To Russia (And Back) With Love
Sunday, January 30, 2005
  February...

When we made our first trip to Yekaterinburg in October to meet Elena, we were under the impression we would be returning sometime around February to complete the adoption and bring her home. We broadcast this to the numerous friends and family who expressed a natural curiousity as to the timeframe, offering to help during our travel and upon our return. With February just around the corner, here's what's going on.

In a nutshell, since October, many changes in Russian adoption law and procedures have occured which have brought "the process" to a crawl. This is not directed at Elena's case specifically; we are simply taking our place in line to get our court date, alongside many who have been waiting longer (in some cases as far back as June). In October, the system was working and the timeframes were reasonably predictable. Today, it's anybody's guess.

Right now, we know absolutely nothing about when this will be is happening. There are few clues given as to the progress of specific cases overseas, so we'll probably learn anything and everything all at once, then will likely be packing our bags to go. Could the call come next week? Next year? When she's ready for college? We simply don't know.

What's behind all of this? A few things:

1) A series of Russian adoptions by Americans gone bad, where children were abused by their adoptive parents has caused Russia to require what amounts to additional background checks on prospective parents in the form of psychological evaluations.

As difficult as it is to comprehend child abuse under any circumstances, it's absolutely unbelievable to think it's happening after the parents have gone through the extraordinary effort involved in the adoption process. But, unfortunately, it's true.

2) An effort by Russia to promote more domestic adoptions (which also means making foreign adoption more difficult). Why? First, any social system depends on younger workers supporting older retirees. Our Social Security works the same way and is projected to be broke by 2052; Russia's went belly-up sometime during the reign of Czar Nicholas II. Also, they view the number of adoptions by foreigners as something of an embarassment, as the world perceives Russia can't take care of their own. Just my two cents.

To paraphrase Louis Renault (Claude Rains) in Casablanca, Russia is "shocked...shocked to learn that so much foreign adoption is going on here." At the same time, they are quite content to make use of the dollars and euros that flow into the country as part of the process, knowing there are no consequences to biting the hand that feeds them.

Are we frustrated by the lack of information, complying with new rules which weren't in effect when we started the process, complying when they revise these new rules requiring more paperwork, time and expense, not being able to plan vacations, not being able to tell those willing to help us for an extended period when this will be happening (but that it will probably happen on no notice whatsoever)? Absolutely. Is there anything we can do about it? No.

As Robert Klein first explained the law of supply and demand (as it related to the oil companies during the 1970s), "We have the supply...we can demand whatever the f*** we want." Russia has Elena. They make the rules. We follow them. 'Nuff said.

With all the frustration, the good news is that Elena remains healthy in the orphanage and is, for lack of a better word, forever "reserved" for us. We are 100% confident that this extraordinary child who entered our hearts in the fall will be brought into our home...someday.
 
Friday, January 14, 2005
  Adoption, cheap and swift...

...$16.99 and it took about two minutes, from an orphanage (okay, a Rite-Aid) in Basking Ridge, N.J. Please welcome the newest member of the family, (Ch-Ch-Ch-) Chia Shrek Tublin.
 
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
  And the parents wait...and wait...and wait......
Excerpts from the director of our agency...

Russia is changing the rules midstream with no regards to the children that have been referred to families. A child who was considered off the data base at the time a family traveled may no longer be considered adoptable until a total of six months in the Federal Register. Notice that I said “may” as we just do not know.

Right now the only thing that is fact is that the new law was passed. No one has gone to court to see what a judge will interpret. Russia is still on their holiday schedule so officials have not had the opportunity to meet and make any rulings. Our argument will be that we understand this law but that it should be applied to children who have not yet been referred to a family.

Many agencies will be fighting for this to be the interpretation so there will be huge pressure on this point. Understand that we will not have an answer on this in January as there will be a lot of turmoil around the changes, but we will be fighting hard with a very aggressive strategy.

Although we have heard from a high ranking official in Moscow that this will affect all children, in fact no one has been in their office to actually apply the new law; so much is to be seen when they all return.

All of you have suffered greatly while waiting for your child. The orphanages are telling us that they have never seen it like this before; it is affecting everyone. The orphanages are also being affected as they are full to capacity and are unable to take in more children and consequently the hospitals are backing up with children who cannot be released to orphanages.

We hear from each of you about your documents that may expire, about work schedules and bosses not happy with the constant changes, and your frustration with the whole process in Russia. Unfortunately the factors that are within our control are not the ones that can make this process go faster. Each of you has a compelling reason and each of you has a neighbor or friend that says it can go faster. We have two families who are very connected (name recognition in the USA and overseas) and they too have been stuck in this nightmare and have been unable to move the system faster.

Rest assured that we are doing everything that we can to get you there but we are also making sure that each child that we have placed with a family is getting whatever the orphanage director has asked for.


We are hoping to be able to break the log jam, get court dates and get your child home!

 
Sunday, January 02, 2005
  Russia throws us a curve...and a child still waits...and waits...and waits...
Well, the rules seem to be changing in mid-stream, as our agency tells us below (with help from adoption attorney Irina O'Rear). Summary: We don't know what it means, but we're probably not going back anytime soon.

The new law will affect ALL children currently in the Databank and children that will be placed in the Databank in the future.

Unfortunately, right now it is really impossible to answer even generally how this will affect adopters who have already received their official referral from the proper Russian authority, met children and gave their official consent for adoption. At this point there are currently many different opinions by the Courts, Prosecution Departments, Ministry of Education, etc. and it is yet to be determined what the official interpretation will be.

Hopefully the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will provide a clear and official interpretation and official recommendations/directions for the Regional Courts of the Russian Federation. I will be happy to post this as soon as it does take place.

Also, there have been many questions asked regarding the timeframe that the information about the children will remain on the Databank before it can be released to foreign citizens.

I want to emphasize the purpose of this timeframe is to provide the Russian families residing in Russia a priority to obtain information before it is released to foreign citizens.

The very reason that the Duma took this step to change the law and extend the timeframe is because of the criminal activity perpetrated in order to "hide" children from Russian citizens by providing information about children secretly to foreign adopters, which breaks the principle of priority of Russian citizens for adoption. Information about children has been "illegally obtained" and "illegally held" for foreign adoptions. I have often spoke about bribes and read many times from adoptive parents: "I do not mind paying bribes if it helps me to bring my child home...".. Well this is the direct result of that activity.Unfortunately, in reality it has affected and will continue to affect more children than it actually helped. Of course, it does not affect the children already home with their families, but the ones that are still sitting in the orphanages along with their future families. It goes without saying that if such criminal activity continues or the new laws are somehow circumvented, more tightening of these laws will take place in the future affecting more children and the overall adoption processes.

Regarding the timeframe and how it works, I will try to show this step-by-step:

1. The officials and other persons who have the information about the children left without parental care, must inform the Local Bodies of Trusteeship and Guardianship.
(Attorney's comment: This can take from a few days to several months).

2. The Local Body of Trusteeship and Guardianship is obligated within THREE DAYS after the date of receiving this information to conduct the study of the child's living conditions. (Attorney's comment: This can take from a few days to several months).

3. The Local Body of Trusteeship and Guardianship must, WITHIN A MONTH ater the date of receiving the information about a child, take all easures to place the child into a Russian family residing in Russia. If t is impossible to place the child with a family, the Local Body of trusteeship and Guardianship must transmit the information about this child to the appropriate Regional Body of Executive Power (Regional Database)

(Attorney's comment: Sometimes it takes place with significant delays from several months to years. Some children have never been registered).

4. The Regional authority (Regional Databank of Children) WITHIN A MONTH after the date of receiving the information about the child, must organize his (her) placement in the family of citizens living within the Russian Federation. In the absence of such possibility the information must be forward to for registration to the next level, the Federal Databank.

(Attorney's comment: Sometimes it takes place with significant delays from several months to years).

5. Children can be placed for adoption with citizens of the Russian Federation continuously residing outside the Russian Federation, or with foreign citizens or stateless persons who are not the relatives of these children, after the expiration of SIX MONTHS following the date when the information about such children was received by the Federal Databank of Children.
So, if you simply count the required months, you can see that if all officials will follow the Law requirements, the earliest a child can be adopted by foreign citizens is EIGHT-AND-A-HALF MONTHS OLD.

 
Our Russian adoption adventure bringing home Zoe Elena, and the first year back home.

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