Welcome to Part 3 of my “conversation” with John Simmons.
You can catch up with Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
This week we talk about Russia’s recent decision to ban all adoptions of Russian children by US citizens.
I read your article in the Huffington Post about maybe there’s a “silver lining.” Of course we hope that each country will be able to take care of its own children, but Russia has over 700,000 children in their system, is this really going to force them to face this issue sooner rather than later?
Nothing ever “forces” Russia to do anything. The people of Russia really want to take care of their own children. They are leaning on the government to solve this problem domestically. The economy has finally caught it’s breath after being leveled in the early 1990s and the people are beginning to be very optimistic about being able to solve the orphan issue on their own. Sadly, they are being extremely naïve.
In 1909 Teddy Roosevelt brought a group of over 200 Progressives together to deal with the Social Orphan problem in the United States. That was the beginning of our own social welfare system but it wasn’t until the 1960s when we began the systematic abolishment of our own orphanages. These programs take a lot of time to evolve and the Russians are being overly optimistic.
They are changing, though. My daughter, Sarah, was five when we brought her home from Russia. Her best friend was two years older and had Asian features. From a practical standpoint, she was too old and “too Asian” to be adopted in Russia. But a wonderful (Caucasian) Russian family did adopt her. Ten years ago a situation like that would have been unimaginable. The Russian government banning adoptions to the United States (with indications that they will ban all international adoptions in the near future) is forcing the public to become involved in solving the orphan issue. Awareness is up. Optimism is through the roof. Adoption is getting easier for Russians. Adoption is getting to be socially acceptable in Russia. A welfare system is developing that will allow more families to keep their children and a subsidized foster system is developing that will allow for more and more foster families to receive financial assistance that will allow them to provide foster homes for orphans. This means that there will be many, many more orphans in Russia who will be able to have families in their native country. That is a good thing. That is what I call a silver lining to what I otherwise consider a very black cloud.
As I mentioned, these systems don’t evolve overnight. Also, while Russia is beginning to implement programs that will help with many social orphans, this does not include programs to assist children with physical or mental challenges. Even though there are more Russian orphans than ever that will find homes in Russia, there are still huge numbers of those who won’t.
I don’t think that Russia’s developing a social system and an international adoption program need to be mutually exclusive. I think that both programs should continue in parallel until all children can have homes. I wish that what I think mattered.
Do you think the Russian government will reverse this decision?
It’s very difficult. Russia was demanding to be able to interview any adopted Russian child to make sure that the child wasn’t being abused. (Abused under whose definition? Is sending a child to bed without dinner as a punishment considered “withholding food?” Is spanking a child on the bottom with a bare hand abuse?) We all heard about this big adoption agreement between Russia and the U.S. that was signed last year. Russia would not sign the agreement until they were confident that they would have access to any children adopted from Russia by U.S. parents. The agreement finally settled on wording that said the United States government would “encourage” parents to provide the children for interviews. When the Russian government “encourages” citizens to do something it is akin to Torquemada “encouraging” someone to change religions. They had no idea that when the U.S. government “encourages” its citizens to do something, it might well be met by one elevated finger.
As Russian officials tested this new adoption agreement by trying to gain access to adopted Russian children away at a behavior correction ranch in Montana, they found out that the U.S. government could not go against constitutional rights of parents. There had to be warrants. There had to be probable cause to get warrants. There had to be hearings with attorneys. Americans have the right to remain silent. “Really? The right to remain silent? You have got to be kidding! Why don’t they have to talk? What do they have to hide?” In essence, this has boiled down to the Russians saying that they have the right to interview Russian citizens (these children retain dual citizenship). The U.S. has basically said that Russia should have considered that before allowing the children to become U.S. citizens. Finally, Russia has basically said that they won’t make that mistake again. The question is whether or not the U.S. will violate the constitutional rights of parents in the United States. If they could and would do that, Russia might reconsider. Short of that, and sadly, I think it’s over.
Congressman Steve Israel is calling for US to cut aid to Russia if the families already in process are not allowed to complete their adoptions. Do you feel this is the appropriate recourse?
I never expect an “appropriate” response from politicians. Politicians are political by nature. They play politics. They play politics with money. They play politics with dirt. They play politics with policies. They play politics with children. That’s the one that hurts. As far as the money, let the politicians play politics with that. Go ahead, cut off the aid. Russia is one of the richest countries in the world when it comes to natural resources. They don’t need our money. They are already rejecting it by throwing out U.S. Aid and most other U.S. based NGOs (Non-Government Organizations). Sure, they’ll take free money, who won’t? They don’t need it, though. And I think it’s just a little bit arrogant of us as Americans to think we should always get our way by holding money carrots in front of other people who we consider donkeys. Sure. Stop sending them our money and reduce my tax rate. But we shouldn’t believe we can turn people into prostitutes who sell us their opinions under duress.
It looks like adoptions in progress (at least those that are most advanced) will be allowed to be completed, but I’m sure that Russia won’t make it pleasant or easy. I think this is the least they can do and I am confident they will at least do this much.
Thank you for reading! Next week will be the 4th and final installment of this series. We will discuss John’s books.
