I realise we are not American, so you may wonder why I have decided to include it on my blog? The answer would be to highlight how unstable intercountry adoption can be. At any moment, in any country, trusts can be broken and the whole law changed that affects vulnerable children. In the midst of these goverment changes, there are children being let down. Vulnerable children who may have even met their families and were hoping to 'go home' to their forever family soon. There are 46 families who were currently in the process of adopting from Russia, who have met their children and were awaiting court dates to finalise things. Many of these children have special needs. Now their hopes are gone! Due to the ban coming into practice almost immediately, all their processes have stopped.
Russia made statements saying how they will provide for the needs of their children and will find in country solutions for all the orphans they have. As I mentioned earlier, many of the children left in Russian institutions have special needs. They need families that can meet their needs, medical, physical and emotional. For the time these children remain in institutions, none of their needs as human beings are being met. They are hidden away as the forgotten members of society.
An American family who have adopted from Russia, share their concerns and views at their blog. This is an extract taken from their blog post. The whole article is really worth a read in full as they share their personal story of a Russian adoption journey.
'I do believe that children with disabilities have an opportunity at a better life in a family than they do in an institution.
Let me reiterate this: the hearts of the Russian people we met are not reflected by their president. The institution, at least the one we saw, was not run by horrible people. They do the very best with the little bit that the government affords them. Remember, all of these institutions are all government-run. In Kirill’s institution, one worker was responsible for the total care of thirteen children. Think about that for a moment. Imagine thirteen children with intensive special needs. Now imagine being totally responsible for all of their care…bathing, changing diapers, feeding, clothing, and giving medications…there is no time for love, nurturing, or play. The director and the social worker at Kirill’s institution loved and wanted the best care for the children, but they couldn’t provide it with what they were given by the government.
You might ask, “Why can’t Russian families take care of the orphans there?” Russian citizens cannot adopt these children even if they wanted to. There is no place for them in society-no handicap accesible facilites, no special education programs, no jobs, and no medical care. Institutions are the only options for these children.
So where does this new ban on adoptions leave the children of Russia with disabilities? It is a death sentence for most of them. The only other option would be sweeping reform of the orphan care system in Russia, which would take years if not decades. That would only happen if there were a major paradigm shift in the Russian government as well…that doesn’t seem very realistic as long as Putin is president.'
Throughout our adoption journey, we had so many obstacles to overcome. At the back of your mind you know that your whole outcome is based on the trust your home country has with your child's birth country. For these 46 families and the children awaiting their forever families this is one hurdle that they don't need. One hurdle that needs to fall. Even if the Russian government won't reverse their adoption ban, then we at least need to lobby for the 46 families who were in the midst of the adoption process to finalise things and bring their children home. We need to keep this in the media and at the forefront of every governments minds, the UK included, so that when it is discussed at a higher level, those 46 families and the children awaiting their arrival in Russia to take them home, are not forgotten about.
