Russia has 130,000 orphaned children. The domestic adoptions last year numbered about 70,000. In 2014, the number of orphans in institutional care should go down to 30,000.
Russia’s adoption support programme is likely to cost some 40bln roubles a year. Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets gave the figures to President Putin at a meeting in Moscow Wednesday. He said adoption at home must go way before foreign adoption of Russian orphans. In December, the President signed a decree to encourage adoption of Russian orphans by Russian couples. US Ambassador not to discuss orphans in Duma, The US Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul will not come to Russia’s State Duma where he was invited to discuss the situation with Russian orphans abused in the US, the Embassy told reporters Wednesday. Moscow to probe same-sex US adoption of Russian kid, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and investigators will probe a same-sex US adoption of Russian orphan Egor Shatabalov, Russia’s human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov said Wednesday. In 2007, a court in Russia’s Kemerovo ruled to give the child to Marcia Ann Brandt of the US who at that time lived in the same-sex marriage with Beth Chapman but concealed the fact. Russia believes this could psychologically damage the boy as well as violates Russia’s Family Code which defines a family as a marriage between a man and a woman. US has worst adoption record from Russia - Astakhov, Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov has said the United States has shown the highest rate of abuse against adopted Russian orphans. “No other country has recorded so many cases of deaths and violence against our children,” Mr. Astakhov said Wednesday in response to a question from an American journalist. The ombudsman added the rate of Russian children given up for adoption by Americans has approached that of Italy, France and Spain, but none of the latter has shown so much reluctance in tightening control and providing information about the foster children. Russian social care moves to repatriate orphaned Maxim Kuzmin’s brother, Social care officials from Russia’s Pskov region have moved to repeal the adoption of Kirill Kuzmin, the younger brother of the murdered Maxim Kuzmin, who died while living with an American foster family in the United States. They said there were sufficient legal grounds to take the boy from his American adoptive parents, citing charges of child abuse, among others. According to the plaintiffs, death of one of the siblings meant that his living brother could be repatriated. Voice of Russia, RIA, TASS, Source: Voice of Russia
