Putting a Recent Scandal into Context

Below is my translation/summary of a recent newsru.com article. It attempts to put the recent scandal resulting from an American woman sending her Russian adoptive son back to Russia with a note pinned to his jacket saying she didn't want him anymore.

There are now more orphans in Russia than there were during the Second World War—697,000 today, as opposed to 678,000 during the 1940s. Two thirds of today’s orphans are social orphans—in other words, children whose parents are alive but have abandoned them or are unable to care for them, according to Chairman of the Duma Committee on Family, Women’s and Children’s Affairs, Elena Mizulina.

Since a law regarding adoption was passed two years ago, almost twice as many orphans have been returned by their adoptive families to orphanages. “Specialists consider this a major blow to children: first their birth parents reject them, and then their adoptive ones as well,” said Mizulina.

According to the Echo of Moscow radio station, about 30,000 adopted children have been returned to orphanages in the last two years. Mizulina is convinced that this is because no one works with adoptive parents—they have no support. She also points to the commercialization of the adoption process: “Many take children into their families for the sake of material gain,” said Mizulina. The federal government offers regular payments to adoptive families, and additional financial assistance is available on a regional level in some parts of Russia, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Children who have suffered the blow of double rejection were brought to the forefront of public attention by Artem Savelyev. Artem was born to an alcoholic single mother in the Far East of Russia, and ended up in an orphanage when his mother lost her parental rights. He was then adopted by a family in the US, but after a few months his adoptive mother sent him back to Russia with a note saying she no longer wanted him. This situation led to a diplomatic scandal between Russia and the US--a representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that all adoptions of Russian children by US citizens would be put on hold until a Russo-American agreement could be reached.

A Russian delegation’s trip to the US to meet with representatives of the US government to work out such an agreement was delayed by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano last week. US representatives stated that they were willing to work towards an agreement with Russia on this issue.

According to government statistics, up until 2006, when Russia toughened adoption laws, 12 Russian children had been killed by their American adoptive parents. From 2006 to 2010, an additional three Russian children died at the hands of their Western adoptive families. However these rare cases are dwarfed by the thousands of children rejected every year by their adoptive parents in Russia. Aware of this, a majority of Russian citizens do not support a ban on foreign adoptions.

According to the president of the International Association of Children’s Funds, Albert Likhanov, over 10,000 children were rejected by their adoptive parents in 2009. In 2007, the number was 6,000.

Orphanage workers say that while an effort is made to find new parents for twice-rejected children, each rejection is psychologically traumatic for the orphan. Parents who reject their adoptive children generally find many excuses for what they do, but no matter how much the adults suffer, the biggest victim of their mistake is inevitably the child.

“The government adoption system is such that adoptive parents aren’t really prepared for adoption. The most important thing element of preparation is having all of the paperwork in order,” explained Galina Krasnitskaya, who teaches in a school for adopted children.

Experts note that public service advertising is also partially responsible for the failures of the adoption system. These ads can create an illusion for potential adoptive parents that adoption is both simple and profitable. “Some colleagues told me of an advertising slogan in a certain region: ‘Lost your job? Adopt a child!’” said Tatyana Tulchinskaya of the Here and Now Foundation. “It goes without saying that such motives do not lead to good results. Or a sappy slogan claims that ‘Being there for someone is easy!’ In reality, raising someone else’s child is difficult work.”

“Children are passed out like hot cakes,” noted Boris Altshuler, Director of the NGO Children’s Rights. “They are trying to fill quotas for getting children adopted, in order to cut down the number of orphanages. In reality, they are just combining orphanages, stuffing 200 orphans into one institution. There are very few organizations offering support in this area. When parents have problems with their adopted children, they are afraid to turn to the government, because they think their children might be taken away from them. Therefore they are left alone with their children.”

Many take in children not because of sappy advertising, but because they recognize a chance to earn some money. Adoptive parents receive not only clothing and other items for their children, but also money, as much as 5,000 rubles [about $170] per child per month in some regions, which is a lot of money for most people.

In St. Petersburg, which has one of the highest rates of children rejected by their adoptive parents, local authorities had difficulties even naming the quantity of such children. “The consequences of rejection are enormous for children!” said Tatyana Dorofeeva, a psychotherapist from the charitable organization Parents’ Bridge. “After such treatment from adoptive parents, these children no longer trust anyone. They cannot understand why they would be treated in such a way, and therefore see all adults as cruel and self-centered… Many twice-rejected children attempt to commit suicide.”

In several regions local authorities have sought to solve the problem by creating support systems for adoptive families. “We created a system of support,” said Nina Shmigireva, Assistant Director of a Center for Psychological, Medical, and Social Support in Smolensk, “and we have not had any children rejected by their adoptive parents. If you help families, then the rate of rejections goes down to zero.”

*All photos were taken at an orphanage in Zaporozhye, Ukraine