Russian Orphans Stuck In Superpower Showdown

[Italiangreyhound]

Did anyone see this story 'Russian Orphans Stuck In Superpower Showdown'

uk.news.yahoo.com/russian-orphans-stuck-superpower-showdown-003015651.html#gnHJ1oA

Very sad. I wonder if there is anything anyone can do? Write a protest letter etc. Is there any charity that campaigns on behalf of international adoption?

They used 'welfare concerns' as an excuse. The adoption ban is because the US banned some Russian officials from entering or holding assets in the US. The number of children who have died in the US is very small in reality. Not that that makes it any the less tragic, but even if you had welfare concerns it would be a very disproportionate response. If Putin was actually concerned about children's welfare, he'd be focussing his campaigning and speeches on orphanages and domestic adoption, since the outcomes for children in orphanages are dire.

Italian - there isn't really anything anyone can do about it. Putin and the government are not going to change their minds. They have quite a lot of support in Russia from the people and because foreign adoption is not a very important issue for the US government it's a relatively safe move on Putin's part I guess

We spent almost 2 years trying to adopt from Russia and all this was happening back then in 2004. I'm sure our dossiers are still sat on a desk somewhere in Ekaterinburg. We were told at the time it was due to a little girl being murdered after she was adopted from Russia. If you google, there seems to be an awful lot of very similar cases sadly.

So sorry to hear Lozzamack did you go on to adopt from the UK or elsewhere? May I ask??

Hi Italiangreyhound - yes, we did continue on our journey. We have lived in Singapore for 14 years and we ended up adopting 2 children locally. Its all a bit crazy because when we first began our research we were told we would never be able to adopt in Singapore. That is why we tried to find a country that would be able to work with us (British citizens living in Singapore) and one that was approved by UK, so many countries were closed to us but we eventually started working with an agency in Russia. The laws seriously need to change. One report indicates there are almost 4 million orphans in Russia, if street children are included - thats why I love what Craig Juntunen is currently trying to do with his new documentary STUCK:)

Wow, Lozzamack I lived in Singapore years ago and loved it. I will PM you.