The following story was featured in our local newspaper this morning. I gave a phone interview with my thoughts.
Russian adoption ban stirs dismay in Palm Beach County, Nation
Sergio Vladimir in 2006 just after he was adopted from Russia by Rebecca Zerquera of Jupiter. (Rebecca Zerquera photo)
Sergio Vladimir is 7 in this 2012 photo. He was adopted from Russia in 2006 by Rebecca Zerquera of Jupiter. (Rebecca Zerquera photo)
By
Allison Ross
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Rebecca Zerquera and her husband, Sergio, fell in love with their son the first time they met him at a hospital in Russia in 2006.
The Jupiter couple had to wait another six months to take their then-1-year-old boy home with them — a delay that seemed to drag on forever.
“We were on eggshells until we could finally get his visa and passport,” Zerquera said, tearing up a bit as she recalled how hard it was to think of her little boy, now named Sergio Vladimir, lying alone while they waited for clearance to take him.
She can’t imagine how much worse it must feel for the parents who, as they prepare to adopt their own children, are now being told they may not get a chance to do so.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill banning the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens. The ban, which will take effect Tuesday with the new year, will jeopardize the adoptions of more than 50 children who had been preparing to join American families and has sparked fierce reaction from adoptive parents throughout the U.S. — including Palm Beach County — who say the ban harms children just to make a political point.
Putin’s move, which deals a blow to U.S.-Russian diplomacy, is widely believed to be in retaliation against U.S. legislation called the Magnitsky Act that President Barack Obama signed into law this month. The act imposes sanctions against Russian human rights abusers.
“An (adoption) ban based on political or bureaucratic issues, it’s not right. That hurts the children,” said Lauren Feingold, a Palm Beach Gardens adoption attorney who herself adopted twins girls from Russia a decade ago. She said that sometimes a country has good reason to curtail international adoptions, but that children in orphanages should not be used as political pawns.
“Families put their hearts, souls, emotions, finances into these adoptions,” Feingold said, “and then all of a sudden this country issues this ban.”
On Friday, U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell issued a statement saying the department “deeply regrets” the Russian government’s “politically motivated decision” that will hurt the chances of adoption for Russian children in institutional care. He added that he hopes Russia will “allow those children who have already met and bonded with their future parents to finish the necessary legal procedures so that they can join their families.”
The State Department is still trying to get a handle on how the new law will affect pending adoptions by U.S. citizens, a department official said, speaking on background. Meanwhile, the department is encouraging families in the process of adopting a child from Russia to contact State Department officials about where they are in the process, the official said.
Nearly 1,000 Russian children were adopted by Americans in 2011, according to State Department figures. It’s unclear how many of them were adopted by Florida families, although Florida often ranks in the top five in the U.S. for international adoptions. For the past several years, Russia has been the third-highest adopting country for the U.S.
The Russian ban underscores the dangers of adopting a child internationally, said Alina Hernandez, a Vero Beach mother who has two children she adopted internationally — one from Russia — when they were babies.
She said she has watched over the years as various countries have opened or restricted international adoptions for a variety of reasons. She said one of the reasons she chose Russia when adopting her son was that, at the time, it was open and friendly to U.S. adoptions.
“These countries open and close depending on political conditions, who is in power, a number of things,” Hernandez said. “When we were adopting again, Russia was starting to slow down adoptions. You make a decision and say, do I go to this country and possibly get stuck in limbo?”
Hernandez said that the Russian government, by enacting the ban, appeases some Russians who don’t like seeing Russian babies taken to other countries. But she noted that Russians historically have been less enthusiastic about adopting children than most Western cultures. And she expressed concerns about the living conditions of Russian orphanages.
“The adoption community, we get crazy about this stuff. We’re very concerned about the kids. We know what it’s like. We’ve been over there,” she said. “You know this doesn’t do anything for the kids. But it’s a good political tool.”
Charlotte Danciu, a Delray Beach attorney who handles domestic adoptions, said she thinks the ban could help American children who need to be adopted.
“It’s certainly a positive thing for the children in the U.S. that need homes,” Danciu said. “And there are many who do.” She said that, many times, people choose international adoptions because they worry about an American parent trying to come back later and claim parental rights. But she said she’s never had that happen in her 28 years as an adoption attorney.
Zerquera, the Jupiter mother, said she thinks geography is irrelevant.
“A child in need, no matter where they are, is just that,” she said.
“That Russia is taking a political stand, they’re not thinking about human rights and what’s in the best interests for the children.”
Information from the Associated Press was included in this report.
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