Homes for the Orphans

A new law on adoption has already passed its first reading in the Duma. The second reading is expected in the immediate future. This is an event of some importance in a country where more than 100,000 children are currently living in orphanages.


The most important innovation of the proposed law is that it will lift the decades-old restriction on adopting children with health problems. Until now, any physical or psychological defect meant that a child had no hope of ever finding a real home.


This law, however, is not the only reason why Russia now has long lines of people wanting to adopt children and crowds of children languishing in orphanages and institutions. Another factor is the strong desire on the part of most adopting parents to find a child who, at least to some extent, resembles them physically so that the adoption can remain a secret. In addition -- and even more importantly -- potential parents, in these difficult times, naturally prefer to adopt completely healthy children. Who, for example, is going to adopt a child with a learning disorder when there is only one appropriate school for such a child in their entire region? Who is going to adopt a sick child when the only place for the proper treatment is a single hospital in Moscow or when the necessary medications, if they are available at all, are insanely expensive?


Yet another problem is that the overwhelming majority of children in Russian orphanages are not really orphans. They have mothers and fathers who have lost their parental rights, usually as a result of alcoholism, drug addiction, a long prison term or an inappropriate lifestyle. Naturally, the children of these alcoholic mothers often have serious health and personality problems.


For all these reasons, changing the law on adopting unhealthy children will not significantly change the country's tragic situation.


But these circumstances, which are so daunting to Russians, do not frighten foreigners. Until recently, they have been allowed to adopt and take abroad only sick children. The amazing thing is that even severe physical handicaps do not deter these people. Recently, for example, an American couple made news by adopting a child from the Amur district who has no arms.


The immorality of these restrictions, though, is clear. The current law is designed to help the state rid itself of children who may become a burden for society when they become adults. We can only be glad that, if the new law is adopted, foreigners will be able to adopt any child for whom a Russian family has not been found after six months. This change could potentially make a real difference for the thousands who are now condemned to sit in orphanages. However, unfortunately, the picture is not so encouraging.


The new law, while removing one crucial obstacle to would-be parents from foreign countries, also sets up new ones. The most daunting is that it will forbid any firm or agency, either Russian or foreign, from assisting people through the adoption process. This means that prospective parents must come here themselves, find out where children can be found, travel there and choose a child, and wade through all the formalities themselves. This process may well take months. In practical terms, only independently wealthy people would be able even to try to run this gauntlet.


Moreover, at the urging of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the new law makes it illegal to accept any payment whatsoever for any of the services connected with adoption. Until recently, the agency Children's Rights, for example, has charged $1,000 per adoption, using the money to pay for travel expenses, photographing and documenting the child, translating the documents, paying visa fees and paying expenses associated with accompanying the child abroad when prospective parents are unable to come to Russia. Agency officials say that as little as $30 per adoption remains to cover costs such as wages, rent and utilities. Nonetheless, the agency constantly finds itself accused of "selling babies."


The fact that, thanks to this agency, 162 children found good homes in 1993 alone (Russian families could be found for only five of them) seems to make no difference.


It is perfectly obvious that shutting down agencies such as Children's Rights will catastrophically worsen the situation of Russia's orphans. Their already slim chances of one day living in a normal home will virtually disappear. On the other hand, bureaucrats and orphanage officials will find it far easier to enrich themselves by "helping" prospective parents get their child faster. One can even speculate that the desire to funnel the money away from agencies and into the pockets of bureaucrats is one of the factors behind this change in the law.


Another important fact is that orphanages have very high financial and social costs. For one thing, they often have as many employees as wards. And the results they achieve are pathetic. At the age of 15, children are released without supervision and, as a rule, they simply follow in the footsteps of their parents. Girls often become mothers within a year and find themselves bringing their babies to the same institutions where they grew up. I know one girl whose mother, grandmother and great grandmother all were raised in orphanages and all of them gave birth before the age of 17. An alarming number of boys find themselves quickly in prison.


Finally, the fact that so many thousands of children are in institutions during relatively normal, peacetime conditions is a national shame. If Russia is unable to cope with the problem itself, it is morally obligated to seek outside help. This is in the best interests of the state, the society and, of course, the children, each of whom has the right to grow up in a normal, loving family.


Irina Ovchinnikova is a reporter for Izvestia. She contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.