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As I've mentioned before, there are many international adoption clinics located in major hospitals (often university-affiliated hospitals) throughout the US. These clinics are excellent resources for both adoptive parents and children. They focus on a wide variety of frequently-encountered issues, such as FAS/FAE, RAD, and of course, all kinds of physical concerns, and can refer parents to additional specialized care and treatment for their children.
There are also hospitals which specialize in children's critical and rare disorder care, such as the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which has recently helped a number of newly-internationally adopted children battle refeeding syndrome, and which also specializes in treating children with arthrogryposis, a congenital condition in which joints are tightly fixed and cannot be moved through a normal range of motion (treatment includes surgery and bracing). Shriners' Hospitals for Children also specialize in correcting congenital problems such as cleft lip and cleft palate, along with other disorders, and many children whose families adopted them internationally have benefitted by such treatment.
Refeeding syndrome is the same thing which killed many concentration camp survivors at the close of WWII, when their rescuers offered them food. Their starved bodies went into shock...the same danger faced by the severely neglected, tiny and emaciated children emerging from some of the worst institutions in eastern Europe within the last couple of years. Thankfully, one of the worst of such places now has a new administrator, and things are far, far better, thanks to an adoptive family who went public - both here and in their daughter's native country - about the corruption and abusive neglect which led to the deaths of 18 children within one year, in that one institution.
Help is available for any adoptive parent who seeks it in this country.
For now. The old director won a case to get re-instated.
In reference to the tentative and fragile state of affairs at the "bad place" (which I hope will not be named here for fear of further endangering the sitution - however, it is not in Russia, but is in a country which was part of the former Soviet Bloc), an experienced mother is currrently in country on her first visit with her young son, whose condition has improved drastically since the new director has taken office. She is blogging very carefully about the present situation, but her accounts are encouraging.
Much work is still needed, as the situation was so overwhelming, but the current director is caring, honest, and willing to accept help, and the children who were starved and neglected are slowly improving. Many were immediately taken to a state-of-the-art hospital (owned and operated by another country) in the capital city as soon as the present director took over, and were treated for refeeding syndrome, dehydration, and related conditions, which no doubt saved many of their lives. Many so-called "caregivers" who were responsible for the daily care of these children have been fired by the new director, and new caregivers have been hired who are doing their best. Additional funding for diapers and specialized baby food has been donated by various individuals and NGOs, and this time, it is reaching the children. In addition, those experienced and educated in physical therapy and other therapies for children with disabilities have visited this place, and have worked with caregivers to help them learn more about appropriate care of the children.
The old director won the right to appeal only - and it's very unlikely that she will ever regain her old office, I think, given the extensive in-country press coverage of the horrible abuse which occurred during her former reign (the story also received substantial coverage in the American and British presses). I surely hope and pray this will be the case - not only should this individual never work with children again, but she should also be prosecuted for her crimes and if found guilty (a no-brainer), given a life sentence for these evils, made to refund the money she stole from disabled children, and fined heavily, with the fines going towards the care of the children. That's if I were in charge of this - I have no idea what the actual penalties may be for such crimes in this particular country. However, my main concern is that the present director is left in place and give all the support she needs to continue to make the much-needed changes she is introducing. Children's lives depend on it.
Last edited by CraigCreek; 01-11-2013 at 09:53 AM..
I would call it "qualified" good news. It is good news for people in the middle of an adoption.
However, I would not encourage any American parents to begin an adoption in Russia at this time. Some agencies will tell parents that they have "sway in a particular Oblast", and that they; and their connections there, can help the adoption to move more swiftly.
It is also not good news for several other groups - the children who sit in Russian orphanages and will never have families, prospective adoptive parents who have their hearts set on Russia, and prospective adoptive parents who only wanted to adopt a European infant, or very young baby. To my knowledge, Russia was the only place that this could be done.
Things are still in flux, clearly - one of the few clear things about this! - but I so hope that kids with special needs will still allowed to be adopted by Americans. Otherwise, their futures are dire, indeed...
I find the comments to that article more interesting and enlightening. Not much outrage in the article about the role congress played in this by interfering in another country's internal affairs (once again) by freezing the assets of 60 Russian officials without trial or proving their guilt in their perceived role in the death of one lawyer in prison - if that indeed is the reason for the ban.
However, I have heard talk of this ban months ago in Russian media, I am not 100% convinced this is really in response to Magnitsky act, as it is being shown. The fact that this is scoring political points against Putin, who the American media loves to bash, makes me wonder if there is more to the story.
To play devils advocate, not being able to follow up on adoptions (allowed in other countries) was one of the reasons stated for the ban.
Even though I would hope the ban would be overturned, I don't think I like how the American media is using this to fuel anti-Russian (government) sentiment. Because of America's plans to put a missile defense system on the Russian border, and their endeavors near Russian borders in pursuit of natural resources I guess I question the motives of American government and the media.
1. You don't prove mafia's guilt ( which Putin's establishment is) in mafia's court.
The US government are not fools, they've had enough of evidence that Magnitsky has been murdered.
2. The ban on American adoptions is indeed a direct response to Magnitsky act ( in fact Wikipedia dubbed "Dima Yakovlev law" as Anti-Magnitsky law). Not only that, it's only one part of the whole Act that consists of four parts. * The other three parts of this new law are mostly directed on suppression of internal opposition, that Putin's government is trying to link directly to the US.)
Here is the whole Act ( Dima Yakovlev law) in Russian, with all four parts of it.
Americans can have all the flaws in the world for what I care, but it's really NOT about America. ( After all the adoption of roughly 1000 Russian children per year is a drop in the bucket for 740,000 children living in Russian orphanages.) It's all about Putin, his impotence in politics ( no real leverage on geopolitical scene, as much as he huffs and puffs, hence he makes children ( orphans for Christ's sake!) his political weapon. And it brings the light on how the country ( that has been awashed with oil money for the last 10 years ) is managing these money and how it treats its citizens. (We are talking children here, forget about the murder of the innocent man in prison who dared to expose corruption in Russian government.) So Putin's dirty laundry is for everyone to see - I'm quite happy about it.
I would call it "qualified" good news. It is good news for people in the middle of an adoption.
However, I would not encourage any American parents to begin an adoption in Russia at this time. Some agencies will tell parents that they have "sway in a particular Oblast", and that they; and their connections there, can help the adoption to move more swiftly.
It is also not good news for several other groups - the children who sit in Russian orphanages and will never have families, prospective adoptive parents who have their hearts set on Russia, and prospective adoptive parents who only wanted to adopt a European infant, or very young baby. To my knowledge, Russia was the only place that this could be done.
Those who are in process have the following as the latest news: only those who have passed court will be able to bring the kids home. Those who have already met the kids but not passed court, will not get to bring the kids home. Imagine how confusing that is for the poor little kids.
Bless the good people of Russia who are speaking out against this travesty! Of course, the Russian government is downplaying the numbers of those involved in the march in Moscow as well as the sincerity and motivation of the marchers, but the western press reports that around 40,000 people turned out.
The temperature was around 10F at the time of the march, but the warm hearts of the marchers prevailed. Would that similar warm hearts were found in the Duma, and in Russia's president...
Bless the good people of Russia who are speaking out against this travesty! Of course, the Russian government is downplaying the numbers of those involved in the march in Moscow as well as the sincerity and motivation of the marchers, but the western press reports that around 40,000 people turned out.
The temperature was around 10F at the time of the march, but the warm hearts of the marchers prevailed. Would that similar warm hearts were found in the Duma, and in Russia's president...
Just saw the posts of people who took part in the event.
Their estimates are the same - close to 40,000.
Not bad for a cold day.
PS. Russian president and Duma are something else...(*sigh*)
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Russia trying to reassure some US adoptive parents
