The adoption of Russian-born children by American parents is the hot topic in adoption news lately, particularly now that the trial of Peggy Sue Hilt is underway. Hilt is accused of the second-degree murder of her adopted Russian daughter and is on trial in Manassas, Virginia (the case is delayed until October 4, after a medical examination of Hilt is completed).
The debate regards how much control the Russian government should have over monitoring the living conditions of Russian children adopted by U.S. families. The 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption stipulates the establishment of a national oversight body that would do just that.
However, the U.S. has no system, on either the federal or the state level, for doing such monitoring (and I assume the U.S. government isn't exactly jumping to create such a system).
Here's another hitch: children adopted abroad become U.S. citizens immediately after crossing the U.S. border, according in legislation passed in 2000. However, in Russia, those same children are considered Russian citizens until age 18.
"Russian children adopted by American foster parents
remain under our control and the supervision of adoption agencies for
four years. The agencies must send four annual reports to the Russian
Ministry of Education and Science and regional educational authorities,
which govern adoptions in the Russian Federation, and also to the U.S.
State Department," said Alexander Demkin, Russia's vice consul in New York.
"After four years of reporting and
visits to foster families, children become regular U.S. citizens and
can be even re-adopted without the notification of the Russian
authorities."
Demkin believes that the United
States and Russia should institute federal laws that would require Russian adopted children to be supervised until they reach age 17.
Whereas the vast majority of Russian children adopted by U.S. parents are not ill-treated, the unusual cases are scrutinized by government agencies from both countries and the media.
Patricia Sheehy, the regional
director of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, noted that Russian authorities sometimes
fail to conduct medical examinations of children available for adoption, nor do they inform the adoptive parents about the child's medical problems, particularly Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
My thoughts are that all adoptive parents, whether they adopt domestically or internationally, need to become educated about the potential medical and psychological issues that their child may come equipped with. I've met so many parents who think that everything will be peachy after they adopt their child, and a few months later, they are wringing their hands, wondering "What have I done?" Most adoptive parents are woefully unprepared to deal with the needs their child arrives with.
Parents must receive training BEFORE an adoption to prepare them to deal with those issues. Whatever issues a child faces, no parent should use that as an excuse to harm the child.
Both the Russian and U.S. governments need to admit that they don't have the resources to monitor adopted children for years on end. That needs to be the job of the parents.
Link: RIA Novosti - World - Death of Russian-born child in U.S. raises adoption concerns.
