Because I’ve been following the developments around the Russian adoption ban I wanted to add this quick update. The ban has become controversial within Russia.
Towards the end of this story there are some fairly staggering statistics–740,000 children not in parental custody, 18,000 Russians waiting to adopt. I’m not sure what “not in parental custody” means–it seems to me it could cover a lot of ground. But the implication here is clear: Many Russian children will be harmed by barring adoption. There are not enough Russian adoptive placements to ensure that all the Russian children needing homes find them. Not anywhere close.
It’s tragic, really, that adoption has become enmeshed with both global and internal Russian politics. There’s no doubt in my mind that there is ample room for reform in international adoption practice, but I’m equally sure (if not more so) that this is not what is driving the actions taken here.
Related Topics 
They are only banning adoptions by people from the United State’s right? There is the rest of the civilized world full of people who look to adopt – Europe, Canada, South and Central America, Africa, Asia. Heck Canada alone….dial whine one one for a whambulance – American’s can’t have what we want when we want it so everyone needs to stop and cry us a river until we get our way.
I don’t view this as being about the particular needs of Americans. I think American adoptions account for close to (or maybe even more than?) half of all foreign adoptions out of Russia. (I could be wrong about this, but it is at least close.) The real problem (to my mind) is all the kids in Russia who have no real place to live–no one to forge enduring connections with. Cutting off the chances for those kids because the government is unhappy about political criticism is indefensible.
Yes but do Americans account for half of all Russian adoptions because Russia tries to balance the export among various countries vying to adopt their white babies? If so then it will simply allow more children to be exported to Europe Australia Canada South Africa etc. There is no shortage of adoptive parents world-wide. If they’ve stopped the export of children to the U.S.for political reasons then they’ll simply allow more children to be exported to countries they are doing business with still. It’s not like children will languish in orphanages because the American’s can’t adopt them – they’ll go to some nice French people or something. Being the center of the Universe as we just forgot there are other countries with prospective adoptive parents. Sheesh
I don’t know the answer to this but I am inclined to doubt it was some conscious balancing on the part of Russian authorities. I am not as sure as you are that there is no shortage of adoptive parents worldwise. I think it quite possible that some Russian children will languish in orphanages. But I confess that I do not know. (Certainly what I have seen suggests that there are far fewer places for children than there are children.)
Yeah, there have got to be fewer households who want to adopt these kids than there are kids waiting to be adopted. Why would you want to adopt a Russian kid who is already beyond toddlerhood and probably has RAD, if you can “order” a kid to be made especially for you, either with your own gametes or those of someone else? Or if you can adopt a domestic infant at birth?
Sad stuff.
Given the number of American families that do seek to adopt hard-to-place Russian children I think your comments may be misdirected. Obviously some people do opt for ART instead, but not everyone does. And it would appear that far more Americans are willing to undertake this task than are Russians–which is why the ban seems so misguided.