400 Russian Adoption Disruptions in the US?

REFORM Talk has closely been following the April 2010 case of Justin Hansen/child returned to Russia as well as the current Christoph Beagley/Dr. Phil abuse case and the actions of Russian officials with potential effect on the ongoing talks for a bilateral adoption agreement between Russia and the US. Last week, we posted a series on crises that included in-depth discussions on disruptions. See here and here.

Today’s article drops an unbelievable bomb into this story. The Russia Children’s Rights Ombudsman states, “We have learned there is a ranch where adopted Russian children rejected by their US parents are sent to. And nobody tells us about it. That’s a fact – we do not know what is going on with more than 400 children because the primary adoption was cancelled and after that the child “got lost.”

•  400 children’s adoptions have been “cancelled.” This indicates dissolutions or disruptions. We have never seen an estimation in print of the total number, though we have long suspected it is this high. Before anyone starts comparing this number to the total number of children placed or starts to downplay the significance of this, please read the second important point.

•  Those 400 children “got lost.” That means that the Russian government has not been informed about what has happened to them. Their whereabouts are unknown. It is known that there are many gaps in adoptive parents’ filing of post-placement reports. This site follows the missing post-placement reports http://blog.russianadoptionhelp.com/, but the ominous questions remain: What has happened to these children? Where have they gone? Who is looking out for them? Have they been flown to other countries, placed into foster care or given to child collectors? Are they still alive?

•  A Ranch where adopted Russian children go. The article does not mention the name of this ranch, but we have to wonder if it is indeed the very much publicized and well-interviewed, Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) member, The Ranch for Kids Project in Montana, http://www.ranchforkids.org/, with more information located here : http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/31535. This nonprofit organization is not a registered residential treatment center in Montana. It is not run by licensed psychiatric health professionals. The website does not talk about mental health care of the children, just activities and schooling. The website does mention being affiliated with “Global Adoption Services, Inc. is a COA, Hague-accredited agency with further accreditation and NGO status in the Russian Federation.” One article about this organization says that monthly tuition is “about $4000” http://ouradopt.com/adoption-blog/sep-2008/fostermommy/ranch-kids-project-intervenes-disrupted-russian-adoptions and that the children are re-homed from there. How does the state of Montana allow a middleman for re-homing like this to operate without licensure? Are Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) rules followed? The Russian article indicates that they are not getting information about the dual Russian citizens that are passing through this organization. If the “Ranch” in question is indeed this ranch, we are glad that this is finally being looked into, especially since this organization is part of the JCICS that lobbies to keep countries open for adoption business.

[The Voice of Russia 1/28/11 ]

REFORM Puzzle Piece