Posted on 04/12/2010 2:03:53 PM PDT by Big Bureaucracy
Russian media has gone wild over the case of the 7-year-old that was sent back to Russia by American adoptive parents. It is a perfect example of the ex-communist tendency to project the misbehavior of the one individual on the whole society. The collectivist mentality of the Russians makes them blame the USA as a whole for the incident – not just the individual who committed the crime.
This bulling has to stop. If we play the game the way Russians do, we should remind the world of the horrible way Russians treat orphaned and abandoned children. Especially the kids with disabilities. In the Human Rights Watch report by the name “Abandoned to the State” we read the following about the care Russian give to little kids unwanted by their parents:
The abuse in orphanages cannot simply be attributed to Russia's economic crisis," said Kathleen Hunt, author of the Human Rights Watch report. "The problem of scarce resources does not justify the appalling treatment children receive at the hands of the state.Beginning with infancy, orphans classified as disabled are segregated into "lying down" rooms of the nation's 252 "baby houses," where they are changed and fed but are bereft of stimulation and lacking in medical care. Those who are labeled retarded or "oligophrenic" (small-brained), face another grave and consequential violation of their rights around the age of four. At that time, a state commission diagnoses them as "ineducable," and warehouses them for life in "psycho-neurological internats." After this diagnosis, it is virtually impossible for an orphan to appeal the decision. According to official statistics, some 30,000 children are confined to these locked and isolated institutions, which are little better than prisons.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigbureaucracy.com ...
Americans simply want to adopt children, with Russia being a significant provider. Russia could decide to cease being a provider, which would be a blow to any number of American couples currently in the process of adopting. As such, no purpose is served by antagonizing Russia over this issue.
It's a sad situation. But regardless of the child's issues, I think reasonable person will agree that putting a child you legally adopted on a plane by himself to travel halfway around the world with a note saying “I don't want him,” after having had him for only seven months, is inappropriate. I think the world respects the United States State Department for acknowledging that more than it would belligerence over the indefensible act of a single citizen.
“The collectivist mentality of the Russians makes them blame the USA as a whole for the incident – not just the individual who committed the crime.”
The MSM is doing the same thing with the Tea Party.
Right now the Russian media is in full propaganda mode. I personally understand how for the Americans this is a non-issue. The Americans are above this pettiness - they have integrity. However - it is like refusing to understand that you are at war with the enemy when the enemy is at war with you. And Russia is no friend - only Obama believes that.
If it had been a Russian who adopted an American child only to dump him back in America, I suspect there would be a huge outcry to end adoptions to Russia.
The fact that the woman sent him to a man she knew nothing about for $200 is a very real concern. He could have been a child pornographer or a pedophile.
At least he was not on a flight from Poland.
Adopting a child is not like picking up a Washer and Dryer from Sears. Like marriage, it is a commitment, FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE.
It is my understanding that she paid someone from Russia to escort the child back. That person took the money and left a note on the boy. I could be mistaken, but it sounds a bit more reasonable. Did the Russians send him here the same way?
First, we're not actually at war with Russia. Second, we're not even at figurative war over this. We have significant issues with Russia, like all large, powerful nations have issues with each other, but this isn't one of them. Russia allows the United States to adopt its citizens; that is a courtesy. It is also a courtesy that any number of Russians are sensitive about, the same as we would be sensitive if we were to find ourselves in the position of offering up our children for international adoption to any significant degree. So of course the Russian news media is going to make hay with this.
We simply need to be mature about the whole thing. Acknowledge the inappropriateness of one American citizen's actions, stress the gratitude many American parents have to the Russian government for allowing international adoptions, and move on.
Exactly.
The woman had a very real responsibility to the child regardless of whether she was lied to by the adoption agency. Instead she chose to damage the child even more.
Russian media is state run. Let the mouthpiece of Putins one party system post all the fake outrage they want.
It is a corrupt system and some of the children are held in deplorable conditions. I have a friend whose family adopted an older girl from Russia. She was not an orphan. Her mother was an alcoholic and her grandmother took her to the orphanage and abandoned her. The family found out later that after the grandmother/mother approved of the adoption, they told this child that it was her job to go to America and send money back to them. The family that adopted her almost mentioned a few "payoffs" that they had to go through during the final adoption trip. Paperwork gets lost...you know the drill. I'm sure that's no surprise.
“It is my understanding that she paid someone from Russia to escort the child back. That person took the money and left a note on the boy. I could be mistaken, but it sounds a bit more reasonable. Did the Russians send him here the same way?”
Certainly not. For international adoptions, the parents have to complete voluminous paperwork, satisfy background examinations, then travel to the country in question to pick up the child, including appearance at a court where they are legally designated as the adoptive parents. The country of origin expect you to honor that obligation, and the degree to which you do so can directly impact the continued ability of other Americans to adopt in that nation. Presumably, the child would have also been brought over on a visa that made him a U.S. citizen upon entry. That is pretty standard practice.
You don’t get to just send them back with a note. In the eyes of the country of origin, that is illegal, insulting and immoral.
May be you are right - growing in the USSR I am biased. The propaganda that Russians are running with stopping all US adoptions for investigation seems like insult to me, but I admit I am overly sensitive on the issue.
I agree - what she did is horrible - it was an isolated incident - Russians are acting like it is Organized Crime in the USA.
Easy solution, have Obama fly back from Russia..
Adoption is a big cash income, the Russians are not going to give that up.
All they want is to make some PR points and unload what in the Deep South was known as “problem children”.
In commerce terms, the Russians who supplied a child with issues they knew were serious but failed to disclose were no different than any other merchant supplying known defective goods or services.
Fraud, improper enrichment, etc.
Since the little angel was reported to have tried to set the house on fire and also made contant death threats, then what was she to do?
Let him kill them or send him away. She wasn’t getting any help here in the US.
Too many here jump on the media bandwagon without the facts and go with the flow.
According to news accounts, this little angel had planned to kill this woman's children and the final straw came when she found him setting a fire in his room, intending to burn down the house. Now, would you be inclined to keep this child? How about looking into the future when this psychopath is a full grown man? Still interested?
We’re all sitting here at our keyboards making judgments with limited information. If the kid was behaving in a criminal manner, then she was right to get him out of her home and protect the kids that were there already. But he’s not a dog you get from the pound and when you find out he bites, send him back. At the very least, taking him to the local social service department and describing his behavior and surrendering him to them would be a good start.
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