Russia Votes to Ban All Adoptions by Americans

<nodding to much of what's been posted>

From this side of Adoptionland, one of the biggest complaints I receive from genuinely sincere INTERESTED adopters - those with great motives and even bigger greater hearts, coupled with the patience of saints - relates to the less-than-adequate [government mandated] training courses adoption agencies  are required to provide PAPs before adoption approval has been granted. 

In short, too many agencies fail both the adoptees and the APs all because it has been decided scrap-booking instruction is more important than learning the ABCs of adoptive parenting which ought to include the effects poor prenatal care has on growth and development, and how stress and trauma can (and will) affect a child's ability to learn -- especially in a foreign classroom.  Perhaps such classes might scare and discourage those who think adoptive parenting is just like parenting a biologically related newborn? I don't know.  What I do know is, many APs are fulfilling required hours of instruction only to realize what they learned through their agency is nothing close to what they need to know in every-day reality.

If that isn't bad enough, I am also receiving reports (from very frustrated APs) that in many school systems, there seems to be a strong bias against foreign adoptees.  This bias seems to come from educators and therapists claiming the foreign adoptee not doing well on tests or in the classroom is not doing well in X grade because that child is MR (mentally retarded), as opposed to being something closer to the truth:  an overwhelmed child who does not use English as a primary/first language.

Can you imagine having yourself (or your child) sit through Special Ed classes all because the problem with learning/school performance has been mislabeled by so-called teaching experts?

...and we're not even talking about the list of attachment disorders the modern-day adoptee is given by so-called "parent educators" or "adoption specialists".  In some cases, the only thing some of these "educators" specialize in is the reaching out to the desperate and teaching them various inhumane ways to treat and discipline the stressed and poorly adjusting adoptee not loving his or her new adoptive parents/home. 

I strongly believe many problems American adopters are experiencing nowadays could be minimized - or prevented - simply by making high-quality comprehensive adoptive parent education programs a universal standard ALL adoption agencies must provide their PAPs.  After all, most of these private agencies are charging over 30k for a single adoption.  Surely there's room in some of these non-profit budgets so one or two high-quality comprehensive adoptive parent education programs can be added to its list and menu of adoption services available to all qualified PAPs.  

Or am I too idealistic?

Unfortunately, the cynic in me says there are too many people eager to profit from another person's misery.  Mislabeling has become an art and science in Adoptionland, and quite frankly, APs cannot afford to be partially informed....about anything that relates to care for an adopted child.  In my mind, having only a fraction of a child's correct story and condition is criminal... especially if both story and condition have been concocted by those who stand to profit from a child's bad label and untreated prognosis.

With that, I'm afraid too many "unwise placements" have already been made, and they now plague the USA.  Let's hope Russia can - and WILL - learn from these critical mistakes... mistakes made in America.

Cassandra, I find your insight and knowledge very refreshing and informative. [Thank you so much for adding what you think and what you know!]  With that, I'm curious.... what are your thoughts on adoptions pipelines, especially those to the US?

From what I see here, (Philly/NY metro area), little attention is given to the actual history of gross negligence, as it appears in care-systems found in both countries.  Instead, during this time of the year, especially, with the news of adoption doors closing, there comes the barrage of "let's feel bad and HELP these people" pieces written by journalists focused on (who else?) the poor distraught Americans who are grieving the loss of their most wanted Christmas gift:  the struggling orphan found in an orphanage, which happens to be in country we Americans are supposed to loathe and despise because of the government's cold cruel ways towards its own people.

I fear the end-result from this media-focus will create a situation that mimics the great letter campaign of September 2009 .  See: Letter of congress to Secretary of State Clinton regarding adoption from Guatemala

Personally, I find such "emotional" pieces pouring from news-sources rather revolting and self-serving; I believe far too often matters associated with corrupt adoption practices get sugar-coated, glorified, even justified, all because nothing pulls the heartstrings more than the story of the poor orphan denied a Christmas... one that could have been spent in an American home.  (Just to serve as a reminder, review home-life for these lucky adoptees from the Soviet Union.)  The American home-life experience included:

• Stripping the children naked as part of punishment.
• Dragging the children by their arms while the children were naked.
• Kicking the children in the groin.
• Spraying the children in the face and on the neck and chest with pepper spray.
• Bending a child’s arm into a “compliance-type” arm bar.
• Hitting the children with a stick.
• Slapping the children in the face.
• Stabbing one child in the hand with a knife.
• Grabbing children by the throat and lifting them off the ground.
• Striking children in the groin with a knee.
• Picking one child off the floor by an ear causing the ear to tear and bleed.
• Striking children with a ruler.
• Placing one child in a “bin” while Afather struck the outside of the bin with a log.
• Striking one child in the chest with a flashlight
• Forcing the adopted children to eat frozen loaves of bread off the floor before bedtime while the biological children watched.
• Forcing the children to stand naked in the snow three to four times a year.
• Locking the children in a bedroom for four to five days at a time.
• Beating the children with a belt.
• Choking one child because of a prayer he said.

Not so loving and ideal, and not so much better than what may be found in Russia, is it?

I believe post adoption-closing coverage from biased/myopic media news-sources (offering their own version of 'mandatory reporting') help support the very profitable ICA industry, and in-turn, hurt those still hurting from the effects of profit-centric adoption practices.  For example, I believe too much attention and favor is given to the American foreign adopter who wants to participate in an agreement that is based on "good faith", and requires child-delivery... after all bills and fees have been paid, of course.  In my mind, such an agreement is not charity -- it is a purchase-plan.  In my mind, this purchase plan is not the sort of generous altruism that helps improves poorly run/corrupt care-systems; and in no way do I think this plan saves abandoned children from poor social services (created for the abused, the abandoned and the poor).  Spoken as the victim of an adoption gold-rush, I find most foreign adoption agreements are based on clever sales-pitches and the smart marketing of unwanted/wanted children.  While some may be enriched by the experience, we cannot --  we must not -- forget such plans can end in disaster, for the adoptee, and in many cases, the APs, as well.

I see the adoption pipeline to the US as being a dangerous entity -- I fear too many stuck there are willing to financially assist a specific children's charity, (like an orphanage), but only if it means the gift of a child is given, with many many thanks... and few post-placement problems.

I'd like to learn the outsider's POV... the outsider being one who is not the desperate PAP waiting for the promised delivery, and not the child in-care, suffering the ills that go with abuse and neglect.