It looks like foreign relations with Russia are getting worse and worse.
Within the last year, there have been sanctions made against Russia for human rights abuses. Now they've decided to fire back by passing a law that would ban Americans from adopting Russian children. They cited cases of children who were abused and in some cases, died at the hands of their adoptive parents as a reason for this bill. In fact the bill is named after a boy, Dima Yakovlev, who suffered such a fate.
This is despite the public being dead set against it. There have been protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg over this. Also, there were candles lit and toys places on the steps of the Duma, which is the lower house of the Russian legislature. The people know the conditions that the children in these orphanages live in, and that Americans adopting them is giving them a chance to live in a loving, decent home. Also, they know that they can only be adopted by a foreigner if a Russian family doesn't show any interest.
Another worrisome fact is that there are a few dozen children that are very close to being adopted, meaning that all the paperwork is done, the parents have met the children, gone to court, and the children are just waiting for their new parents to come take them "home" to America that are in limbo. Sadly, that day will never come if Vladimir Putin signs this bill into law.
The cases that the Russian parliament speaks of, while highly publicized, are very rare. In most cases, they are loved and well-cared-for by their "forever" families. In those rare cases, it can be due to either the orphanage not being forthcoming about the child(ren)'s past, or simply lack of education on fetal alcohol syndrome and reactive-attachment syndrome. The latter is common in institutionalized children from all nationalities, and FAS is the result of the public health issue that is alcoholism. FAS can also cause emotional problems in children. If the prospective parents were better educated on this, and got help when they saw the signs (saw a doctor/counselor, got in touch with a support group, whether it be those who adopted children from overseas or has children with FAS or RAD), then we might have fewer tragedies.
