By now, everyone must have heard about the Russian Parliament approving a ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian orphans. The basis for this ban was in response to the Magnitsky Act passed earlier this year, which imposed Visa bans and froze the assets of officials and their families implicated in the Magnitsky case. Initially, the Russian government responded by also drafting a bill that would freeze the assets and Visas of American officials, but they thought the response would only be largely symbolic.
Thus, the government decided to amp things up, and so they passed a ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children. Russia has to understand that their country is one of the top foreign destinations Americans go to for adopting children, right after China and Ethiopia.
What’s sad is this ban means that any child now currently undergoing adoption by an American couple will have to stop and the child has to be placed back into the Russian system. Emotional heartbreak and turmoil will ensue both to the child and the expectant parents, which is devastating.
I can understand if Russia decided to ban all foreign adoptions, since the total of all foreign adoptions is well over 2,000 children a year. That is understandable, because losing that many children a year means losing part of the nation’s future in society and governance. What kind of future does Russian have if they keep losing their children to foreign countries?
What Russia needs to do is to step up to the plate if they want to stop foreign adoptions of their orphans. They need to find these orphans homes and improve the well being of these children. If they cannot do that, then they should not ban the adoptions of these children.
The children should be allowed to be adopted out of the country to any suitable home and family regardless of which country it is where they can strive as human beings. Russia is playing politics with the lives of children and it is very bad politics.