The Current State on Russian Orphans Essay

I decided on adoption as my topic because it’s a topic that’s very close to me. Being adopted, this research paper gave me the perfect opportunity to learn about the sociological effects adoption has on children and their adoptive/birth parents. The problem is, there is not enough adoptive parents for the parentless children. This is because regulations

Whether the child was just about to come home into a loving and caring family, or has just been chosen by a family to come into, the government just decided to slash all of that. Apparently the Russian government likes to hide the facts and just throw out figures when talking about sensitive topics like this: “more than 60,000 U.S. adoptions of Russian children over the past 20 years, and 19 of those children died -- a death rate of roughly 0.03 percent,” and with that being said, they also skipped over the fact that “Russia's overall child death rate from parents is more than two times higher, given that the U.S. population is more than twice as large as Russia's” (Baitel). What makes this claim even more unbelievable is that my parents had to go through that long process full of documentation, background checks, and frequent unannounced visits to our house to make sure the living environment was safe enough. So let me pose this question: Why ban a country that requires these checks from adopting children and giving them a healthy, clean, and safe environment to thrive in? Because seven times out of ten (from my own observations), a child adopted into a Russian family will end up on the streets by the age of sixteen. In the United States that is nearly impossible considering the adoption agencies here require

The National Children 's Alliance reported that the number of unique cases of abused and neglected children in the United States stands at an annual rate of 700,000 and rising (as cited in ?U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,? 2016, p. ii). Sadly, this means that more than 1,900 new children become victims of abuse and neglect with each passing day. Neglect was the type of

In fact research proves “In the last decade, in the Unites States alone, the number of adopted children by U.S families from other countries has increased from 7,000 to 17,000” (Bio-Medicine 1). The significant change in number shows how many children are neglected to this day. Child neglect has been around way too long in this

One of the thousands of injustices of this world is the mishandling of orphaned children. Every 30 seconds 2 children become orphans and there are more than 100 million orphans worldwide. An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans. It takes a tremendous amount of knowledge from different academic fields in order to

Since the 1950s, the United States and other countries started a new way in the de-institutionalize the care of vulnerable children which is, close down orphanages in favour of substitute care and accelerated adoption. Besides, western countries started to give up their children without placing them for adoption, and thus, the need to operate large orphanages has decreased. These issues have resulted in a dramatic reduction of local orphans available for adoption, requiring many adoptive parents to orphanages in the Third World.

Ion Iliescu, former president of Romania created this law thinking that it is better for the children to be in state run orphanages, foster homes or to be adopted domestically. One thing I’m sure he didn’t take into consideration is the fact that most abandoned children are gypsies, most Romanian’s will not adopt a gypsy child. This means that until they open adoption internationally again, many children will not be getting the loving homes they deserve. It’s a shame because there are so many people who want to adopt from there and can give those children a better home than they could ever imagine in Romania.

Since 1980, the United States has offered adoption subsidies to significantly lower the cost of adopting a child in the foster care system. These subsidies are a form of economic incentive and can cover legal, medical, and educational expenses. This system was put in place to increase the adoption of children in the foster care system (Argys). The federal government’s intention behind these cash incentives is to move children through the foster care system and into permanent homes. The number of annual adoptions nationally almost doubled from 1995 to 2001 (Kaufman). For International adoptions, the government will reimburse adoptive parents for travel costs, lodging, food, and transportation while in the foreign country. Many countries require

In addition, about 16% of the children suffered from physical abuse, while 9% of the children suffered from sexual abuse”. The amount of children being abused and neglected does not stop there; “7% of children suffered from psychological maltreatment, 2% experienced medical neglect while 9% of children suffered from other forms of maltreatments” (CAPTA, 2010).

In the nineteenth century, although society became a bit harsher on those who abused or neglected children and child welfare organizations mushroomed, child abuse and neglect were still not considered crimes (Hirschy, & Wilkinson, 2012). However, all through the twentieth century, the social perceptions of child abuse and neglect have shifted a great deal from something that was totally unacceptable to a demeanor that can no longer be allowed both in legal and social circles. But the criminalization of child abuse and neglect was only one step towards overall child wellbeing. There is still much more to be done to ensure that child maltreatment has been eradicated.

Adopting children from other countries like Russia isn’t and will never be easy because of costs and sometimes the country itself doesn’t want to allow you to adopt an orphan. Russia banned America from adopting Russian children because of money. Russia did this because they didn’t

Many children in orphanages from Iraq have experienced traumatic events throughout their life. When adopting children from a war-torn country, a parent has to take into account that the child may have been abused, neglected or experienced a violent act such as murder. In the article by Richard Engel, he talks about three young girl who witnessed their parents murder in their home. This experience has left the girls lonely, afraid when they hear gun shots, and are forced to mature quickly. Another article by Alfonso Serrano discussed how an orphanage in Baghdad was starving and severely neglecting the special needs boys that were housed there. The U.S. military found the orphanage where boys were left in their own urine and feces on concrete when the temperatures were around 100 degrees every day. The boys were covered in flies

There is no place in the world that is without children who are in need of assistance, whether they be adoption or not. In China any child that is abandoned or lost is considered an orphan (Andrew 124). In Russia nearly every mentally or physically handicapped child is sent to “baby homes”, an orphanage for newborns to three year olds (Characteristics of Children). In Guatemala political, social, and economical forces have prevented many biological parents to care for their children (Yemm). Everywhere the predicament of children, who have no control over their own lives, has been brought to many figures of authority to plead their cause. The United States has a particularly strong bond with China, when it comes to adoption. This is because

Many people believe that international adoptions are a positive thing, and help provide a brighter future for the children they adopt. However, many countries have strict laws on international adoptions. The article Home Alone ventures to say that, "poor countries should fix their adoption systems so that, once domestic possibilities have been exhausted, foreigners can step in" (Home Alone). International adoptions can sometimes be tricky. Many countries have constantly changing laws on international adoption. "Adoption laws change from year to year, and from country to country. Changes in intercountry adoption bans and regulations in different countries may cause unexpected challenges for prospective international adoptive parents." (Child Welfare Information Gateway). Often times many international adoptions can become corrupt. Children are sometimes smuggled across borders. "If the children travel through an official border the adult who accompanies them needs to have paperwork, but in its absence a bit of money in an envelope does the trick"

First, let us begin with how each country views raising their children. In the US we attempt to raise our children by ourselves with only occasional help from our parents but basically making it up along the way. In Russia, it couldn't be more opposite. As Gorman states in "How to Parent Like a Russian", that it "takes a village to raise a child". By saying this she is referring the everyone being involved in shaping the child's life. The grandmothers or "babushka" will immediately tell you if she doesn't approve of what your child is wearing or doing. This practice is normal since Russia has remained traditional in their child-raising styles. This meaning you raise your children just the way your mother raised you and so on because that is how it is and how it will remain.