Russia Program News

Joint Council Update

Suspension Announced But Not Confirmed

April 15, 2010
Regarding Intercountry Adoption in Russia

During a press conference today, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Nesterenko stated that intercountry adoptions with the United States have been suspended until a bilateral agreement with the United States is signed.

At this time, the Ministry of Education (the ministry responsible for intercountry adoption) has not confirmed the suspension nor issued a statement.

U.S. Government Delegation

We can confirm that a delegation from the U.S. Department of State, lead by Ambassador Michael Kirby, will travel to Moscow and conduct meetings with Russian officials on April 20, 2010.

Joint Council is working to achieve a clear understanding of the situation and will publish appropriate and confirmed information as it is available.

We are very saddened by the disturbing incident involving a U.S. adoptive mother who placed her 7 year old Russian son on a plane alone and returned him to Moscow with a note saying she is unable to parent him. As you can imagine there has been a strong negative reaction to this news both in Russia and here in the United States.

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia is aware of the situation and is engaging high level government officials in discussions, as are many U.S. adoption advocacy groups. We hope these efforts will prove helpful. We have spoken to our representatives in Russia and are closely monitoring the situation. At this time there is no information on how this tragedy might impact the future of the U.S.-Russian adoption process. As this situation develops over the next weeks, we will continue to be in constant contact with each of our representatives regarding the reaction in each region and will be actively involved in supporting families and advocating for children.

Additional reliable sources of information include the U.S. State Department as well as Joint Council on International Children's Services, one of the oldest and largest child advocacy organizations in the U.S.

This very sad occurrence illustrates the importance of a good support network and knowing where to seek out resources. Recognizing adoption is a lifelong journey and not always easy, Wide Horizons For Children is committed to supporting our adoptive families long after the child arrives home. We encourage you to visit the Post Adoption section of our website for a variety of resources and articles or to contact one of our post adoption counselors who can listen to your concerns and connect you with additional support. We also address a range of important issues facing adoptive families in our quarterly Post Adoption E-Newsletter. Sign-up today so you don't miss our next issue in May.

You can help keep adoptions open by getting involved in Joint Council's Call to Action: We Are the Truth.

1. Sign the letter to President Medvedev and President Obama: The letter asks both Presidents to ensure that intercountry adoption continues uninterrupted and to aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone involved in the abuse of children. You can sign anytime, but doing so before Tuesday night would help us get the letters to both Presidents before President Medvedev leaves the U.S. To sign the letter, click here.
2. We Are The Truth - an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn't matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!
3. Tell Your Truth with Video - make sure the world sees, hears and feels the thousands of successful adoptions from Russia by:
   1. Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption video via email to alexa.m@jcics.org.
      • Video should be a maximum of 3 minutes.
      • A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your video. For a copy of the release, click here.
   2. Joint Council will translate the video into Russian and post it on our YouTube Channel.
4. Tell Your Truth with Words and Photos
   1. Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption story via email to alexa.m@jcics.org. Send us your stories through:
      • Photos (please do not send more than 10)
      • Essays (maximum 500 words)
      • A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your story and/or pictures. For a copy of the release, click here.
   2. Joint Council will then compile the stories and pictures, translate them into Russian and post them on our website and/or blog.
5. Share Your Truth
   1. Joint Council will post, forward and share your stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Joint Council will be updating our YouTube Channel and Facebook page as the stories get compiled and translated, please subscribe to us on YouTube, Twitter and Fan us on Facebook.
   2. You do the same by posting on your Facebook, Twitter, blog and website!