see http://www.foxnews.com/world/2...-adoptions-families/

quote:

MOSCOW -- Russia suspended all adoptions to U.S. families on Thursday until the two countries can agree on procedures, the Foreign Ministry said, a week after an American woman sent her 7-year-old adopted son back to Russia on a plane by himself.

The boy's return -- without supervision or explanation aside from a note he carried from his adoptive mother saying he had psychological problems -- has incensed Russia and prompted aggressive media coverage of foreign adoptions.

Sort of reminds me of a teacher who'd punish the whole class because one student would misbehave.

Interesting to note that "Russians have been outraged that no charges have been filed against her (the mother)." That's great. So now one of them can adopt the 7-year old who has mental problems, which the orphanage minimized in making the arrangement.

Those are good points, Phil.

However, if this was the other way around, and Russian adoptive parents had returned a seven-year-old American boy in the same manner – then what do you think the American reaction (public and official) would be?

At the outset, I am not entirely sure our reaction would be much different.

In fact I think there would be howls of American protest, and adoptions to Russia might well be suspended until iron-clad assurances were given that such a horrifying act against a young and vulnerable American child would never ever be repeated.

Hi HP,

I'd hope we'd deal with a situation like that as an isolated case that doesn't reflect the policy of U.S. government, nor, less, the attitude of the people of the U.S. I also hope we'd look at the agency that sent the boy over to see what kind of misinformation or lack of information had been conveyed.

Now if only Russia would be so hard on Iran for its Uranium enrichment program . . .

Apparently, the Russian authorities are claiming a history of maltreatment of their kids by Americans.:


"...This shocking return of an unwanted child follows several appalling cases of Russian children being killed after being adopted to America.
In one case, a two-year-old boy died after his American father left him alone in a car in 30C temperatures


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...s.html#ixzz0lE2MsSoE
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It's very sad. Most parents don't seem adequately prepared for how hard it is to raise older adopted children.

The big problem is that most people want to *have children,* but they don't want to *be parents.* Those are two very different things!

Agreed, Phil, I would hope so to. I think we all do. But I cannot fathom why that Russian boy was even allowed to board the plane alone under such circumstances.

Yes, Sasha. That is an important distinction. Far too many people want to "have children" without stepping up to "being parents". In this regard it is imperative that the adoption agencies do a very thorough job. I believe most do.

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Phil wrote:
"Now if only Russia would be so hard on Iran for its Uranium enrichment program . . . "

PS. Iran’s uranium enrichment program. I believe Russia has offered to enrich Iranian uranium to material that is not weapons-grade and virtually impossible to convert to wapons-grade. That was the solution that was being lauded and embraced a few months ago.

Furthermore, I recall Russia offering to cooperate with NATO to place a missile shield just north of Iran, where it would actually do a lot more good relative to its stated purpose than, say, in Czechoslovakia or Poland.

Also, actions need to be taken against the Western and non-Western companies that have earned good money knowingly delivering equipment to the nuclear programmes of Iran and other nations.

That said, I think Russia could and should do a lot more. Iran is not to be trusted. But I can understand them wanting to have nuclear weapons – after seeing what happened to an Iraq that lacked WMDs.

From the news:

The U.S. and Russia have been talking about a formal adoption treaty, and today, the two countries released pro-forma statements indicating some progress.

quote:

'Generally, we very positively assess the atmosphere of the talks. In the course of a substantial dialogue we've managed to move forward on a wide range of complicated issues,' says Alina Levitskaya, Director, Department of State Policy on Upbringing, Supplementary Education and Social Protection of Children, Russian Ministry of Education and Science.

'Both teams are committed to reach an agreement to increase safeguards for intercountry adoption between Russian and the U.S.' adds Mary Ellen Hickey, the head of American delegation, Managing Director, Office of Children's Issues, U.S. State Department.

Sounds like both sides are behaving very sensibly, focusing on what truly matters.

.

Well, that's good news. With young kids needing homes at stake, I hope the motivation to come up with sound policies continues.