Translated material
There is a reception
The adoption of Russian children by Americans will not be stopped
US citizens will not be deprived of the right to adopt children from Russia. The recent incident with eight-year-old Artem Savelyev, whom an American adoptive family sent alone on a plane with a note about refusal of adoption attached to the child, contrary to expectations, did not lead to a ban on the transfer of Russian orphanages to overseas care. However, this scandal prompted Moscow and Washington to more clearly define the legal framework for this type of family relationship. The fruit of interstate negotiations, which began at the end of last week under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, should be a bilateral agreement on adoption between the Russian Federation and the United States. “The American side has two weeks to review the agreement and make its amendments and proposals. On May 12, 2010, in Moscow, we will discuss every provision of the treaty and we will know exactly how long it will take us for the treaty to be signed and ratified by both America and Russia,” promised Children’s Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov at the end of the first stage of negotiations .Let us recall that in mid-April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the process of adoption of Russian children by US citizens may be frozen. Unfreezing, according to Mr. Astakhov, can come quite soon, after a reboot of legislation. The American counterparties to the negotiations are not so optimistic - in their opinion, the preparation of the final text of the agreement may take several months. Ombudsman Astakhov called on Washington not to delay making a decision and warned: Russia heeded the requests of the Americans and did not introduce a moratorium on adoption only because the United States was ready to negotiate. “If an agreement between Russia and the United States is not signed, foreign adoptions will be terminated as not complying with the requirements of the law,” Mr. Astakhov said in a statement issued yesterday. “We have agreed not to introduce the corresponding bill to the State Duma for now, although it was developed by a group of lawyers and is in the relevant committee of the Russian parliament,” said the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
On the American side, the negotiations were led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michael Kirby; In addition to Mr. Astakhov, Russia was represented by employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Prosecutor General's Office. According to the Russian children's ombudsman, the text of the agreement handed over to the Americans “will largely take into account the norms of the Hague Adoption Convention (which the United States ratified), but will significantly expand its boundaries.” The agreement also provides for the creation of a single body “that will resolve all issues related to the transfer of Russian children for foreign adoption.” The same body is expected to monitor the subsequent fate of adopted Russians. Now such monitoring is practically not carried out, Mr. Astakhov complained. Today, American adoption agencies have more than 450 backlogs of regular reports on the situation of 240 Russian children. “Agencies simply do not provide reports, violating even their own American legislation,” said the children's ombudsman.
In particular, as one of the participants in the negotiations, representative of the Ministry of Education and Science Sergei Vitelis, emphasized, although almost a month has passed since Artem Savelyev returned to Russia, the Russian side still does not know whether this incident is being investigated. It remains unknown what exactly prompted “American mom” Anne Tori Hansen to deport her eight-year-old adopted son. If the competent structures - guardianship authorities and adoption agencies - approached the choice of new parents more responsibly and if the situation of adopted children was effectively monitored, then cruel treatment of Russian children could be avoided, Mr. Vitelis emphasized. “From the moment Russia began to transfer its children for foreign adoption, 18 adopted children died through the fault of the adoptive parents, of which 17 died in the United States,” stated a representative of the Ministry of Education and Science.
“The agreement stipulates that adoption will take place only through accredited agencies, with the exception of cases when the child is adopted by relatives,” Pavel Astakhov revealed the details of the Russian side’s proposals. In his opinion, the new interstate agreement will also make it possible to insure children from ending up with the “wrong” parents: potential adoptive parents will be required to undergo psychological testing and training courses. Similar requirements will be spelled out in agreements to be concluded with Israel, Great Britain, France, Spain and other countries whose citizens are actively adopting children from Russia.
While the United States has ratified the Hague Convention on Adoption (to which Mr. Astakhov refers), Russia has not yet put its signature on this international agreement, notes Boris Altshuler, Chairman of the Children's Right Foundation, member of the Public Chamber. True, the United States ratified the document recently - less than two years ago. By order of Barack Obama, a national adoption committee was created - a government agency that oversees, among other things, issues related to orphans from abroad. However, in America there is no professional support for foster families - an analogue of the Russian institution of patronage, Mr. Altshuler emphasizes. However, the human rights activist notes, such an institution now does not exist in Russia either - according to Altshuler, the federal law “On Guardianship and Trusteeship” adopted the year before last made the existence of foster families extremely difficult. As a result, adopted children are often sent back to orphanages. According to the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, Elena Mizulina, over the past two years, about 30 thousand children have been returned from foster families back to boarding schools and orphanages.
The proposal to ban the adoption of Russian children by Americans, which was put forward by Ms. Mizulina’s fellow party members in A Just Russia together with deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party, did not find support among the Duma majority. Yesterday it became known that the presidium of the United Russia faction did not recommend that United Russia deputies support an appeal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, “which contains a request to temporarily suspend the adoption of Russian children by US citizens.” Actually, passing a law prohibiting foreign adoption is not as simple as Mr. Astakhov told the Americans. The Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children emphasizes that the current Family Code allows adoption, and the adoptive parents do not necessarily have to be Russians. “Accordingly, suspension of adoption of Russian children by foreign citizens, including US citizens, is possible only by amending the Family Code or by adopting a federal law suspending the validity of clause 4 of Art. 124 of the Family Code,” is emphasized in the conclusion issued by the relevant State Duma committee.