Russian Parliament Passes Bill Banning Adoptions by Americans

Today, the upper house of Russia's parliament voted unanimously in favor of a bill that would ban Americans from adopting Russian children. Russian officials stated that the move is intended to encourage Russian families to adopt Russian children without caregivers. However, it is widely believed that the move is being made in retaliation against a recently passed US law that imposes sanctions on Russian officials responsible for human rights abuses.

In the past 20 years, more than 60,000 Russian children found new homes with American families. If Russian President Vladimir Putin signs the bill, thousands of Russian children will be denied that opportunity each year. Currently, there are more than 700,000 children living in Russian orphanages.

Read the full story here.

Also check out Reason TV's "Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies," a short film about how and why Guatemala shut down international adoptions several years ago.

Comments

[Caleb Turberville]

I saw this on the news this morning. Apparently, the US has the most (only?) robust "adoption culture" in the world. This ban has the potential to cause terrible results.

[Brett L]

Nooo! How many beautiful Russian girls won't be walking American campuses in 19 years because of this travesty? Won't someone look out for assholes like me who live in a college town and feel no shame about oogling a new crop of 18-20 year olds every fall? I demand diversity. This is a travesty.

[A Serious Man]

There will always be Polish girls.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yes, think of all the future Natalie Woods we'll be denied.

Does the Ukraine ban American adoption? Are we also robbed of future Milla Jovoviches and Mila Kunises as well?

We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too!
We've fought the Bear before, and while we're Americans true,
The Russians shall not have the hot Slavic booty!

[Groovus Maximus]

No, UKR does not ban American adoption, but it is difficult to adopt children from here, for one reason:

Bribes Expediting fees.

Also, the amount of children with no blood kinship is actually pretty low, but most families here are not very large. A family with three children is something of a rarity and most families from what I have seen in Donets'k have either one or two children, and appears to be the norm according the info from the Ministry of Health (I can't post it since it's blocked from my end). Kiev, I wasn't there long enough to form an opinion one way or the other, and Odessa, families are larger since they are wealthier in general (Odessa is where rich UKR's like to live.)

The government here promotes marriage by allowing for all medical assistance relating to childcare (and a shit load of medical care in general) to be claimed as a deduction on yearly tax returns for married couples. The single gals do qualify for public assistance in a similar fashion, but they must be employed in order to qualify. The big problem is the State-Run medical is pretty terrible.

[CE]

You can marry one and bring her over instead.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Russian officials stated that the move is intended to encourage Russian families to adopt Russian children without caregivers.

The real real reason is because they are afraid that their unwanted native sons and daughters might be adopted by American same-sex couples who aren't even drunk on vodka.

[Caleb Turberville]

The CNN report I saw cited Russia's strong belief and ties to "blood relations" as the reason they don't near as strong an adoption culture as the US.

Yet, another small victory for the supposedly selfish and ignorant American people, I guess?

[Brett L]

In my part of the US, most of the same-sex couples I know that want to adopt are drunk on whiskey or bourbon.

[Gladstone]

Obviously this is a blow to the Amoronikkkan Empire so it is libertarian and getting mad about is equivalent to calling for war against Russia and unlibertarian. /Justin Raimondo

[R C Dean]

Currently, there are more than 700,000 children living in Russian orphanages.

For some perspective, Russia has about 140mm people, or about 40% of the population of the US. That would translate to 1.75mm American children in orphanages.

Holy shit. How is that possible?

Assuming an equal age distribution, that's 40,000/year. Assuming an average family with children has 2 kids, that would mean 20,000 families a year lose both parents and none of the four grandparents are either alive or willing to take them in. And this doesn't even take into account the parent's siblings.

Unless Russian parents (and grandparents) are dying in droves, aren't most of these kids abandoned by their entire family? What's the story here?

[iggy]

The average life expectancy in Russia is only 68. Their murder rate is three times what ours is. Their rates of alcoholism, suicide and drug abuse are all higher than ours.

They have so many social problems that this doesn't surprise me.

[Hyperion]

They have so many social problems that this doesn't surprise me

Well, then it's quite obvious that their government is not doing its job of banning stuff, well enough.

Also, Pussy Riot. Nuff said.

[R C Dean]

All true, iggy. That number points to massive social pathologies. I'm just curious as to what the breakdown actually is. How many of these kids have no blood kin left alive? How many have kin who are incapable of caring for them? Unwilling to care for them?

And I love the idea that a country that is supposedly so adamant about the importance of blood relations has all these kids with no relatives willing to take them in.

[A Serious Man]

Russia: Natural selection in action.

[CE]

When you're dirt poor, you don't think about adopting orphans. Americans are wealthy and generous.

[Hyperion]

At exactly what point in history was it, that the role of all governments, everywhere, came down to one thing; banning stuff.

Well, ok, and stealing money from people, aka taxes, but really, come on 3D printers and home bio-engineering. Government bans guns? Print one! Government bans Russian babies? Print one! Fuck it, print 2 of each, just to piss off the statists!

[Hyperion]

Make that 2 AR-15s, 2 Russian babies, and a tax free bottle of Russian vodka.

[R C Dean]

Make that 2 Russian babes, and you can count me in.

[Hyperion]

Print your own babes! Babe printing supplies aren't free, you know!

[BakedPenguin]

I'm glad I refreshed prior to commenting.

[sloopyinca]

I can't believe this thread went 40 minutes before a Yakov Smirnoff joke.

In Soviet Russia, abandoned child adopts you!

[JeremyR]

So, you guys are going to bring this up the next time you are on Russia Today (or whatever that propaganda network is called)?

[Jesus H. Christ]

What a shitty country. The US stupidly engages in some name-calling, and the Russkies respond by screwing some orphans out of a decent future.

[waaminn]

Well now that dfude makes a whole lot of sense.

http://www.Privacy-OT.tk

[CE]

No surprise here, a government doing what it can to keep future taxpayers in the country.