Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Ban on Russian Adoptions in the U.S.

Now, time to get serious. Because the computer shows that this web site is most often read in (1) the U.S., (2) Russia, and (3) Canada, except sometimes after a U.S. holiday when it's (1) Russia, (2) the U.S., and (3) Canada, we have to do something with this story:
 
The Russian President wants to ban adoption of Russian children in the U.S. It's not exactly a surprise to U.S. or Canadian readers. It has to be terrible news for the children, though, considering that the only reason for adopting children so far from their home would be that the children can't be placed anywhere near where they were born.
Obviously it's better for homeless children if their adoptive parents speak the same language they do, if the children can grow up within their original community and culture. Russian readers, this has to mean you. You have access to computers, and you seem to enjoy reading English, so you must have enjoyed some degree of social stability and financial security in your lives. Forty-six children need your help now.
I don't think anyone meant to accuse American adoptive parents of killing, abusing, or neglecting homeless Russian children. Very few people who go through the adoption process are willing to part with their children for any reason. Reading that the children have medical problems that were not being adequately treated in Russia provides some clarification. Possibly these children were just too ill to survive in any case. Possibly being unable to help them was more than their adoptive parents could bear.
Then again, stress may have been a factor in the children's suffering; being adopted by foreigners has to be more stressful than anything most of us care to try to imagine. If the children would have a better chance to survive without being shipped halfway around the world, perhaps baby-craving Americans would prefer to help pay for them to receive treatment in Russia. Maybe even U.S. and Canadian doctors would be willing to go there to perform treatment.
Can we talk? Does anyone out there have any firsthand experience of this situation? What does the world need to know about these children?

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