American Parents of Russian Adoptees Make Voices Heard in Russian Government

By Alisa Karwowski

July 15, 2009 / PRNewswire

Author of "A Guide to Russian Adoption: Professional Counseling and Personal Insights" Welcomes the Director of International Adoption from St. Petersburg, Russia to US

DOVER, N.H., July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Alisa Karwowski, author of A Guide to Russian Adoption: Professional Counseling and Personal Insights and mother of two Russian adoptees, welcomes Galina Sigaeva, the Director for International Adoption for the region of Saint Petersburg, Russia. During her inaugural visit to the United States, she will be documenting her observations of the Russian-American adoption process. Sigaeva has been charged with filing a report to the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Russia on the state of Russian adoption policy and practice within the United States upon her return home.

As anxieties rise over the potential abolition of adoptions from Russia to the United States, Karwowski and her husband Tim have invited Sigaeva to a welcoming event on July 19(th). The couple and their sons, both Russian-natives, will host over 130 guests, most of whom are themselves adoptive parents. The group will take the opportunity to speak to the stringent and comprehensive process they and other pre-adoptive parents in the United States undergo before an adoption is granted. Sigaeva will also be introduced to over 40 Russian adoptees living in the New England and Northeast region of the United States.

The Karwowski's goal is show Sigaeva firsthand a group of children thriving in their new homes and thereby compel her to implore the Russian government to continue their relationship with the United States and ensure that adoption between the two nations remain active. To ensure this process becomes more efficient on the US-side, Karwowski has recently founded the New Hampshire Chapter of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA). The organization offers advice for pre-adoptive parents currently undergoing the process of adoption and offers on-going support to adoptive parents and their children.