NEW YORK – A year after Russia imposed a ban on adoptions by Americans, some affected U.S. families are reluctantly looking elsewhere to adopt. Others refuse to abandon flickering hopes of uniting with the Russian children who won their hearts.
Thirty-three of the families have filed appeals with the European Court of Human Rights, contending the ban violates the rights of the orphans whose adoptions were thwarted. But there’s no tight time frame for the case, and even a favorable ruling might be unenforceable if Russia objects.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities have spurned requests from U.S. officials to reconsider the ban, and the two governments have other volatile issues on their mutual agenda – including terrorism and various foreign policy differences – as the international community prepares for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, next month
By the Russians’ count, the ban halted the pending adoptions of 259 children. About 230 U.S. families, some seeking to adopt more than one child, were affected – including scores of Americans who had bonded face-to-face with the children during visits to their orphanages.
The Americans have been dropped from Russia’s official roster of prospective adoptive parents, and many of the orphans – possibly more than half – already have been placed with Russian families.
At Christmas, several dozen of the Americans signed an open letter to the children they had hoped to adopt. The letter, published by some Russian media outlets, expressed gratitude to the Russian families who had taken in some of the children, while also hinting at a whirl of other emotions.
“It has now been one year since we’ve held you in our arms and promised you we would be back and together as a family,” the letter said. “We only want you to know that we love you today, tomorrow, and forever even though we are miles across the ocean.”
Throughout the 12 months, the issue has occasionally resurfaced, then faded from the news spotlight.
There was a flurry of activity in May, when more than 150 members of Congress signed a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A congressional delegation visiting Moscow urged Russian officials to allow completion of the pending adoptions. And many of the affected families visited Washington, seeking support for their cause.
Hoping to ease Russia’s concerns about the treatment of Russian children in the U.S., the families proposed that any such adoptions in the future be subject to more stringent post-adoption scrutiny.
The adoption ban was intended in part as retaliation for a U.S. law imposing sanctions on Russians deemed to be human-rights violators.
However, Russian authorities used debate on the bill to complain about mistreatment and lack of post-adoption oversight affecting Russian children adopted by Americans, including the high-profile 2010 case where an exasperated Tennessee mother sent her 7-year-old adopted son back to Moscow on a plane alone. The bill was named after 21-month-old Dima Yakovlev, one of about 20 Russian adoptees who have died from abuse, neglect or other causes while in the care of their American parents.
Adoption advocates in the U.S. express regret for those deaths. Yet they contend the vast majority of the 60,000 Russian children adopted by Americans over the past two decades – including many with physical or emotional disabilities – have found loving homes and a high standard of care.
While the Obama administration has been relatively quiet about the ban in recent months, some members of Congress continue to speak out.
The State Department, which oversees some aspects of international adoption, held monthly conferences through July with families affected by the ban then discontinued them for lack of new developments. However, department officials said they have continued to raise the issue with the Russians and are now planning one more outreach meeting with the U.S. families.
Developments related to the ban have been followed closely by some American parents who’d previously adopted children from Russia.
Among them is Tina Traster of Valley Cottage, N.Y., who is writing a book, Rescuing Julia Twice, about the sometimes wrenching challenges that she and her husband faced after adopting an 8-month-old girl from a Siberian orphanage 11 years ago.
It took years for the couple to conclude that Julia had a condition known as reactive attachment disorder, which limited her sociability and emotional outreach.
“We’ve made it our life’s work to make her as grounded and stable and attached as possible,” Traster said. “But these children are different ... The journey is complicated. It’s heartbreaking at times.”
While Traster would like Russia to lift the ban, she also hopes the dispute helps educate more Americans about the challenges of adopting children with emotional difficulties, as was often the case with Russian orphans.
“Often, the prospective adoptive parents are unprepared and under-schooled about how to raise these children who’ve begun their lives in orphanages,” she said, urging specialized training for teachers and pediatricians as well as for parents.
Jane Waldman and Mark Braverman of Levittown, N.Y., adopted a nearly 4-year-old girl from a Russian orphanage in 2004 despite warnings that the child, Elaina, had fetal alcohol syndrome.
“We fell in love with her on our first trip,” Waldman said. “Even with challenges, we wanted her.”
Over the ensuing years, tutors, behavioral therapists and speech therapists worked with Elaina, helping her overcome many of the impediments delaying her development.
Now in seventh grade, Elaina is thriving, according to her mother, with many friends and a spot on a local swim team.
Waldman is frustrated that stories of troubled adoptions in the U.S. have gained prominence in Russia, while less attention is paid to the fact that most adoptions of Russian children go well.
“Yes, there are some horror stories,” she said. “But Americans, properly screened, can provide wonderful, loving homes for those children who otherwise have little hope.”
Associated Press writer Maria Danilova in Moscow contributed to this report.
