Russia is closing adoptions to the US

Once our eyes are opened we can’t pretend we don’t know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows that we know and holds us responsible to act.  ~ Prov. 24:12

For 11 years, I was an only child. I remember when I was younger, every time one of my friends told me that their mom was pregnant again I would be crushed. Eventually, instead of just me praying for a baby brother or sister, I started asking my friends to pray too because I thought maybe God would answer their prayers instead.

When I was 11 my parents began pursuing Russian adoption. In March of 1995 I went with my parents to Russia to pick up my sister. What I was about to experience would change my life.

As soon as the plan landed in St. Petersburg, I knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. In fact, I told my parents I wanted to go home. The airport was dark and dirty and nothing like home. In fact, pretty much all of St. Petersburg was dirty and run down.

The country had just come out of communism and the economy was very depressed. The orphanage that my sister was at was funded by adoption agencies in the United States. Although the orphanage was clean, it was by no means fancy. It was actually pretty bare bones. The children drank tea and watered down coffee because milk is a commodity. They were fed with a serving spoon so that they could eat more faster because there were so many other children that needed to be fed. When we passed out Matchbox cars to children we saw playing on the playground (which was more like a swing and a slide) they lit up like American children on Christmas morning.

In Russia, until children are 4 they are housed in what they call a Baby Home. This is where my sister was. After the children turn 4 they are moved to the state orphanage where the conditions deteriorate substantially and the children’s chances of being adopted is about zero.

If the child has any sort of disability, the situation is even more grim. There is no place for children with special needs. These children are often sent to adult mental institutions between the ages of 4 and 6, where they will be starved, neglected, and left to sit in their own filth.

None of these children, disabled or not, receive the one-on-one attention that babies need. They aren’t developing social skills or the ability to bond. In fact, after we brought my sister home she never cried unless something was really wrong — all because she had learned that if she cried no one would come, so why bother?

When children age out of the orphanage, usually around age 15, all that awaits them is a life of prostitution, drugs, and organized crime. They are turned out on the street with a little bit of money, 2 changes of clothes, and your toothbrush. They have no friends, nowhere to go, and even worse they are not able to get much in the way of public assistance because any paperwork they have is marked “ORPHAN”.

Now, supposedly in retaliation for a US sanction that was put on Russian officials who are accused of human rights violations, Russia has closed adoptions to the United States. The United States punishes human rights offenders and Russia punishes innocent children. Children, who if they aren’t adopted, face such a bleak future. Let’s face it, must Russians aren’t in a position to adopt. Russia leads the developed world in abortions already, what makes the government think that families are going to take on more children.

When I think of these children, children like my sister, who are left in the country without hope and without a future it absolutely breaks my heart. Now, even United States aid agencies will not be allowed to work in Russia and provide assistance to these children.

I am praying that God will soften Putin’s heart and that he will allow adoptions to resume. Even more heartbreaking is that there are families who were in the process of adopting children, children that they had already met and bonded with, who are now unable to get the children out of the country. These are couples who may not get the chance to be parents and there are children (like I used to be) who may not get the chance to be brothers or sisters.

I will continue to pray for these poor children and pray that God watches over them. These children are such blessings. I would know, because my sister is one of them.

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