US Same-Sex Couples To Be Banned from Adopting Russian Children

The Russian authorities have started to regulate the process of adoption of Russian orphans by US family couples. The director of the Department for Upbringing and Socialization of Children, Alyona Levitskaya, stated at a news conference that the talks with the USA pertaining to the bilateral agreement on adoption had entered their final stage. The document will come in legal effect until the end of this year.

Photo: US Same-Sex Couples To Be Banned from Adopting Russian Children

"The new agreement brings the US and Russian laws into harmony and accommodates differences," Levitskaya said.

Numerous moot questions have emerged during the talks, the official added. The Russian side in the negotiations had to take considerable efforts to establish its case and introduce amendments. It was especially hard to alter the regulations which would ban same-sex couples from adopting Russian children.

The USA legally allows same-sex families in several states, and such families are considered absolutely adequate there. Russian specialists are certain, though, that homosexual couples must not be allowed to adopt children from Russia. In Russia, there is no territory which legally allows same-sex marriage.

The Russian family law clearly defines a family couple as a voluntary union between a man and a woman.

Nearly all discrepancies between two legislations in the new agreement have been removed. The new document will also abolish the institution of independent adoptions. Now it will be impossible to adopt a child through mediators and lawyers. A US family couple will be able to adopt a Russian child only through authorized agencies - there are 40 of them in the new agreement.

Komsomolskaya Pravda