RUSSIAN ADOPTION LAW

Adoption from Russia in the last three years could be summed up in three words: uncertainty, delay, frustration.

Russia has been implementing a series of much-needed reforms to weed out fly-by-night intermediaries and parents like those who murdered three children after their adoption in recent years. Adoption agencies – American and foreign – scrambled to comply with a rigorous new licensing process, but those new licenses have been very slow in coming. For several months early this year, not a single American adoption agency was accredited to operate in Russia. Prospective adoptive parents would need to re-do their documents twice and sometimes three times just to get through the process.

The delays have taken a huge toll. Immigrant visas issued to allow Russian orphans to come to the United States could drop below 3,000 this year from a high of 5,865 for 2004. 

But the dark days may finally be coming to an end. Russia began issuing new, non-expiring licenses to adoption agencies in July. As of the end of November, 17 U.S. agencies had been re-accredited. Forty more are still waiting for a green light, but at least now, there’s hope.

- Virginia Citrano

Virginia Citrano writes and speaks on adoption from Russia.