Local couple fears for children as Russia passes U.S. adoption ban
HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. – An Oregon couple now wonders what will happen to children in Russian orphanages since that country froze any more adoptions from American parents.
After several controversial adoptions with American families, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children, part of a harsh response to a U.S. law targeting Russians deemed to be human rights violators.
That has many worried about all the Russian children still in the system, including a Portland couple who say their adoption has given one little girl a whole new outlook on life.
Kim and Dan La Pointe have seen firsthand how adoptions can change lives. They've been to an orphanage and witnessed how these children live. While they say caretakers work hard, they just don't have adequate resources. And with so many families, like theirs here in America hoping to help, they'd hate to see children suffer because of an international issue.
The La Pointes adopted Allie, a child from south of Moscow. When they took one look at her when she was a baby, they knew it was fate.
"She was named for my mom, too," said Kim. "Aliana was my mom's name. Her birthday was a day before my mom's and her Russian name was Yellana. So we knew she was the one."
The La Pointes first met her in an orphanage after another little girl they hoped to adopt didn't work out. It took three trips to Russia, almost three years, paperwork and a court date to adopt Allie and bring her home to Oregon.
Welcoming the 15-month-old into their growing family was a life so different than the one she'd known.
The La Pointes described Russian orphanages as if children were in a production line at a large company.
"(It was like) one kid here: feed, feed, feed – next (child) – feed, feed, feed," said Dan.
"It was very regimented, very scheduled and a lot of time just left in cribs alone," Kim said.
More than six years later, Allie is bright, likes to dress up and go to plays like any kid. They are the things the La Pointes worry others will miss out on if Putin signs the bill.
"That might be the saddest thing," said Dan. "That some of them might not make it out of the orphanage because of less opportunities to be adopted."
"I hate to think that this is more (a) political thing than being really concerned about the welfare of the children," Kim said.
One adoption agency in the Portland area told KATU News it discontinued its program several years ago because even then it was difficult to coordinate adoptions. KATU News couldn’t find any agencies in the Portland area that currently have a direct Russian adoption program.
Americans have adopted more than 60,000 Russian children since the fall of the Soviet Union. Thursday's drastic move happened after Russian officials focused on 19 cases of children who died after being adopted by Americans.
They also considered the fury that erupted in 2010 after a 7-year-old boy named Artyom was sent back to Russia alone by his American adoptive mother carrying a note saying he had become too difficult to handle.
Children's rights advocates say the new ban is playing politics.
It is time for people like these to start adopting children in this country. Â We have so many children who would give anything to have a family to call their own .
There is nothing sadder than these children growing older and at some point they say no one will want to adopt them because of their age. Â I have heard these nice young people say this on television interviews. Â There is absolutely writing with these nice young people.
I HOPE THESE IDIOTS WITH MISPLACED VALUES NEVER GET ANOTHER CHANCE TO ADOPT unless it is our country
3000 a year out of 760,000? Immaterial change.
i certainly dont blame russia for stopping amecans from adopting thier children, we cant even keep our own kids safe. from the parents or strangers. and arent there plenty of kids in the u.s. who need to be adopted anyway?
Let's look at how we Americans oversee and account for vulnerable children brought into this country by adopting Americans.. And stop presuming this all about "politics". What oversight regulations are in place, state by state, to ensure children brought so very far away from their foreign homelands are going to be safe and are going to live to be healthy, thriving adults. Clearly there is a NEED to do a better job of protecting vulnerable children. Yes, indeed - even from prospective American adoptive parents.Â
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Americans are NOT "entitled" to defenseless vulnerable children born in other countries - just because arrogant Americans"think" they are.Â
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I share the concerns of Russian citizens. I share the concerns of their government, too. And it is TIME for this country to explain what we are doing to STOP these chiid murder incidences from occurring. What WE all are doing to supervise and protect and shield vulnerable defenseless adopted children.
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I'm one of those "idiots" who adopted a foreign-born child. You people (who, of course have never adopted anything) don't know what you're talking about. If it's right to force people to go through the hell that is a domestic adoption before allowing them a foreign adoption, then it would be right to force all couples to go through the hell that is a domestic adoption before being allowed to join their sperm and their egg. Most of all it's none of your business how or why a couple chooses to have a family, what color they are, how much it costs. Ever.
@ecb You know what you're talking about when you say the hell of domestic adoption. At least with international adoption, you leave the country as a "real" legal family. In domestic adoption, you have a long probationary period (supposed to be 6 months in some states, but often 10 or 11 months due to bureaucratic mishaps). And while you're a "probationary family," DSS or an out of control therapist can decide that "your" children need frequent visits from a crack-addicted birthmom, and biological father and his baby mama, or an obsessed foster parent who can't let go and behaves like a stalker, all in the name of "openness" or "best interests of the child" (although your family's "best interests" somehow get lost).
Is the US all out of adoptable kids? Why can't these idiots adopt kids here locally?
People like this are the reason why most of the world hates Americans. These morons think that just because people in other countries don't have cable TV or ice in their diet cokes that they must be suffering. Nothing is further from the truth. Typical American arrogance.
 @ryanmang Do you even know anything about orphanages, mainly ones that cater to unwanted special needs children, most of these kids are so underfed and unloved that at 9 years old they can be the size of a seven month old child. They are tied to cribs left unattended for days on end if they do not die from asphyxiation or malnutrition from the gruel that is forced down their throat from propped bottles then their lives get ever worse when at at 7 or 8 they are thrown into mental ward homes for adults and continually abused and molested until they die young or are killed by someone else in their lives.
@ryanmang Why don't you go stay in a Russian orphanage for a while. Let us know how grand a vacation that was.
Americans shouldn't be able to adopt from outside the country until all the orphaned children in the USA have homes.
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then we can talk about importing your favorite exotic breed of human.
I dont really mean to sound heartless, there are many children in the US that need to find loving homes. Why dont people adopt children here in the states before going overseas to adopt? I understand that children in other countries may have less chances to be adopted, but even in the states that is the case. Â
seems like you could find a child with russian heritage in the u.s.a. to be adopted and not have to go to russia to find a child.Â
Putin needs to be banned.
Building families is a very personal thing. Adoption is difficult regardless of what country the child comes from. People certainly do not choose to adopt from another country because it is "trendy!" If any of you have not been a part of an adoption either as a birth parent or an adoptive parent you really don't have a clue of all the issues involved!
We have hundreds of children that can be adopted in the portland area... No need to go to russia.
Kids will always be the pawns of politicians and unions.
 @RalphCramden And elitist prospective parents with too much disposable income - who have no desire to adopt any needy deserving child in their own country.Â
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God figure America. Your reasoning for doing all of it - is tanked. Shame on those that support putting more foreign children in the hands of Americans parents who are intent on taking them far away from their homeland - for sometimes very suspect cruel reasons.Â
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The biggest reason that people adopt from foreign countries is that they an get babies. Most of the kids that are adoptable in the US are older and have already been screwed up by their environment.
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Who in their right mind wants to adopt a known problem?
 @RalphCramden ...or, most commonly, their parents. "it's fer the chilruuuuuuuuun"
 @MarkKpicÂ
Or when a politician needs a prop they can to to "Rent-a-Child" for a political prop. Black kids seem to be a hot commodity these days when politicians want a photo op.
 @RalphCramden  @MarkKpic What... ?
 @MarkKpicÂ
Hitler was brilliant...and very evil.
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He was extremely skilled at manipulating people. I am always wary of skilled orators. 0bama is such a person.
 @RalphCramden LOL... Nathan Lane is one of the best actors around.Â
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Adolf Hitler was a detestable maniac, but he was an incredibly smart man. In barely a generation, he turned a plodding economy into a world power that remains (to this day) one of the strongest economies in the world. Â There are quite a few quotes that are attributed to him that I find hauntingly accurate... Among them;
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"How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."
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"Sooner will a camel pass through a needle's eye than a great man be "discovered" by an election. "Â
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To this day, a line of thinking that sends shivers down my spine is of what could have come to pass if he had embraced Oppenheimers ideas instead of Pabst von Ohain & Gosslaus. *shudder*
 @MarkKpicÂ
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Brighton: It pains me to say this but you're broke my Queen.
The Queen: Then go collet more taxes
Brighton: Ha ha. Ah your majesty, I don't know the last time you were in the town but the people are starving.
The Queen: The people have no imagination. Go tell the villagers that bread is meat, less is more, blah blah blah, commoners love a good metaphor. Just go sell it.
---"Mirror Mirror"
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âIf you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.â â Adolf Hitler
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âMake the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.â â Adolf Hitler
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"The masses are idiots and can't think for themselves. We will think for them."
---Sounds like a good quote from some tyrant.
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 @RalphCramden "Listen, I'm a politician which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops. But it also means I keep my options open. "
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A well placed picture with a cute baby always helps to sell the masses.Â
 The real question is. Who cares? We have THOUSANDS of AMERICAN children that need adoption. Take your pick!!!!!!
If I were given the choice of raising my child
in any country in the world, it sure as hell
would not the the United States as it is.
 @Mipsfer blah blah blah, whiners suck
Why can't we just adopt the American kids in the system here and let Russia worry about her children? Â Maybe that sounds cruel but you know what is cruel to me? Â A country where people go to other countries to adopt because it's trendy when there are kids right here in America who need forever families.
@Talitha PedroAmbrosio It's not trendy. In fact, what seems to be trendy is telling others what to do, but then that's always been trendy. So, you have to adopt American, you can't only give to charities that help American's. Ignore the rest of the world, there is a child that most people don't care about in Florida who is more important because they've been tagged "American".
 @JTesla  @Talitha Ok good point about telling other's what to do, but since I actually said "to me" and poised questions, so technically I wasn't telling anyone what to do, just sharing my opinion on the matter, it doesn't match yours, oh well.  I never said you have to adopt American.  And yes it is trendy to adopt foreign babies.  I personally think (see my opinion not telling you or anyone else what to do  or what to think) too many people adopt for selfish reasons, it's just like any other way of becoming a parent, you have to think about the child you are bringing into the world or giving a forever home to, and make the parenting choice based on what you have to offer them, not what you will get out of the relationship.  As a parent I have learned that when I let go of what I want and focus on my child I get more out of the relationship anyways.  Have a good day.
How dare the Russians have the gall to enact laws for their own people without considering American opinion.
 @Mipsfer I actually saw a comment where the writer complained that Russia was unfairly interfering with the "right" of Americans to adopt their children. And we wonder why we Americans are characterized as arrogant?
This article reeks of narcissim from the La Pointe family. We get it, you think you're better than everyone else because you ignore the american children that need to be adopted, and you go to a foreign country.
@Riley35 Speaking of narcissism, the idea that you can dictate to others what children they should or should not adopt.
 @Riley35 Harsh...maybe the news approached them and they agreed to be interviewed?
Every single day, more than 3,000 American babies are killed by abortion, the USA produces 90% of the world's pornography, highest murder rate among developed countries, etc.....need we go on?Â
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 @BREAKING NEWS !!! Confused about why porno is mentioned? I was in France and they hard core porn and regular TV, so what's your point?.....and BTW, the US also does not have the "highest murder rate among developed countries"...North Korea, Russia, and by rough count of all countries, the US is ~118th.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept that American families looking to adopt need to go to foreign countries to do so. Latest US Census figures estimate that there are, at any given time, around 130,000 children in the US who are in need of adoptive parents. While I will be the first to admit that there are some truly horrific stories that come out of foreign orphanages, I don't believe that alone is cause to overlook and ignore the plight of those in the US foster care / adoption system.Â
But, as is typically the Americanized idealism, free market rules. Why would I want to adopt a child in the US who isn't customized to exactly the predetermined specifications that I choose when I can shop around the world for a child who does?Â
Sad state of affairs all the way around, that's for sure.Â
 @MarkKpic I don't know any that were "shopping" around the world for the perfect child. The ones I know are shopping for the situation that fits their situation best. They decided on the type of adoption before looking for kids. Adopting from the state, private adoptions and foreign adoptions each have advantages and disadvantages. Adopting from the state costs less, but often the children have come from hard situations and sometimes abuse others the same way they were abused. Private adoptions are nice, but they cost more and if the birth parents change their mind, the parents hoping to adopt are out of the money they spent on legal fees. (I think it's great if birth parents want to keep the child, but losing out on thousands of dollars in legal fees can be painful). We chose foreign adoption, because we already had one child and didn't want to risk another child acting out against him. We also couldn't afford to take the risk of paying legal fees more than once. If we didn't have a young child already, we would have quite likely adopted from the state.
 @Mike Matney >' I don't know any that were "shopping" around the world for the perfect child. The ones I know are shopping for the situation that fits their situation best. '
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tomato/potatoe. We're saying the same thing, you're just wordsmithing it to make it less offensive.Â
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>'Adopting from the state costs less, but often the children have come from hard situations and sometimes abuse others the same way they were abused.'
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Not to put too fine a point on it, but in my experience those are the ones who most need a loving foster or adoptive home. I've seen (on several occasions) the most combative and angry children become fantastic, and emotionally balanced kids because they are brought into an adoptive home that recognizes and engages the behavioral problems that being in foster care can create. Furthermore, in my experience, the kids whom you are referring to are the exception and not the norm. The VAST majority of kids in the OR foster care system have no underlying behavioral or emotional problems beyond just wanting a loving family and a stable home. You're perpetuating a steriotype that is inaccurate.Â
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If I'm extrapolating from your post correctly, it sounds as if you have adopted a child. I'm sincerely glad that you chose to give a child a home. Irrelevent of that childs state or country of origin. It is a blessing to your family (what a great lesson to teach your own kids about family and love), and to the adoptive child. While there is no 'one size fits all' solution to adoption, there are trends that become obvious when someone studies the statistics. Most people who adopt want babies. Most people who want babies quickly find the limitations that you refer to in your post. So, they persue adoptions in foreign countries. I'm not saying that is 'bad' or 'wrong'. I just have personal experience in the OR DHS/foster care system and am saddened when a child in that system is overlooked or passed over because they don't seem to fit someones wants.Â
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 @MarkKpic It's not children that these adoptive parents want...it's BABIES! That's the lynchpin that is holding this all together.Â
 @washcomom  @MarkKpic No. Many of the children adopted from Russia are not infants. One of the reasons people adopt from other countries is because they fear getting caught up in legal problems when a parent here in the U.S. wants her (or his) child back. If you adopt in China or Russia, that is a very unlikely scenario.Another issue is that many, if not most, of the children available for adoption in the United States are racially mixed -- meaning one of the "bad" "races" like black or hispanic rather than a "good" "race" such as Chinese. Also often Americans prefer adopting girl babies -- very available in China -- to boy babies that are deemed more trouble.Black boys are the least adoptable of all children available even by black families. How sad is that?
@washcomom That's (IMO) a big part of the problem. It's also what I eluded to in my comment
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 "Why would I want to adopt a child in the US who isn't customized to exactly the predetermined specifications that I choose when I can shop around the world for a child who does? "
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The idea that one child is not to my specifications (be it age, gender, hair color, etc...) is pretty sad to me. It's also demonstrative of the idea that I should (with money) be able to buy anything I want. If you boil it down to its most basic elements, it's the buying and selling of children. Not unlike the 'mail order bride' business model.Â
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 @JTesla  @MarkKpic I get that. I too can respect your positon. I don't know that I'm suggesting anything other than consideration of point.Â
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There are soooooo many really, really great kids right here in OR, and throughout the US foster system who could (would) thrive in a family. I'm saddened when they are overlooked because they aren't 'babies', or because of emotional problems that can (and are) best treated by consistant love and persistant parenting that they never received in their birth homes.Â
@MarkKpic I now have the utmost respect for your position. What galls me in this debate are the armchair adoption directors who, with a knee jerk reaction, simply say âadopt Americanâ as if they are telling a neighbor to buy an American car while they drive around in one made in Germany.
 @JTesla  @MarkKpic At some level, I conceed your point.Â
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My frustration comes from working within the state DHS/foster care system. Time and time again I come into contact with children who are great kids, but they're not adopted because of something they have no control over. Be it their age, their gender, their race, or a medical/psychological conditions created by their birth parents.Â
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Many, many times, children adopted from foreign countries have the same (or more severe) medical & psychological conditions, but they are not documented or reported because the foreign country is more interested in profit incentive than providing a good home for a child.Â
@MarkKpic Aren't you trying to place a specification by advocating "adopt American"?
 @washcomom  @MarkKpic You're exactly right, it's actually pretty hard to adopt a baby in this country.
 @deejm2112  @MarkKpic  @washcomom I was adopted in the 70's and, even then, getting a baby was difficult. My parents got lucky and were able to do a private adoption through a lawyer friend they had. The red tape here takes longer and it's actually more expensive. About 10 years ago, a woman I worked with and her husband adopted twin Korean girls. The cost...about 15k for them. That is almost what I cost my parents in 1973! Plus it took them only 6 months to adopt whereas it took my parents 2 failed tries (both birth mothers opted to keep their babies after they were born) before my parents got me. That was over 4 years of waiting for them. I can see the allure of wanting a baby and quicker and cheaper than can be done here. While I wish we could all adopt in just the US, the facts is that most young couples (and those are usually first time parents) want babies and we don't have the numbers that foreign countries do.
 @MarkKpic  @washcomom I should add, my wife didn't want to consider adopt a 6 yr old and up....she is one of those "it has to be a baby".
@MarkKpic@washcomom
I agree, my wife and I explored adoption and were told specifically that babies are hard to adopt because there's not many for adoption, they are adopted quickly when available (I hate making it sound like adopting a dog too)...this is excluding meeting the prerequisites and "training" (there are classes you have to take as well).
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I mentioned below about a friend of mine adopting kids from China, they had to meet a BMI standard as well as other screenings (yes, they could not be fat which I think severely limits Americans from adopting Chinese kids).
 @deejm2112  @washcomom >' it's actually pretty hard to adopt a baby in this country.'
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I'm really curious about that comment. Are you saying that it should be easier? The prerequisites to allow for adoption are there for a reason. Income, psychological profile, criminal history, etc.... Each of these benchmarks are in place for a reason. While it may be 'easier' to go to China or Russia or S Africa to adopt, that doesn't mean that it's right.Â
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Personally, I would hope (in fact, expect) that there are some standards in place beyond just 'can you afford to pay our fees'. These aren't kittens and puppies we're talking about here.Â