Ranch For Kids Angers Russia and Kazakhstan This Week UPDATED
When it rains, it pours. Ranch for Kids has always been all wet. 
Russia
We first discussed Ranch for Kids in February 2012 when they were still being praised in the media. At that time, Russia was already ticked off by adoptee deaths and lack of consequences.
There was the Nathaniel Craver death case in which the Cravers received a sentence for time served and were released from jail in November 2011.
Then, Russia claimed that it didn’t know about the 2005 Isaac Dykstra death until December 2011 after Isaac’s adoptive father was acquitted in his death (even though the father was the only one present at the time of Isaac’s supposed fall . Isaac was not given medical care for the blunt force trauma to his head until the next day and he subsequently died. The prosecutor attempted to convict him on second degree murder. Isaac had only been in his “forever” home three months.)
The Russian ombudsman wanted to visit the Russian children at the Ranch in June 2012. He was blocked.
In February 2013, Ranch for kids was told to get a license or shut down. The licensing group has had meetings since February and it appears that Ranch for Kids was discussed according to the meeting agendas. It is unclear at this time if a resolution to the licensure has been found.
15 Russian orphans locked away at US Ranch for Kids[The Voice of Russia 6/13/13] says “Moscow has been alerted to some 15 Russian orphans being locked up at a “Ranch for Kids” care home in Montana, US.
Russia’s human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov said today Russian officials are still trying to get a permit to inspect the Montana ranch and meet the so-called “troubled children” that are believed to be confined there.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say the US Department of State has made everything possible to assist us in our efforts,” Mr. Dolgov told the press today.
He pointed out that Russian consulate staff in the US had a right to check on adopted Russian orphans and citizens in general under the 1964 consular convention between Russia and the US.
“That means our demand is more than legitimate,” the Russian ombudsman stressed.
He also called on the US State Department to prepare a contact framework to allow officials to meet with Russian children who are suspected of being held at the ranch against their will.
Mr. Dolgov added this issue will be tabled during his US trip on June 25-26.
Russia and US have great potential for cooperation in children’s right issues
Moscow believes that Russia and the US have great potential for cooperation in children’s right issues, Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative for human rights .
Konstantin Dolgov told reporters on Thursday.He reminded that Russia had been consistently holding consultations not only with the US, but also other countries on issues related to the prevention of children from exploitation, including sexual, pedophilia and other topics.”
Kazakhstan
“Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science has banned U.S. citizens from adopting Kazakhstan’s children because U.S. authorities have failed to explain how two orphans from Kazakhstan ended up at a Montana boarding school for troubled orphans, Tengrinews.kz reports.
The boarding school at issue is called Ranch for Kids, and it is located in Eureka, Montana. It was created in 2003 for adopting American families who found it difficult to manage their adopted children from abroad. Most of the children are from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia. Troubles range from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, to the after-effects of spending their early lives in difficult conditions in orphanages. The ranch was one of the first programs licensed by the state Department of Labor and Industry’s Board of Private Alternative Adolescent Residential or Outdoor Programs.
The Chairman of the Commission for Children’s Rights Protection of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science, Raissa Sher, explains the decision to suspend Americans’ right to adoption: “Last July it turned out that 2 of our kids were staying at the ranch. This ranch is similar to our schools for children with deviant behavior. Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry and the Children’s Rights Protection commission filed a request, asking for details and explanations, but received no answer. In this relation we are not going to resume adoption practices with the U.S. until we receive a reply from this country in line with the Hague Convention and the international obligations it undertook,” Tengrinews.kz reports.
Ranch for Kids has encountered many controversies in the past. In February 2013, a local judge ruled that the ranch needed to comply with licensing regulations, or be shut down, the Missoulian Newspaper reports. In the summer of 2012, the ranch received international attention when Russian’s Russian children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov and human rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov demanded access to the ranch, and were denied.
The U.S. has adopted over 47,000 children from Kazakhstan since 1999. Kazakhstan citizens adopt around 3,000 children every year.”
U.S. citizens banned from adopting Kazakhstan’s children
[The Times of Central Asia 6/12/13]
“Americans are still forbidden from adopting Kazakh children, an official in Astana has said. The ban will continue until Kazakhstan receives a satisfactory explanation from US authorities about the circumstances in which two orphans from the Central Asian state were found in a home for troubled kids last year.
The two children were found on a ranch housing children with “deviant behavior” in July 2012, Raisa Sher, chairwoman of the government’s Committee for the Protection of Children’s Rights, told Tengri News on June 12.
She did not name the children’s home, but last July there were children from Kazakhstan among those staying at the Ranch for Kids Project in Montana when a group of Russian officials turned up with a film crew in tow to demand access to Russian orphans and created an outcry when they were refused.
The ranch describes itself as “a respite care home for adopted children who are experiencing difficulties in their families.” Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, a member of the delegation that visited last summer, described it as “a trash can for unwanted children.”
Sher said that Astana had not received “information” from the American authorities despite requesting clarification over the incident, and therefore “we are not renewing the adoption procedure with the United States of America until we receive a response from that country under the Hague Convention on the fulfilment of international obligations.”
Kazakhstan, which is a signatory to the Hague Adoption Convention, suspended adoptions by citizens of the United States last August but has stopped short of slapping an outright ban on US adoptions as Russia did at the beginning of this year. (Moscow was acting in response to American legislation that banned Russian officials implicated in human rights abuses from visiting the United States. Critics said the Kremlin was punishing Russian children with an overtly political move.)”
Kazakhstan Reiterates American Adoption Ban
[Eurasia.net 6/12/13]
I think it is important to re-read the Department of State Notices from January 2012, May 2012 and August 2012. We reported those in sequence here. In May 2012, two US providers had already received approvals, but after the Russian Ombudsman’s visit to the Ranch, Kazakhstan was suspended in August. The Department of State does NOT say why it was suspended, but it appears that Ranch for Kids was part of the reason.
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update/June 24: Three new news reports have been published.
(1)Russia is claiming that Ranch for Kids was sold. Website operational on June 24.
“According to the information from the United States, the ranch in Montana where the U.S. orphanage Ranch for Kids used to be, which housed Russian children adopted by U.S. families, was sold, and the destiny of children is unknown, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said.
“The ranch owners did not make the decision to close down or to get a license. The former owner is now telling us that she sold the ranch. Here comes the question – the ranch owner is selling the ranch along with children or what? We want to get an answer for this question as well. What has happened with the children?” Astakhov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 (Russia 24) TV channel.
Astakhov said that he would be in the U.S. on June 26, where the final decision regarding the status of this children’s enterprise, which did not have the license, would be made.
“The court was underway for now and the final decision will be known on June 26, when we will be in the U.S. I think that we will learn this decision,” Astakhov said.
The key task during the trip is “to sort out each child individually,” Astakhov said. “The task is to deal with the children. To understand how this is happening. How is it that their parents are writing one thing to us, through the agency, but they have actually given the children up to live there. It is necessary to handle each child and to handle them separately,” Astakhov said.
The unclear status of the enterprise dealing with Russian children at the ranch complicates resolving the issue, Astakhov said.
It was reported on April 22 that Russian human rights commissioner Konstantin Dolgov tweeted that Moscow counted on the help of the U.S. State Department in organizing consular visit of Russian diplomats to the Ranch for Kids.
It has been reported that the Russian delegation could not access the Ranch for Kids in Montana where in particular Russian children, whom U.S. adoptive parents gave up, were kept. According to the information of Russian diplomats, children at the ranch faced problematic situations and cases of escape have occurred.”
[Russia Beyond the Headlines 6/24/13]
(2) Russian article on June 20 claims that US State Department was willing to help get Russians into Ranch For Kids to inspect.
http://ruvek.ru/?module=news&action=view&id=11573
Google-Translated: “Washington allowed Russia to inspect the “Ranch for Children”
The authorities of the U.S. state of Montana are ready to assist representatives of the Russian Federation to visit Ranch for kids («Ranch for Children”), or arrange a meeting with Russian children. Authorized the President of the Russian Federation for Children’s Rights Pavel Astakhov, stressing that the U.S. State Department’s position is a bit strange, because the responsibility is passed on to the authorities in Montana, said: “We are delighted that, at last, Washington responds with the inspection of the ranch. Details of inspection, including, we would like to discuss at the upcoming meeting. ”
Meeting, but rather inter-ministerial consultations on international adoption and the rights of Russian children adopted in the earlier American adoptive families, will be held June 25-27 in the United States. They will be attended Pavel Astakhov, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, Konstantin Dolgov, the press service of the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights .
In this trip to representatives of the Russian side is unlikely to get to the orphanage Ranch for kids, which contains Russian orphans. The settlement of a dispute with U.S. authorities Ranch for kids children’s home in Montana is scheduled for June 26. The claims of the authorities to establish relate to two different issues: first, the ranch is to get a license for a private alternative education programs, and secondly – to bring buildings and structures in compliance with building and fire codes. According to Pavel Astakhov, to representatives of the Russian court will not be able to visit a shelter Ranch for kids. After the court ruling authorities will be required to open or close the ranch for inspections.
In the “Ranch for Children” at the moment according to different sources is between 10 and 30 Russian children. According to Pavel Astakhov, last year’s Ranch for kids were 32 Russian child of 63.
We recall that in the summer of last year, Russian parliamentarians have expressed concern expressed situation with Russian children on the Ranch for kids in the United States. The ranch are orphans with education which failed foster parents. The MPs expressed their intention to connect to the problem.
Then the official Russian representatives were denied consular meeting with the children. And Pavel Astakhov said that together with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will seek to eliminate Ranch Ranch for kids. He is known for numerous violations at the ranch Lincoln County Prosecutor’s Office, which in turn declared its readiness to investigate what was happening at the ranch.””
(3) Kazakhstan News claims to have received email from Joyce stating that the 2 Kazakh children have been returned to their adoptive homes. The Foreign Ministry is the one who needs an official confirmation and adoptions will be closed to the US until this happens.
“Only two children from Kazakhstan lived at the Ranch for Kids in Montana, U.S. and both of them have gone back to their parents, the Ranch’s Executive Director Joice Sterkel wrote in an e-mail to Tengrinews.kz. The Ranch’s representatives provided no further information on the kids however. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan authorities are still waiting for an official reply of the U.S. on children adopted from Kazakhstan staying at the Ranch for Kids.
Kazakhstan raised the issue to the American Ranch in July 2012. The camp was created to help American families that find it difficult to manage their children, including adopted children. The camp for youth who are experiencing emotional, behavioral, or learning problems and who have a history of failing in academic, social, moral, or emotional development at home or in less structured traditional settings is located in Montana near the Canadian border. The license of the camp was suspended back in 2010. Montana Private Industry Council terminated the license of Ranch for Kids for several violations. After that its owner Joyce Sterkel appealed the regulator’s decision in court and the company was re-registered as a religious organization.
Russia is applying effort to close down the ranch. Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry and the Commission for Children’s Rights Protection of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science sent an official request to the American authorities in relation to the ranch. “We have received no answer and no information. In this relation we are not going to resume adoption practices with the U.S. until we receive a reply from this country in line with the Hague Convention and the international obligations it undertook,” the Commission’s chairwoman Raissa Sher said on June 11, 2013.
Adoptions of Kazakhstan kids by Americans were suspended because “last July it turned out that 2 of our kids were staying at the ranch. This ranch is similar to our schools for children with deviant behavior,” Raissa Sher said.
According to the Ministry of Education and Science, almost 9 thousand children have been adopted by foreign citizens since 1999. 37 foreign adoption agencies are currently operating in Kazakhstan. They are responsible for reporting on the condition of the adopted children.”
Kazakhstan-born adopted children leave American Ranch for Kids
[Tengri News 6/24/13 by Alisher Akhmetov]
Update/June 27, 2013
Joyce says that the Ranch has not sold and that there are only 3 kids left according to new Russian article. She has supposedly retired, too.
“Joyce Sterkel, the recently retired founder of the Ranch for Kids, told RIA Novosti that reports that the children’s refuge has been sold were absolutely false; and that none of the children at the facility in the Rocky Mountains have been abandoned.
Only three Russian children are currently at the facility, she added.”
Russian Child Rights Ombudsman Astakhov in US for Talks
[RIA Novosti 6/25/13 ]
Update 2/July 16, 2013
“Russian Children’s Rights Envoy Pavel Astakhov will visit Astana and give Kazakhstan a list of children from Kazakhstan kept at American Ranch for Kids, Interfax-Kazakhstan reports.
According to Astakhov’s press-service, besides expansion of contacts with Kazakhstan during the trip, “Astakhov plans to pass the list of Kazakhstan children who were found at the ranch in Montana, United States”. [Why isn’t the US “passing the list”?]
The representative of the press-service said he had no information on the exact number of children from Kazakhstan who stayed the U.S. ranch.
On June 14 the chairwoman of the Commission for Children’s Rights Protection of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science Raissa Sher told the journalists in Astana that the authority filed a request to U.S. authorities inquiring about the children kept at the ranch. According to her, they received no reply and Kazakhstan suspended adoption practices with the U.S. until the necessary information would be provided.
The Russian children’s ombudsman will visit Astana on July 16-17. According to the press-service, the trip will include meetings with Kazakhstan Justice Minister berik Imashev, deputy chairman of the Children’s Protection Commission of Kazakhstan Education Ministry Bakhyt Alibayeva, as well as Kazakhstan ombudsman Askar Shakirov and Kazakhstan Supreme Court judges.
Astakhov also plans to discuss performance on the court rulings related to children from mixed Russian-Kazakhstan families, including on alimony payments and search for debtors.
The activities of the Ranch for kids have been of concern of the Russian diplomats for over a year. Several kids from Russia abandoned by American adopting families were kept in this facility located in the U.S. not far from the Canadian border. Meanwhile, there have been several reports of children running away from the ranch. Besides, a check made by American authorities found violations in the facility’s work, including lack of the proper licenses.
In the end of June Pavel Astakhov visited the United States to discuss life conditions and the further fate of the children at Ranch for Kids. ”
Russia to provide list of Kazakhstan-born children at U.S. Ranch for Kids
[Tengri News 7/15/13]
Update 3/July 17, 2013
“Russian Children’s Rights Envoy Pavel Astakhov believes that countries should ban foreign adoption altogether, Tengrinews.kz reports.
“My opinion is that sooner or later foreign adoption will become a thing of the past. Of course, there are difficult moments in the life of every country and every society, we don’t deny that. But unfortunately, adoption have turned into business over the last years. And, unfortunately, we do not know much about most of such children. We are not sure that the life they get is good,” Astakhov said at the meeting with Kazakhstan Justice Minister Berik Imashev in Astana.
He stressed that Russia had significantly restricted foreign adoption. “You still practice it (foreign adoption) unlike Russia that has imposed serious restrictions. In particular, we have banned adoption of our children by U.S. citizens. And there are restrictions for European countries that have acknowledged same-sex families, same-sex marriages. I We are not trying to interfere into your affairs and the affairs of your state and your parliament, but we would like to draw your attention to the issue,” he said.
Russia has been doing so much for its orphans over the last 5 years that it even created a disproportion, as Russian government now spends $1.5-2 thousand per every child in an orphanage per month, Astakhov continued.
“When we calculated how much we are spending per every kid in an orphanage, we understood that we should do more to promote local adoption,” he said.”
Russian Children’s Rights Envoy calls Kazakhstan to ban foreign adoption
[Tengri News 7/17/13 by Renat Tashkinbayev ]
Update 4/July 18, 2013
“Russian Children’s Rights Envoy Pavel Astakhov has passed information about Kazakhstan-born children at Ranch for Kids in the United States to Kazakhstan Justice Minister Berik Imashev , Tengrinews.kz reports.
“While making checks and monitorings in the framework of our cooperation with the United States, we discovered two children who were introduced as Kazakhstan-born in the lists of children at the notorious Ranch for Kids. I am ready to pass full information about these kids. I think that it has to be considered, especially that a week ago I went to the U.S. Department of State. We raised this issue once again. It has been found that this organization that specialized in educating and raising children and is accountable for their healthcare, has no special permits or license to do the work it has been doing,” Astakhov said at the meeting with Imashev in Astana.
U.S. regional prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against the Ranch for Kids, he added.
“The issue remains open. This organization has existed for the last 15 years. It was religious in the beginning, then it was social, then religious again. It is now social again, with unclear format and competencies, yet it raises children. The organization is no longer cooperating with us and the managers of this ranch are not providing us any information.
“I am giving you everything we managed to get during my last visit there last year. Here is a summary to the letter and it clearly states: 2 children from Kazakhstan. According to this information, one of them is still at the ranch and the other one was discharged from the ranch into a psychiatric clinic. There is no information on which clinic it was exactly or the reasons behind the transfer. I think this should be given a special notice,” he said.
Earlier Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science filed a request to U.S. authorities inquiring about the children kept at the ranch. No reply was received and Kazakhstan suspended adoption practices with the U.S. until the information would be provided.”
Russia passes information on Kazakhstan-born children at Ranch for Kids
[Tengri News 7/17/13 by Renat Tashkinbayev ]
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