Russia plans to increase control over foreign adoptions

The government has approved draft legislation removing what officials call a legal loophole that allows so-called "independent adoptions," and hopes it will be passed by parliament in 2006, RIA-Novosti and ITAR-Tass quoted the director of the Education Ministry department responsible for adoption, Sergei Apatenko, as saying.

Apatenko also said that adoptions by foreigners declined sharply last year, and that adoptions by Russians increased, according to the reports - shifts that came amid a government campaign to promote domestic adoptions, the AP reports.

Russians have been disturbed by the sometimes deadly abuse of Russian children adopted by foreigners - mostly Americans. Apatenko said that most abused children were adopted by parents who bypassed accredited agencies, using unaccredited organizations or adopting children from orphanages without middlemen.

Accredited agencies must inform the authorities about the conditions in which children will be raised abroad, he said.

Cases of abuse of Russian children adopted by foreigners are rare, but have been given high-profile coverage in state-controlled media and led to calls by lawmakers to suspend adoptions by Americans. The Education Ministry said last July that 11 Russian children adopted by U.S. families had suffered violent deaths since 1991.

Apatenko said that in the past year there were 13 cases of abuse of Russian children adopted by foreigners, but added that the figure was at least as high for children adopted domestically, ITAR-Tass reported. He said the law banning "independent adoptions" would apply to Russian parents as well as foreigners.

Children's advocacy organizations have concurred with the government that measures should be taken to try to ensure that adopted children will not be abused, but also warn that if controls are too tight more children will be doomed to remain in orphanages, where care is often inadequate.

According to ITAR-Tass, Apatenko said that some 7,500 Russian children were adopted by Russians last year, up 7 percent over 2004, while foreigners adopted 6,900 Russian children - a 26 percent decrease from 2004. The reports gave no reason for the changes, but Apatenko said 10 foreign agencies involved in adoption in Russia had been stripped of accreditation in Russia since November.

The Education Ministry launched a Web site last year to promote domestic adoptions, and ITAR-Tass quoted Apatenko as saying: "We are counting on the Russian adoptive parent now."

Russians rarely adopt because of a social stigma and financial concerns, and Filippova said they are particularly averse to adopting children who are more than 2 years old, sick or disabled or who come from ethnic minorities. She said that 7,500 is a small number compared to the roughly 120,000 who are registered as orphans every year, and urged the government to do more to provide for families of adopted children and to develop a foster care system.

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