Americans to lose right to adopt in Russia

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/ban-americans-adopting-russians-advances-moscow-170241459.html

By Alissa de Carbonnel and Sonia Elks | Reuters – 2 hrs 57 mins ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A bill to ban Americans from adopting Russian children won preliminary parliamentary approval on Wednesday in a retaliatory gesture for a U.S. law punishing alleged Russian human rights violators.

Despite criticism of the measure by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, pro-Kremlin lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, and another that would bar Russian non-profit groups which receive funds from the United States.

Only four of 450 deputies in the lower house, the State Duma, opposed the proposals. The bill, expected to pass its final reading on Friday, still needs President Vladimir Putin's signature to become law.

The proposals were added to a bill which would bar entry to Americans who violate the rights of Russians abroad and freeze their assets, mirroring the so-called U.S. Magnitsky Act.

The #######-for-tat feud began when the U.S. Congress approved the trade bill that orders the United States to deny visas to Russian human rights violators. It was drawn up because of concern over the death in a Russian prison of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009. It

Putin backed the original Duma bill but had signaled he wants to limit the spat with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration. The Kremlin says Obama will visit Russia early next year.

KREMLIN WORRIES ABOUT IMPACT

The Kremlin, worried about long-term damage to relations with Washington, distanced itself from the adoption measure on Wednesday, raising doubts about whether Putin will sign off on it.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the lawmakers' initiative as "tough and emotional" and the Kremlin's position as more "restrained".

Nationalist politicians have long viewed foreign adoptions of Russian children as an embarrassment that implies Russia cannot care for its own, but critics of the bill say children should not fall victim to political maneuvering.

Police said they detained 30 protesters for holding an unauthorized demonstration outside the Duma.

Some two dozen protesters stood in the freezing cold heckling deputies as they entered the building. One activist held up before-and-after pictures of a Russian child looking bruised, then happy with his new American parents.

"It deprives children of the possibility to grow up in families of loving parents," protester Natalya Tsymbalova said shortly before she was detained.

"To deprive children of this possibility is mean."

FOREIGN ADOPTIONS

Russia is the third most popular country for U.S. foreign adoptions after China and Ethiopia, according to the U.S. State Department. Last year, 962 orphans were adopted by Americans.

It is a statistic bemoaned by Russian politicians. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russians should not be adopted abroad - although he did not say whether he supported the bill.

"Foreign adoptions is a sign of ... our indifference," Medvedev said in televised comments on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Lavrov said a complete ban on U.S. adoptions would be wrong and Education Minister Dmitry Livanov criticized the idea on his Twitter micro blog.

Any ban on U.S. adoptions would go back on new rules agreed in July.

NGOS FIGHT FOR LIFE

The Duma also passed a bill that bans foreign-sponsored political non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from working in Russia without registering as foreign agents and to ban people with double citizenships from leading those organizations.

NGOs, however, fight to continue their work in Russia.

"They may take away our registration, seize our office - don't know to whose advantage. But we can continue the work as an unregistered organization," Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), was quoted as saying by Interfax.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

I'm heat broken.

No more Russian children in the U.S.?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I'm heat broken.

No more Russian children in the U.S.?

They speak English better than our kids and need to be advanced in schools. Who needs 'em?

Actually I would argue Americans never had a "right" to adopt Russian kids. It was always a privilege.

Actually, Kip, you could post this over in P&R and add something that the Russians did this to prevent Americans from getting an "anchor baby" in Russia, or that they don't want their children being adpted into 3rd world countries since Obama became President. I think you missed the boat on this one.

I'm heat broken.

No more Russian children in the U.S.?

No more little Russian girls to grow and be Russian women without the immigration hassle?

Edited December 20, 2012 by Gary and Alla

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

They speak English better than our kids and need to be advanced in schools. Who needs 'em?

Actually I would argue Americans never had a "right" to adopt Russian kids. It was always a privilege.

Actually, Kip, you could post this over in P&R and add something that the Russians did this to prevent Americans from getting an "anchor baby" in Russia, or that they don't want their children being adpted into 3rd world countries since Obama became President. I think you missed the boat on this one.

No more little Russian girls to grow and be Russian women without the immigration hassle?

The P&R trolls wouldn't give this thread a second look. They are much too busy buying into the MSNBC / Obama anti gun spiel over that recent shooting.

This came down to politics...####### for tat. The US signed that travel ban on Russians on their hit list, and this was Russia's way of paying the US back in return. I'm standing on the fence with this one. On one hand the Russians that are on that list should be doing time for the ####### they pulled and on the other hand it sucks about American's not being able to adopt Russians kids....although I have read some horror stories about bad American parents and the Russian children they adopted.

[AmyWrites 593]

This in my case is real sad. I'm very unlikely to become pregnant (to put it in an optimistic way), and I was hoping to adopt a Russian kid or two so we could have children that at least looked like one of us. I guess this means that if Maxim gets US citizenship we're screwed.

I volunteered at orphanages there sometimes; only an evil soul can wish that these kids have an even smaller chance of getting out.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

This in my case is real sad. I'm very unlikely to become pregnant (to put it in an optimistic way), and I was hoping to adopt a Russian kid or two so we could have children that at least looked like one of us. I guess this means that if Maxim gets US citizenship we're screwed.

I volunteered at orphanages there sometimes; only an evil soul can wish that these kids have an even smaller chance of getting out.

Something may change. This is like when we boot two Russians out of the embassy for whatever and they boot two of ours. ####### for tat. Lavrov...even though he works for Tsar Putin is against this and he has some pull. The guy is insanely smart. Hopefully he gets the last say in it. On the down side Tsar Putin's cronies are running the Duma and they all want to get on the bandwagon.

[Martyshk 137]

This is for children with disabilities... sick kids...

Americans could not adopt healthy Russian kids even before this.

All this did was sentence hundred thousands of kids with various serious ailments to death....

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

This is for children with disabilities... sick kids...

Americans could not adopt healthy Russian kids even before this.

All this did was sentence hundred thousands of kids with various serious ailments to death....

Not that I know statistics on this, but someone on a baby forum had linked to an orpange and it seemed that all of the children had some sort of impairment like bad Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Down Syndrome, or HIV positive status. That isn't to say that that was always the case with every child, but I'm sorry for the children if there weren't enough Russian homes for them to go to and they would be leading happier lives in America.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Nola123

[Martyshk 137]

Not that I know statistics on this, but someone on a baby forum had linked to an orpange and it seemed that all of the children had some sort of impairment like bad Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Down Syndrome, or HIV positive status. That isn't to say that that was always the case with every child, but I'm sorry for the children if there weren't enough Russian homes for them to go to and they would be leading happier lives in America.

Russians do not adopt children with disabilities.

On top of that, those children have nothing to look forward to but death, considering they cannot lead a life they could have in USA.

Russians still hate America with passion and the recent law is just a confirmation of that.

To the OP: If you provide an info, at least provide a correct one.

[AmyWrites 593]

Russians don't really adopt in general. There's still a huge stigma attached to it. This is horrible for the kids.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Russians do not adopt children with disabilities.

On top of that, those children have nothing to look forward to but death, considering they cannot lead a life they could have in USA.

Russians still hate America with passion and the recent law is just a confirmation of that.

To the OP: If you provide an info, at least provide a correct one.

I provided an article from Reuters. If you want to link articles on this thread feel free to do so. Nobody is stopping you.

[Tanya and Barry 59]

This is for children with disabilities... sick kids...

Americans could not adopt healthy Russian kids even before this.

All this did was sentence hundred thousands of kids with various serious ailments to death....

Spot on. The kids are the big losers. I visited an orphanage in Ukraine (Odessa)...heartbreaking...

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Russians don't really adopt in general. There's still a huge stigma attached to it. This is horrible for the kids.

She speaks the truth. It's very unfortunate. I'm thinking this might be partially in retaliation to the case where some American woman who adopted a Russian boy actually put him back on a plane to Russia by himself because she claimed he was psychotic and dangerous (although my 2 cents is that I think she likely expected it to be all warm fuzzies and kodak moments and had a bad case of buyer's remorse upon finding out that adopting a child with somewhat of a history AND from another country would take a lot of work and wouldn't be easy. Can't know for sure, but it seems highly likely given how selfish people can be). What sucks is that kids who DID have a chance to be adopted by actual good people in the US won't get that chance, so they'll be stuck in the orphanages until they reach adulthood.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Amy_and_Victor

[Martyshk 137]

She speaks the truth. It's very unfortunate. I'm thinking this might be partially in retaliation to the case where some American woman who adopted a Russian boy actually put him back on a plane to Russia by himself because she claimed he was psychotic and dangerous

No, this is a "response" to Magnitsky Bill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_bill

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I do remember one woman sending their child back to Russia on a one way ticket because they couldn't handle him...that sure doesn't help the situation.