Siberia Bans Americans from Adopting Ahead of Friday July 6 Duma Vote to Ratify Bilateral Agreement UPDATED

“MPs of the Kemerovo Region in South Siberia have passed a bill according to which Americans have no right to adopt children on the territory of the region. Exceptions are allowed only for close relatives who have documents proving kinship.

Siberians ban Americans from adopting Russian children

[The Voice of Russia 7/5/12]

“A senior State Duma deputy has condemned as “unconstitutional”  a new law in the Kemerovo region that bans Americans  from adopting local children.

Duma Deputy Denounces Ban on U.S. Adoptions

[The Moscow Times 7/5/12 by Jonathan Earle]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A number of scandals involving Russian adoptive children in the U.S. impelled the authorities in certain regions (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Belgorod and others) to ban what is known as “Transatlantic adoption” pending the ratification by the State Duma of a new Russian-American agreement in that area scheduled for July 6.

The latest case in point is the Kemerovo Region, where Governor Aman Tuleyev imposed a moratorium on American adoptions in an effort to protect the rights and interests of orphans. He imposed the moratorium after the accidental death of two Kemerovo children and the court case of one, Xenia Antonova, 16, who testified in 2011 that she had been raped by her adoptive American father.

Aman Tuleyev’s deputy, Yelena Rudneva, went on record as saying that the practice of adoption would resume only after the bilateral agreement becomes law. Kemerovo officials are so far afraid to hand orphans over to Americans unless they are their close relatives. These apprehensions are shared by Dmitry Kislitsyn, the local Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

Signed last summer, the new agreement is due to be considered by the legislature on July 6, 2012. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s Human Rights Commissioner, Konstantin Dolgov, said yesterday that U.S. authorities should tighten legislation and practise stricter oversight with regard to American adoptive parents: “Both the State Department and the Department of Justice should play a more active role in enforcing compliance with the rights and interests of adopted Russian children.”

The agreement bans independent adoptions carried out through entities other than specialized agencies with accreditation in Russia. The document also makes it incumbent upon the adoptive parents to provide information on the children to guardianship and custodianship authorities at their request and to allow inspectors, including Russian inspectors, to enter their homes. Before coming of age, children from Russia will have dual nationality. In addition, Russia will have the right to sue unscrupulous adoptive parents independently.

There are differing opinions as to whether the agreement will work. Chairwoman of the Duma Committee for Family, Women and Child Affairs, Yelena Mizulina, believes that the number of adoptions will drop off. Conversely, Alyona Sinkevich of Hand-in-Hand adoption agency in Arizona said that both adoptive parents and children are looking forward to the ratification. “Without an agreement, the officials in many areas, in addition to the Kemerovo Region, are afraid to work with Americans,” she said.”

Russia Poised to Ratify New Adoption Agreement with America

[RIA Novosti 7/6/12]

“The State Duma on Friday [July 6, 2012] postponed a vote on ratifying  a long-awaited adoptions treaty with the United States that proponents  hope will help combat abuse by U.S. foster families.

Duma Speaker Sergei  Naryshkin proposed that the vote on the treaty be moved  to next week because of the busy agenda in the lower house  of parliament Friday, Interfax reported.

The treaty, which was signed last year, stipulates a new  certification and monitoring regime for adoptive parents.

Russian officials demanded the treaty after a string of abuse  scandals involving U.S. foster parents and adopted Russian children,  including an incident in which a foster mother abandoned her  7-year-old son, sending him alone on a plane back to Russia.

In response to the abuse cases, the Kemerovo region  on Thursday became the first federal subject to ban adoptions  by U.S. foster parents, a move that senior Duma Deputy Yelena Mizulina  condemned as “unconstitutional.”

The United States has historically adopted more Russian foster children  than any other country. Last year, 956 Russian orphans were adopted by U.S.  foster families, according to government statistics.

It was unclear how many of the 140 Kemerovo orphans sent abroad were  adopted by Americans.

After ratification by the Duma, the treaty must be approved  by the Federation Council and signed by President Vladimir Putin. It does not  require approval by the U.S. Congress.”

 

Duma Postpones Ratification of U.S. Adoption Pact

[The Moscow Times 7/9/12]

Update 2: Duma ratifies the bilateral agreement in a vote of 244-96-2 on Tuesday July 10, 2012

The Associated Press article missed MANY of the recent abuse and death cases such as Ksenia Antonova and Isaac Dykstra and the Leschinsky girls and more.

Russian parliament passes Russia-US adoption law

[Fox News 7/10/12 by Associated Press]

Update 3: DOS makes an announcement. They don’t mention the vote (roughly 29% did not want to ratify) or all of the intricacies of this agreement. Find those details exclusively at our post here [The items that the US DOS and US press have yet to discuss are highlighted in red]

DOS Russia July 10, 2012 and pasted below

“Notice: Approval of the Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children

 

On July 10, 2012 the Russian Duma approved the bilateral adoption agreement signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on July 13, 2011.  This marks a significant milestone toward the entry into force of the Agreement, which will provide additional safeguards to better protect the welfare and interests of children and all parties involved in intercountry adoptions.  To find out more about the agreement, please visit the U.S. Department of State’s FAQs and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) FAQs on the Agreement and its implementation.

 

The Agreement will now go to the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, and once approved, will be sent to President Putin. Following President Putin’s signature, the parties will need to establish procedures to implement the Agreement, which we are committed to doing as expeditiously as possible.  Following the establishment of these procedures, the Agreement will enter into force upon the exchange of notes between the U.S. and Russian governments.  The Department of State and USCIS will provide guidance on their websites related to the Agreement.  Please monitor adoption.state.gov and uscis.gov for more information.”

Update 4: Interesting editorial from Russia explaining some of the concerns, yet Russia ratified the agreement anyway.

“The Russian State Duma is planning to ratify the treaty about the adoptions of Russian children by Americans. Russia will be able to control the situation with foster families. Meanwhile, a delegation of the Russian Federation was not even allowed to the “children’s ranch”, where the adoptive parents of Russian children send kids for “reeducation.”

In 2011, 970 Russian children were adopted to the U.S. Only China and Ethiopia have larger indicators. Russia is one of the leading donors providing its young citizens to foreigners. The widespread belief that mainly disabled children abandoned by their Russian parents are adopted is refuted by experts.

In particular, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights Pavel Astakhov said that most American prospective parents, when filling out a questionnaire, indicated they would prefer to adopt a healthy baby.

Often, when children move to a new family in the U.S., the situation suddenly changes. Adoptive parents convicted of abusing foster sons and daughters justify their actions by saying that the children supposedly “deserved punishment” by their bad behavior caused by their psychological state.

According to Astakhov, many of the adopted Russian children are ascribed fetal alcohol syndrome and syndrome of lack of affection, but there are no documents to confirm this diagnosis. However, this “presumption of guilt” allows U.S. courts to give very light sentences for adoptive parents who abused their children.
or example, an American couple who tortured their adopted son to death (80 wounds were found on his body) was sentenced only to a few months in prison. This is not an exception but a common practice. According to the ombudsman for children’s rights in Russia, most courts in such cases would give a short or suspended sentence, or even release them altogether.

Last week a court in Wisconsin began a hearing of another American couple who for seven years had abused six adopted children from Russia. The O’Brien spouses developed their own system of punishment: beating children with a stick and a belt – the number of hits would correspond to the child’s age. They put them in the snow naked and forced them to sit in a dog kennel.

But these are only the facts that become public. Many “ordinary” beatings and cases of humiliation will forever remain untold by the newspapers and court records like Ranch for Kids in Montana.

Recently, a very representative delegation from Russia that in addition to Pavel Astakhov also included Commissioner for Human Rights and Foreign Minister Konstantin Dolgov, and Russian consul was trying to get there. They wanted to see the living conditions of the Russian children. The ranch was created precisely in order for adoptive parents unable to cope with raising children from Russia to bring them there – temporarily or permanently.

The Russian authorities have failed to learn what is going on in the children’s “ranch,” because they simply were not allowed in, based on the inviolability of private property. No one knows how many more of these “children’s ranches” exist in the US, especially since they are located in remote areas.

Theoretically, this situation would be resolved by the treaty between Russia and the United States on the Adoption of Children signed by the heads of international agencies of the two countries a year ago. Now it is to be ratified in the Duma. It means not only strict selection of candidates for adoptive parents, but also control over the conditions of child’s life in the new family.

However, the treaty does not take into consideration a very important moment – a possibility of the child willing to go back to Russia. This is especially true for the teens who are already quite capable to assess how they are actually treated.

The United States government provides certain benefits to adopters in the form of tax incentives, attractive home loans, and free medical insurance. It would be wrong to say that all adoptive parents are guided solely by material gain, but this aspect is worth considering.

In the meantime, the Russian authorities are only planning to tighten control over adoptions by foreigners. The Kemerovo region implemented a general ban on giving local orphans to the U.S. An exception is made only for close relatives – grandparents, sisters and brothers. Prior to the ban, American citizens were most numerous among the foreigners adopting local children.”

Russia to keep an eye on its children in USA?

[Pravda 7/13/12 by Svetlana Smetanina]

Update 5: President Putin signs bilateral agreement on July 28, 2012

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree confirming the ratification of legislation regulating the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens.

The agreement was signed by the two countries in July 2011 and ratified by the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, earlier this month. Putin signed off on the ratification law on Saturday.

The legislation was first proposed in early 2010, after an American foster mother, Torry Hansen, sent seven-year-old adopted son Artyom Savelyev back to Russia alone, with a letter saying he had behavioral problems.

Russian officials claim at least 19 Russian children have died following abuse by American foster parents since adoption of Russian children by Americans began in the early 1990’s.”

Russia Confirms Adoption Deal with U.S.

[RIA Novosti 7/30/12]

Update 6: US DOS adds a notice that gives no details on how this is going to be implemented. See here and pasted below

Notice: President Putin signs the Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children

On July 28, 2012, President Putin signed into law the bilateral adoption agreement.  The Agreement, which was signed in 2011 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, aims to improve the intercountry adoption process and better protect adoptive children, birth parents, and adoptive parents.  The Russian Duma approved the Agreement on July 10, 2012, and the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, approved the Agreement on July 18, 2012.

The United States and Russia will now work as expeditiously as possible to establish procedures to implement the Agreement.  Following the establishment of these procedures, the Agreement will enter into force upon the exchange of diplomatic notes from the U.S. and Russian governments.  The exchange of notes will take place only after both sides have completed internal procedures necessary for entry into force.

The Agreement will provide additional safeguards to better protect the welfare and interests of children and all parties involved in intercountry adoptions.  To find out more about the agreement, please visit the Department of State’s FAQs and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) FAQs on the agreement and its implementation.  Please also monitor adoption.state.gov and uscis.gov for updated information as it becomes available.”

The postplacement monitoring and reporting aspects are the ones to watch.

Update 7: “Officials of the United States and the Russian Federation met in Moscow September 26-27, 2012 to discuss the implementation of the bilateral Agreement Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children. The Agreement was signed in 2011 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and in July 2012 it was approved by the Russian Federal Assembly.

 

The United States and the Russian Federation confirm their mutual preparedness to continue cooperation on an intercountry adoption process that provides better safeguards for adoptive children taking into account the interests and obligations of the adoptive parents.  Our goal is to bring the Agreement into force in a responsible way that gives parents, adoption service providers, and all other key stakeholders the necessary information in advance.

 

U.S. and Russian technical experts discussed a number of issues relating to implementing the Agreement and expect to bring the Agreement into force on November 1, 2012.  Additional information will be publicly available shortly from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the U.S. Department of State, which are the executive bodies for this agreement.”

 

U.S.-Russian: Cooperation in Adoption of Children

[The Phila News.com 9/29/12]

Update 8: DOS finally gets around to publishing an alert on October 15, 2012.

See here. “A joint Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services team traveled to Moscow September 26 – 28 to meet with Russian officials to discuss implementing procedures for the Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children (the Agreement).  We expect to bring the Agreement into force on November 1, 2012.”

The text of the agreement is in this 29 page pdf

The joint statement is at US Embassy Moscow site   and is pasted below:

“Joint Statement on the U.S.-Russian Consultations on the Bilateral Agreement Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children

FAQ is this  7-page pdf.

• March 1 , 2013 will be the date that new pre-approval process for PAPs will go into force.
• Also , March 1, 2013 is the date in which new requirements for agency accreditation will come into force. We have previously described how Russia wants to significantly decrease the number of agencies operating in Russia.
• Independent adoptions will be halted as of November 1, 2012.
• Russia wants disruption updates and updates on acquisition of US citizenship.
• Specific to disruptions: “To notify Russian authorities and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues as soon as reasonably possible if a case in which it provided services (even cases facilitated before the Agreement entered into force) is pending dissolution or has dissolved. The notification may need to include information on any proposed placement or new adoptive family, the expected (or completed) timeframe for the U.S. court’s decision (or any decisions reached by the U.S. court). At the same time, for cases still pending a court decision, the authorized organization may be required to request the consent or non-consent of the Russian authorities to the proposed re-adoption, and if a statement is provided by the Russian authorities before the re-adoption decision is made by the court, present the Russian consent or non-consent information to the court for its consideration.”

Governors of Russian Regions to be responsible for postplacement of foreign children!2 Regions May Ban Foreign Adoptions

“Next week a bill will be introduced to the State Duma which sets out a more detailed procedure for the adoption of Russian children by foreigners. Every case of this kind will need to be monitored by the governor of the region in which the adopted child was born, Izvestia daily reports.

According to the sponsor of the bill, Evgeny Fyodorov (United Russia), this will help avoid cases of child abuse and will encourage the local authorities to pay greater attention to the regional adoption programs. The governor will be personally responsible for all cases where Russian children are adopted by foreigners.

In addition, the deputy wishes to grant regional authorities the right to decide for themselves whether or not to allow foreigners to adopt children from its region. Fyodorov believes that the North Caucasus in particular would be keen to impose restrictions as the adoption rate there is extremely high.

In 2008, Ingushetia had the highest child adoption rate at 100 percent, while Chechnya came second at 96 percent. These regions, therefore, may well look to ban foreigners from adopting children in their region.”

Governors to be responsible for children adopted by foreigners

[RAPSI News 10/15/12]

Update 9: If I had a dollar for every time Russia calls for a ban in adoptions…DO IT already! Or at least ban the bad agencies and go through with the promise to reduce the total number of agencies threefold. You still have to clean up your orphanages though!

“Russia should ban the adoption of Russian children by foreigners, says the country’s leading authority on children’s right.

­“Do not believe the myths and hysterical warnings of those who try to convince us that foreign adoptions must not be banned because that would leave Russian orphans without a future – these are all lies,” Pavel Astakhov, the children’s rights ombudsman told Russian lawmakers at hearings devoted to human rights issues in the United States.

Those who tell us stories about the happy lives that Russian children have in America and their bright future there, “are either involved in this business or are simply unscrupulous,” he said.

Astakhov said adoption work was a lucrative business that brings in about US$1.5 billion annually.

Adoptions have become a problematic subject in Russia-US relations following a series of unfortunate instances involving the adoption of Russian children by American parents.

In 2010, for example, a seven-year-old boy was sent back to Russia alone on a transatlantic flight by his American adoptive mother, who said she was no longer able to care for the child.

Russian officials claim at least 19 Russian children have died following mistreatment by their American adoptive parents since adoptions began in the early 1990’s. Since orphanages do not exist in the US, which depends on a system that places needy children with foster families, many Americans choose to adopt children from Russia.

In July, Russia’s lower house ratified an adoption agreement with the United States and France, stipulating that a Russian child can only be adopted by a foreign family if no Russian parents can be found.

The legislation also specifies that all adopted Russian children will hold both Russian and American passports until they become legal adults, at which time they may choose their citizenship.

Russia is hoping enactment of the Russian-US agreement on adoptions, which takes effect November 1, will improve the overall situation involving international adoptions, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.

“We often do not see any support from the US, they don’t even inform us about instances of cruel treatment of underage Russians, and they provide virtually no help with the organization of consular meetings,” Ryabkov said at the parliamentary hearing.

The US has still not joined the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the high-ranking legislator added.

The Americans have not joined the majority of other international treaties on human rights, which envision not only a “consultative mechanism,” but “specific control measures,” the diplomat concluded.”

Future bright at home for Russian kids’: Ombudsman slams US adoptions

[Russia Today 10/22/12]

Update 10

The agreement went into force November 1, 2012. DOS Alert gives text of agreement in 29-page pdf. See it here and FAQs here. Independent adoptions are disallowed. Russian children will maintain Russian citizenship and dissolutions are supposed to be tracked (no word yet on that US database of families that is alluded to in our July 2011 post ). Supposedly there will be fewer agencies and more training. Some bloggers are making speculations about fundraising and other items.See one list here

Update 11: Russia questions whether US will comply with new rules citing the Florida Traylor abuse case. The consular office wants access to potential adoptee victims.

“US officials have managed to violate the recently-adopted mutual agreement on child adoption, as they failed to provide information and consular access to a Russian child abused in America, a top Russian diplomat has told parliament.

The case calls into question Washington’s intent to comply with the bilateral agreement on adoptions, said the Foreign Ministry’s plenipotentiary in charge of Human Rights and democracy issues, Konstantin Dolgov.

Nevertheless, Russia intends to press for the fulfillment of the agreement both in letter and spirit, he added.

Speaking at the Monday roundtable in the State Duma, Dolgov reiterated the position voiced previously by other Russian officials in connection with the case of Maksim Babayev – a six-year-old Russian Boy who suffered psychological and physical abuse from his adoptive parents in the US. Eventually the parents, Laverne and Christie Taylor [sic], were put on trial and received suspended sentences of one and five years.

Russian officials blasted the sentences as too soft.

“The double standards policy and the baselessly soft sentences to US adoptive parents are not commensurate with the bilateral dialogue that we are having with the US side,” said the Russian president’s representative for children’s rights, Pavel Astakhov.

Besides, the official said that Russia was “dismayed” by the fact that consular officials had not been allowed to visit the boy, without any clear reasons.

Astakhov voiced hope that the latest Russian-US agreement on child adoption, ratified by both states in July this year, would change the approach of the US side, but Dolgov’s later statement shows that Russia’s hopes on the subject are waning.

The new agreement was a result of a string of scandals with Russian adopted children in the United States in which the children were abused, pressured and sometimes even killed by the adoptive parents.

At one point Russia had to introduce a moratorium on foreign adoptions, which was lifted as the new bilateral agreement was prepared.”

Russia questions Washington’s intent to adhere to latest adoption pact

[Russia Today 11/19/12]