# Russia Bans Adoption to US Families **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 28, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411 "2012-12-28T18:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/1 "2012-12-28T18:49:43Z")
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 bill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_bill)to restrict human rights abusers in Russia - [Russia bans US adoption](http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/26/world/europe/russia-us-adoptions/index.html)of 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. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/2 "2012-12-28T20:23:58Z")
I take it that this has something to do with the US woman who sent back a kid to Russia alone that she’d adopted, [saying she didn’t want him anymore](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2162335/Russian-boy-abandoned-U-S-mother-sent-Artem-Saveliev-Russia-wants-stop-child-support.html)? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/3 "2012-12-28T20:29:21Z")
It also probably has something to do with Russia’s birth rate absolutely crashing. The last thing they need is for more people to come overseas. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/4 "2012-12-28T20:49:53Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > 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? In the news today (12/28/2012): [‘Mom’ Loses Russian Girl Weeks From Adoption](http://news.yahoo.com/mom-loses-russian-girl-weeks-adoption-150709061--abc-news-topstories.html) by Kirit Radia, ABC News ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/5 "2012-12-28T21:05:43Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > 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? Sort of. 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. ---
**Author:** ![gunnergoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@gunnergoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gunnergoz)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/6 "2012-12-28T23:05:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/7 "2012-12-29T01:45:08Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > I take it that this has something to do with the US woman who sent back a kid to Russia alone that she’d adopted, [saying she didn’t want him anymore](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2162335/Russian-boy-abandoned-U-S-mother-sent-Artem-Saveliev-Russia-wants-stop-child-support.html)? 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. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/8 "2012-12-29T03:11:19Z")
I just noticed the graph [here,](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323530404578207390201149074.html) (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? ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/9 "2012-12-29T04:48:00Z")
I am banning Russian nesting dolls from my house in response. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/10 "2012-12-29T05:11:40Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I just noticed the graph [here,](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323530404578207390201149074.html) (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. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/11 "2012-12-29T13:51:40Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > It probably reflects increasing regulation. But all countries at once? Is there an organized, synchronized, international movement to eliminate or reduce cross-border adoptions? Or is it perhaps an artifact of reporting? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/12 "2012-12-29T19:38:46Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > But all countries at once? Is there an organized, synchronized, international movement to eliminate or reduce cross-border adoptions? Not with that as an intent but as an effect? Yes. The United States in particular began to take [the Hague Convention](http://adoption.state.gov/hague_convention/overview.php) 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). ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/13 "2012-12-29T19:46:16Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > 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. And the ban is also named after [Dima Yakovlev](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dima_Yakovlev_Act), 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. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/14 "2012-12-29T20:11:44Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Not with that as an intent but as an effect? Yes. > > The United States in particular began to take [the Hague Convention](http://adoption.state.gov/hague_convention/overview.php) 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). 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). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/15 "2012-12-30T02:17:47Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > And the ban is also named after [Dima Yakovlev](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dima_Yakovlev_Act), 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. 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. > [@](#): > > Along with the Yakovlev law, Mr. Putin signed a presidential decree ordering that the government take steps to encourage additional adoptions by Russians, and to improve health care for orphans. > > Child welfare advocates, however, have mocked the decree as lip service in a country where more than 650,000 children live in foster care or orphanages, of whom about 120,000 are eligible for adoption. Many children in orphanages are sick or disabled, and most are unlikely to ever find permanent homes. > > Critics of the ban say there are not enough Russians willing to adopt healthy children, let alone those with special needs. –from the [New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/world/europe/russian-adoption-ban-brings-uncertainty-and-outrage.html?pagewanted=2). ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/16 "2012-12-30T04:58:02Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > 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. How easy is it for hopeful Russian couples to adopt American children? ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/17 "2012-12-30T13:40:44Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > How easy is it for hopeful Russian couples to adopt American children? 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 publication](http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/adoption2010/child_adoption.pdf)from 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. ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/18 "2012-12-30T13:45:26Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > 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? 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. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/19 "2012-12-30T13:55:46Z")
> [@ed\_anger](#): > > Because white couples don’t want to adopt black kids /obvious Yah, I guess that is a truth. I wonder if Russia will also cut back on the number of Russian brides it sells to the US each year. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411/20 "2012-12-30T15:24:00Z")
You can adopt an American kid from outside the U.S. White ones too. I read an article about a British couple that adopted an American baby. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-bans-adoption-to-us-families/645411.md?page=2)