tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-762306601925200499.post3686437909874481454..comments2023-10-22T09:31:01.841-04:00Comments on Bear in a Hat: A blog from Stetson's Program in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies: Problems with Russian AdoptionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-762306601925200499.post-72113441168001926462007-09-18T14:02:00.000-04:002007-09-18T14:02:00.000-04:00ali,very interesting. i was just talking with a co...ali,<BR/>very interesting. i was just talking with a colleague whose neices were adopted from russia and we talked about this case. i couldn't remember the facts (no surprise), and i had wanted to reread some articles on this matthey case. you saved me the trouble.<BR/><BR/>the russian outrage is (maybe) understandable. for one thing, they're faced with an unprecedented depopulation problem, and the idea of hundreds of thousands of russians being "sold" to americans (which is, lamentably, how russians often see adoption) clearly must exacerbate the tensions. that said, i visited интернаты (orphanages) in the early 1990s, and saw the conditions there... pitiful, chilling, depressing. (the workers and admins were decent human beings, but they were given literally pennies a day to care for way too many wards.) and, as you remark, the russians simply DO NOT adopt. i've never met an adopted russian, or russians who have adopted, or even anyone who KNOWS any russians who have adopted. i'm sure they exist, but it's not like here in the USA where adoption is commonplace: i have two close family members who were adopted; my next-door neighbors' daughters both adopted children from ethiopia, my son's best friend is an adopted russian, etc. -- it's just plain common here, while elsewhere, all over europe, it's not common. <BR/><BR/>i don't see how any action to decrease the number of adoptions out of russia is in the children's best interest. and there, i think, ends the debate.Dr. Michael A. Dennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11819044743233411709noreply@blogger.com