Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill that bans the adoption of Russian children by U.S. families. The action will affect hundreds of U.S. families seeking to adopt. American adopted close to 1,000 Russian children last year, according to U.S. State Department figures. Russia remains the third-most-popular country for U.S. citizens to adopt, with China and Ethiopia, first and second.
The bill is widely criticized as being political retaliation for a law that President Obama signed in December, the "Magnitsky Act". The Act imposes U.S. travel and financial restrictions on human rights abusers in Russia and is named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed the largest tax fraud in Russian history in the form of rebates claimed by government officials who stole money from the state. Magnitsky was beaten to death in 2009 after spending a year in a Moscow detention center.
The Russian bill's implementation also nullifies a recent agreement between the United States and Russia in which the countries agreed to additional safeguards to protect children and parties involved in inter-country adoptions. The government has also threatened dozens of adoptions already underway. These adoptions are instances in which American families have already met and bonded with the children, promising to bring them home to America in the near future.
Russia has approximately 740,000 orphans who currently reside in dismal orphanages. The adoption ban has angered both Americans and Russians who argue it victimizes these children to make a political point. U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell expressed disappointment over Putin signing the law and urged Russia to "allow those children who have already met and bonded with their future parents to finish the necessary legal procedures so that they can join their families". Vladimir Lukin, head of the Russian Human Rights Commission and a former ambassador to Washington, said he would challenge the law in the Constitutional Court.
If you have questions about adoptions, contact attorney Melissa Cox at (248) 380-0000.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121229/NATION/212290352#ixzz2H1jCjmiN
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