanted in their own country.
I know you meant this rhetorically, but I think that question hits at one of the core questions about international adoption. I read that the US is the leading country for adopting children from other nations. Why would that be if there are children here in the US in need of adoption? Do people well-off enough in the US to afford adoption specifically want Russian or Chinese children? Is it just easier and faster to adopt from another nation than going thru the US?
According to this publicationfrom the UN on adoption worldwide, starting on about page 65, there are some figures on domestic and international adoption.
Anyway, I do wonder if the US and Russia will continue to try and one-up each other with laws and rules that have nothing to do with one another and are pure politics. With the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia just around the corner, I would think they would not want to risk any embarrasment over an issue like this. However, if this debate results in a better situation for Russian adoptees, then I suppose that is a silver lining.
Because white couples don’t want to adopt black kids /obvious
I’m sure you could figure this one out by yourself. People have strongly ingrained preferences, often the available children in their area wont meet their criteria. Older children don’t get adopted, children with handicaps, etc. And race obviously figures into it. Russian kids are likely to be white, so attractive to white couples.