How You Can Help Keep the Kids Coming Home

In my previous post, I reported on the revocation of three Permits for Adoption Activity by the Russian Federal Ministry of Education & Science (MoE). It all seems a bit distant, kind of like an earthquake in a faraway land, unless you are one of the families currently in process with one of these agencies. Many of you who are in process with a different agency, or already home, are probably breathing a sigh of relief that your adoption was not affected.

The truth is, this could have happened to almost any adoption agency holding a Russian permit. And it still can. All adoption agencies working under a Russian permit, and all adoptive parents who adopted their children in Russia should take note of what happened and understand that they have important responsibilities.

What happened to Nightlight Christian Adoptions last month is summarized in a post on their website's news section. According to that post, they were late in reporting to the Russian MoE about the re-placement of a child who had been originally adopted by one of their families. While the circumstances that caused the late filing are unclear from the post, it is clear that they were trying to do the right thing by reporting the re-placement. The Russian authorities apparently cared more that the filing was late, and revoked the permit on those grounds.

The simple fact is that the changes to the rules enacted by the Russian Government in April make every agency's permit precarious. Each agency holding a Russian Permit for Adoption Activity must report to the MoE within 5 days when any of the following events involving a Russian child adopted through that agency occur:

• Death (for any reason)
• Violent Injury
• Abuse
• Disruption
• Alternative placement
• Failure of the child's adaptation to the adoptive family
• Any other event that causes harm to the life or health of the adopted child

Failure by an agency to make even one of these required reports within 5 days after it happens clearly results in the revocation of that agency's permit. Five days, in reality, is a very short window. This is especially true if the placing agency holding the permit is not the agency doing the home study and post-placement reports.

While the pressure from the MoE is on the agency holding the permit, all post-adoptive parents have a clear responsibility here as well. The loss of an agency's permit very likely means that fewer Russian children will come home via International Adoption. As a post-adoptive parent of a Russian-born child, you can help your placing agency keep its permit by calling them immediately whenever you know of one of the events listed above, especially if it involves your child. Don't wait for your scheduled post-placement report.

Even if you aren't happy with your placing agency, think of the children who will lose out on a chance for a family, and think of the families who are waiting to bring those children home. They are depending on you to be proactive. Please help them!