KZBlog

This is just a heads-up because of all the noise regarding Americans adopting Russians. As you must surely have heard, an American woman adopted a 7-year old Russian boy and then after the boy allegedly revealed himself to be a danger to himself and others, she returned him by sitting him on a plane alone to Russia. I am certainly not in any way trying to defend this woman’s actions which were irresponsible. However some other cases are coming out of the woodwork in which adoption agencies lied about the health of the children. In one case I saw on CNN, the adoption agency claimed that a Russian doctor living in the US had personally examined the children. In fact, he had never done anything more than sign a piece of paper. This kind of lying to adoptive parents is also unconscionable. And let me be clear that I have yet to see anyone allege that the Russian government has lied about the health of children. The blame is being laid solely at the feet of adoption agencies.

It has taken me a few days to confirm this, but any one planning to adopt a child from Kazakhstan should be aware that there is an unofficial policy to give foreigners only children that are disabled in some way. I have confirmed this with a friend who works in the government. The idea is that such children will have a better life in the West than they will in Kazakhstan. This attitude is not uncommon in the former USSR either. So know that there is a good chance that if you are adopting a kid from Kazakhstan, he or she is mentally or physically handicapped.

Hopefully of course, orphanages and agencies are 100% honest and forthcoming if they are proposing to let someone adopt a disabled child, but forewarned is forearmed.