Plight of Russia's Orphans

Author: Linda DeLaine
Website: RL Online
Department:
Page: 2   ( 2) pages

Summary: Part II of this article

There are countless stories of violent and abusive behavior on the part of adopted Russian children. Still other highly publicized cases involve death of the adopted child with the adoptive parents claiming that the badly battered child inflicted his/her own wounds. In still other incidences, adoptive parents have been charged with child abandonment when they placed their Russian child in foster care. Not to minimize the importance of these unfortunate events, all of these cases are sensational, draw a great deal of attention and are left for the judicial system to sort out.

One example of a Russian adoption gone sour drew considerable attention by being the focus of a CBS 48 Hours program in February of 2000. The story was about an American family who adopted a nine year old Russian girl. According to the parents, they had no idea that the girl suffered from severe mental and emotional disorders. They found this out when she attempted to kill their four year old son. This story is typical of many others that find their way into the media spotlight.

Frustrated and desperate, American adoptive parents lobbied the U.S. Congress to implement the international treaty known as the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions. This treaty provides member nations with a set of ground rules regarding international adoptions. The U.S. signed this Convention on March 31, 1994, but did not ratify it until October, 1999. Russia signed on September 7, 2000, ratification pending. It will take time to fully implement the provisions of the Hague Convention. Meanwhile, the old system tends to prevail. Under this system, the U.S. does not track post-adoption outcomes of foreign adoptions by American citizens. Under the Hague, the State Department will be required to keep such records on all international adoptions. In the cases where adoptions do not work out, the fed will be obligated to appoint the appropriate agency to place the child in a new home. Currently, such children end up in our foster care system.

The problems of American adoption of Russian children are shared by both countries. In the U.S. and up until the ratification of Hague, there were no post-adoption records kept of Russian or other foreign adoptions. Adoptive parents do not receive the same support and assistance in dealing with the adoption transition, future health problems, etc., as those who enter in to domestic adoptions. Even then, such services and parental education is not required. The only time such is a requirement is foster care adoptions. Most reputable agencies do offer services and education; often at additional cost to the adoptive parents. As a result, many cannot or do not take advantage of these services.

There are, however, many excellent, independent support groups typically founded and maintained by fellow adoptive parents of Russian children. This lack of post-adoption record keeping contributes heavily to our inability to know what percentage of Russian adoptions are, indeed, successful as opposed what percentage of these adoptions the tragic stories which find their way into the media spotlight represent. As a result, it is virtually impossible to know if the percentage of failed Russian adoptions is higher or lower than that of all adoptions in the U.S. Rarely, if ever, do we hear these horrible stories of abuse and violence related to other foreign adoptive families. Is this because they don't happen or could it be that these stories are seen as more sensational, by the media, because the children come from Russia?

Russia shares its share of the burden. Due to economic and general health conditions, more and more children are being put up for adoption. Thousands of abandoned children is nothing unique to Russia, though. The problem centers around the substandard conditions of most of Russia's orphanages and other institutions where these unwanted children live. The main culprit is, once again, money. As in the U.S., you will find unscrupulous people whose business it is to profit from the misfortunes of these children. Much of the physical, mental and emotional disabilities suffered by Russian orphans could be avoided if there was adequate funding for orphanage upkeep, staffing, food, medical care and some of the comforts of life.

Regardless of what percentage of Russian adoptions fail, the fact still remains that an overwhelming percentage of Russia's children are leaving their homeland. There will always be orphans in the world; this is something we will never be able to totally do away with. However, instead of exporting so many, why not help Russia improve its orphanages or, better yet, the economic circumstances of parents so that they can keep their children in Russia and with their families. This is not a simple problem by far. But, it is one which receives little active attention.

Here are two documents that anyone considering Russian adoption should print out and read.

New Procedures for Applying for U.S. Immigrant Visas for Orphans Adopted by American Citizens

International Adoptions Booklet (Dept. of State)