Russian parliament endorses anti-US adoption bill
MOSCOW (AP) - Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament’s upper house voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.
The bill is widely seen as the Kremlin’s retaliation against an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. It comes as Putin takes an increasingly confrontational attitude toward the West, brushing aside concerns about a crackdown on dissent and democratic freedoms.
Dozens of Russian children close to being adopted by American families now will almost certainly be blocked from leaving the country. The law also cuts off the main international adoption route for Russian children stuck in often dismal orphanages: More than 60,000 Russian youngsters have been adopted in the United States in the past 20 years. There are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia, according to UNICEF.
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Russian parliament endorses anti-US adoption bill
I never thought I would agree with the Russians on anything, but on THIS particular topic, I am in 100% agreement.
I realize that there are childless couples all over the United States and as a parent and grandfather I feel for them and their wanting to have a child, or several children.
I know what it felt like for me, I wanted children for a long time before I was blessed to have my three. My 1st wife was apparently *barren*, in 10 years of marriage there wasn’t even a hint of pregnancy and she had NO desire to adopt. We divorced, that is a long story in and of itself and I won’t bore you with it.
I remarried. Within the next 3 years I was blessed with a Son, 2 years later I was blessed with twin girls, fraternal twins, and adoption was placed on the back burner for me.
I have nothing against adoption, not in ANY way, one of the best friends I have ever had changed my mind about adoption when I was in my 20’s. We were discussing children and me wanting children and he asked me if we had ever considered adopting a child.
Well, I was honest with him and told him we HAD discussed it and that it just wasn’t in the cards, and then I stuck my foot in my mouth; I told my friend that I just wasn’t sure
if I could love an adopted child as much as I could one of my own.
My friend told me something about himself that I had never known; he was adopted.
OK, I felt like a heel, I really did, but I woke up to the fact that there are many kids in this world that are in need of adoption and that many American families were in need of a child to love.
I’m all for adopting children, I really am, but here is where I seriously draw the line; why don’t WE, as Americans, adopt AMERICAN babies and children as opposed to being like Angelina Jolie and adopting her own tribe from Africa or somewhere?
America 1st applies to a lot more than just politics!
We have many little ones in America that desperately need homes and parents to love and raise them. I know the same can be said for children the world over, but as long as we have homeless and hungry children right here in America, let our hearts be open to our own!
Edit to add @ 15:45:30 — 12/28/12 - Russia’s Putin signs anti-U.S. adoption bill
There are tens of thousands of little boys and girls right here in the US in need of foster and forever homes. Why anyone in their right mind (which automatically excludes the hollyweird libbers) would feel the need to outside the US to find children “worth” adopting is beyond me.
No loss. Cary nailed it. Russia can keep its own children.
BZ
I too am adopted. I was born to Appalachian Irish parents whose lives were a mess. Circumstances resulted in my being eventually removed from their care in a period of time when even the government did not do this. But the difference then was that even poor people (my new parents) could adopt without much hassle.
The problem today is Government HASSLE. Many parent wanting, say a white child, have turned to Europe looking for a child since they cannot “simply” adopt a child here in the U.S. The problem has become government and agencies interfering in the process beyond reasonableness.
Unfortunately, I have actually heard the following from the lips of lawyers. They would prefer for children to be aborted than adopted as they see children born as I and my sister were as potential delinquents and eventually clogging up the judicial system and jails. One such lawyer found himself called on the carpet by my wife who told him a story about a child and then asked if he felt it would have been better for this child to not have been born. After he said yes, she called me over and said let me introduce you to that boy: my husband, Dr. Bill Smith, retired Air Force and a Graduate professor at … Needless to say this lawyer and future politician stumbled over his words.
Government and adoption oversight “bureaucracy” are major problems. That and encouraging parents to abort their unwanted children. Abortion is taking the lives of so many children regardless of their race with black children being aborted at an even higher rate than white children although in numbers more white children are aborted. For those interested in the sanctity of life, drop by Greater Fitchburg for Life.
My friend that was adopted is a retired Police Captain, a Baptist minister and an all around great guy… It’s amazing how those things work out isn’t it?
I knew you were adopted too Bill, you had mentioned it in the past, it had slipped my mind but in any case, your story is a great one…
Russia has for years only allowed the adoption of mentally retarded or physically ill children. Children they could not place within their nation and did not have the resources to care for.
Americans were getting fed up with this and we did enact laws to force the Russians to disclose the mental and physical problems of the child. Thus the drop off of American adoptions.
Adoptive children are just like any other child. I have known adoptive children to go “bad”, but many have become pillars of our society too. It depends on their parents. Not the birth ones, but the ones who raise the child. After all Gerald Ford was adopted. And he did grow up to be a good man, and a good President.
The government had made it even difficult to adopt a pet, let alone a child here.
Bill, you told me your story a long time ago as well. I LOVE hearing about adoptions-two of my cousins are adopted and they’ve known they were adopted since they could comprehend it. Their story is we were CHOSEN so we’re SPECIAL and I always loved that.
One of the most heartwarming stories I know revolved around our deacon and his wife. Both are retired Navy and are great-grandparents by now, but they were only able to have one child. They lost all their other children in miscarriages and were heartbroken. Then they started to adopt-they adopted FIFTEEN children over the years; out of sixteen children, only one “went bad”. After the kids were all grown, they started the altar server programs at our parishes and engendered the same kind of love from all the children’s lives they touched. They were loving but firm-you didn’t act out on the altar, period. It was heartbreaking when they retired, they touched so many lives, and no one was ever able to completely take their places-he did the prayer services and devotions; she taught the choirs. Besides the religious beliefs and foundations they helped instill in the kids, they also imparted a love of country. They hosted many, many socials and picnics on Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Veteran’s Day-such awesome, inspirational people.
It was a true blessing to see this couple in action and the fact they opened their doors to so many children in need. Color didn’t matter, even at a time when color was an issue; age didn’t matter-if the child was in need, they had a home. I wish we had more people like them today.
My Son adopted his oldest Son. He is the most special little boy imaginable… And now he has a DADDY.. Trey has been the only DADDY the boy has ever known and I have to say, I wonder sometimes if he’s not ours by BLOOD too, he is so much like MY son it’s amazing…
Any man can be a Father, it takes someone SPECIAL to be a Daddy…
I agree with what Cary says.
A close friend has a son who is adopted; found this out today. My friend is an Air Force Chief Master Sergeant and both his sons are US Army.
My pastor and his wife adopted a young girl. Before the judge finalized the adoption, she said this. “In Missouri, you can disown (pointed at his two other children) your son and daughter but you can never disown an adopted child once it’s finalized.” “You can write your other two children out of your will but your adopted daughter will always, in a court of law, be entitled to 1/3 of your estate and assets upon your death.” When they acknowledged that, she signed the adoption papers