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Complications in adopting children internationally

On Behalf of | Dec 24, 2012 | Adoption

A young adult was adopted by a Texas family when he was 15-years old. He was flown from Russia as a teenager, and then was then treated at a Texas hospital for his physical disabilities. The young man is now attending the University of Texas, has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with a pair of prosthesis that enable him to walk, and has become an accomplished skier.

International adoption can provide any number of benefits for children that would never receive the help that they need in the country in which they were born. Unfortunately, the Russian legislature is currently contemplating passing a bill that would ban American couples from adopting these Russian children.

As too often unfortunately occurs when it comes to international adoption, politics interferes with the welfare of the child. The proposed measure making its way through the Russian legislature is likely in response to a United States measure imposing sanctions of the Russian nation for apparent human right violations.

This will complicate matters for attorneys helping parents adopt children internationally, and thus parents will require that the attorney they hire understand how international adoptions operate. These attorneys will have to understand how to negotiate with adoption agencies, bureaucrats, and foreign government officials.

The young man mentioned above would like to see this matter remedied, and he has some understandable concerns about the proposed Russian legislation. “It’s extremely insensitive to children in Russia who’ve spent their whole lives in those orphanages, and insulting to the happy families here in the U.S. who have adopted Russian children.”

There is only so much that these attorneys can do to influence the type of legislation passed by the Russian government. However, attorneys can try to extradite these matters by familiarizing themselves with the procedures for adopting children internationally.

Source: KIII TV, “Proposed Russian ban dismays US adoption groups,” by David Crary, Dec. 21, 2012