This year has been an exciting one for Adopt-A-Child. Although the news media has shed a particularly negative light on Russian adoptions, I can tell you that AAC continues to bring children to their families. Our families are receiving referrals, traveling, having successful court hearings, and moving smoothly through the US Embassy in Moscow. I am in constant communication with my staff in Russia and am always informed of any changes that occur in paperwork or process. I continue to travel to Russia every few months to meet the Russian authorities, and to supervise our staff.
It was a pleasure to see so many of our families at our 2010 Reunion in May. Over 300 people gathered at the Pittsburgh Zoo for a day of fun, food and lots of hugs. It was delightful to see how the children have grown. (Some are heading off to college this fall!) Other children had recently come home, and I was thrilled to see them laughing and smiling with their families. Everyone had a wonderful time and no one wanted to say good-bye when the party was over. We’re already planning next year’s celebration.
The Yevgeny Girel Orphan Foundation has been very active this year. They hosted two fundraisers this past spring. The Two World’s/One Family Fashion show was a beautiful luncheon. Our children delighted us as they modeled the latest fashions from Lullabye Landing Boutique. The Fore Russia’s Kids Charity Golf Outing was lots of fun and we look forward to seeing you on the greens next year. YGOF’s on-going project of shipping supplies to the baby homes has been incredible. Over a dozen duffle bags filled with boots, snowsuits, pants, shirts, shoes and baby supplies have been delivered, many by AAC clients, to baby homes in our regions. My thanks to everyone involved in YGOF for their unending effort in support of the waiting children in Russia. It is heartwarming to me to know that so many of you support the efforts of AAC.
Since I founded this agency in 1992, I have seen many changes in the adoption process. The paperwork has changed. The travel requirements have changed. Even the eligibility requirements have changes. And, we have always been able to adapt to new demands of both the United States and Russia. What has been consistent throughout has been my personal commitment to our parents and to the children, and the dedication of my staff and our volunteers. I look forward to many, many more years of bringing families together.
There is so much varied, sometimes conflicting, information about the availability of children in Russia. As well, policies and practices do vary from region to region and from agency to agency. Adopt-A-Child, Inc works in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. The discussion that follows should give you some insight to the children who are waiting for Adopt-A-Child families.
How do the children become available?
There are many ways that a child becomes available for adoption in Russia. One way is that the biological mother signs away her maternal rights in the hospital after delivery. When this is the case, the baby generally stays in the hospital for a month or two. During this time, the child usually goes through a series of routine tests to determine if any health issues are present. After, the baby is transferred to a baby home. Shortly after the child arrives, the Director of the baby home will register that child in the federal data bank of orphaned children. That child is then available exclusively for Russian domestic adoption for 8 months. Once the 8 months have passed, the child is available to foreigners.
Some orphaned children are foundlings, having been abandoned by their parents. Others are taken from their parents due to abuse, neglect or if it has been determined that the parents are alcohol or drug abusers. These children must also be registered in the federal data bank of orphaned children for 8 months until they are available for international adoption. There are, at times, legal circumstances that prevent a child from being registered as an orphan soon after arrival in a baby home. However, the child will be registered as soon as legally possible.
Who lives in a baby home?
The children in a baby home are between the ages of newborn – 4 years old. Once they become school age they are transferred to an orphanage, where the children can be up to 16 years old. Adopt-A-Child only works in baby homes. We do not place older children. And, we only work in a few baby homes in each area where the facility and standard to care is exceptional.
The younger children are in a nursery setting. There are very large playpens so that caregivers can get in with the children to play with toys. All of the children have the benefit of massage therapists and physical therapists who work with the children on fine and gross motor development. There are also social workers on staff who assess and work with the children.
The older children, 2-4 years old have sense of preschool. Teachers come to the baby homes to work with the children on language skills, number and letter recognition, etc. The children are exposed to music and dance and celebrate holidays together. It’s not unlike preschool in the U.S.
The children receive nutritious food, wear clean clothes, have their own crib/bed and the facilities are very well maintained.
We know the staff in the baby homes where we work and believe that the staff is committed to providing the children with the best possible care under these, not ideal, circumstances. However, it’s not like living in a home with parents.
What does Eurasian mean?
There are many young Eurasian children living in baby homes. Typically, Russian families are not adopting these children and the children are waiting for families. Eurasian children are of mixed European and Asian descent.
Russian children come from a variety of backgrounds. Some children are fair-skinned and others are not, having biological parents from areas such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan, for example.
What health issues do the children have?
Most children who live institutionally will have developmental delays. Generally speaking, for every 3 months that a child lives institutionally he/she is about 1 month behind. You might see that a 12 month old in a baby home is not walking without support, for example. There are many pediatricians who specialize in internationally adopted children who can discuss referral information with you.
Adopt-A-Child staff assumes that clients want to adopt children who are as healthy as possible. We place special needs children upon the request of the family.
How much information is available on the children?
Adopt-A-Child will provide you with all the information we have about a child. We want you to be well informed so that you feel comfortable accepting your referral. You will also have an opportunity to meet with the Director of the baby home where your child lives to ask any and all questions you might have. Your international pediatrician can help you develop a list of questions and will bring particular issues to your attention. The baby home staff also wants you to be as informed as possible. Sometimes there is information about the biological mother. Rarely is there any information about the biological father. The amount of information available varies from child to child.
I hope that these brief answers to some often asked questions give you a better understanding of the children in Russia who are waiting for parents. Please feel free to call our office 412-421-1911 if you would like more information about these issues or if you have other questions about the adoption process.
We are not one's to write letters, but in light of the news that has been going on lately about Russian adoptions we would like to share a little bit of our experience adopting from Russia.
Laurie and I had been trying to have children for years with many heartbreaks and financial set backs. When we finally decided to adopt we had friends who had told us about Adopt-A-Child, adopting from Russia and what a wonderful experience it was.
We did a lot of research and decided to go forward with adopting from Russia and using Adopt-A-Child.
The whole adoption process is very daunting and it can be overwhelming to say the least. We started with the classes that are offered and began tackling all the paperwork, at all times the staff of Adopt-A-Child were there to answer questions and find answers to any barrier we came against. They took the time to get to know us and to know what we were looking for in our adopted child.
We began the process at the beginning of May 2008 and had our referral in November 2008. We were set to make our first trip to meet him in January 2009 and had a pre-travel meeting and directions on how everything would go. It is very intimidating traveling to a place like Russia, were we do not know anyone or speak the language. All we had to go by was what you see on TV or read in the papers. Following the directions we went right through the airport and met up with Adopt-A-Childs Moscow staff that immediately made us feel comfortable and it took a lot of our trepidation away knowing that someone is looking out for your needs while you are there.
Everyone that we met with in Moscow, from the Adopt-A-Child people to the Russian government treated us with respect and it seemed that they were excited that we wanted to adopt a child from this country. When we first met Jacob we fell in love immediately and everyone at the orphanage was smiling and happy to see this little 20 month old boy and his soon to be parents interact and have fun playing. We made 2 additional trips to Moscow and the experience we had with everyone we made contact with including the Judge who ruled in our favor to adopt Jacob to the doctor who gave him a clean bill of health was fantastic. Everyone was smiling and happy to see us become parents of Jacob.
When we finally were able to take Jacob back to the hotel and bring him home we were the happiest parents in the world. Just like anyone else we had our ups and downs with Jacob at the hotel, in the airport and when we finally got home. When we got home Adopt-A-Child called us the first day home to check in on us and to see how everything went. They sent us information on getting Jacob set up with both an American passport and Social Security number and all the information for any type of assistance that we would need from behavior issues to eating, talking or motor skills issues. The doctors that they recommended are great and we are still using them a year later.
It has been a year on March 28, 2010 that we had brought Jacob home and we can tell you that he is the best thing that has ever happened in our lives. He bonded with us immediately and our families have been open and loving with him and he is open and loving back. He is the most loving, caring and happy child that any parent could ask for and we love him unconditionally. He is our baby boy who is about to turn 3 in May and makes us smile every single day.
We would like to thank the Russian government for allowing us to adopt this special child, and especially to Adopt-A-Child who helped us to find our son who we were waiting to come into our lives and they made it possible. We would highly encourage anyone looking to adopt to use Adopt-A-Child and to look into Russian adoption it was one of the greatest experiences of our lives and the adventure continues everyday our son tells us he loves us.
With sincere appreciation,
David, Laurie and Jacob
