Newsletter #152 for Internationally Adopting Parents
August 10, 2011
PAL Center Inc.

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AGREEMENT
Between the RF and the USA Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children

On July 13 the AGREEMENT was signed in Washington by the appropriate authorities from both countries. The text of the AGREEMENT can be found on our site at http://www.adoptionarticlesdirectory.com/agreement.htm.

There was a lot of speculation and even direct misrepresentation in the press and on the Internet of what is going to happen according to this AGREEMENT, so I would like to comment on several important points which are and are not in the AGREEMENT.

According to ARTICLE 4, all adoptions are to be conducted from now on only through the adoption agencies licensed by the Russian government: no so-called "independent" adoptions are permitted. This is a very positive step because a lot of corruption and abuse was associated with the "freelance adoption facilitators".

ARTICLE 5 confirms and details the process of post-adoption reporting about the "living conditions and upbringing of the adopted child, which contain reliable information about his or her psychological and physical development and adaptation to his or her new family and social environments in the period after the adoption and other information about the adopted child, in accordance with the domestic laws of the Country of Origin."

I think that ARTICLE 10 of the AGREEMENT is exceptionally important. It clearly states that the donor country must provide the appropriate social, developmental, medical and psycho-educational information about the child considered for adoption, including:

• All available information on the social situation of the child, and his or her medical history, and also, if available, all information about the social situation and health of all the child's family members (the Country of Origin shall take all possible measures to ensure access to such information);"
• A description of any special needs of the child (defined as needs for accommodations, care or medical assistance related to special or disabling physical, mental or emotional conditions);"
• A detailed medical conclusion about the child's current state of health, including the results of a medical evaluation conducted by independent experts, if such an evaluation has been conducted at the initiative of the prospective adoptive parents;"

In plain English this means that now the adoptive parent may request and demand, not beg for, all known information about the prospective son or daughter. In practice, the adoption agencies ought to create a list of mandatory documents to be obtained from the Russian local authority.

The same article spells out the requirements for adoptive parents' preparedness: the prospective parents have to be able to confirm that they "have received information and undergone all required psycho-social preparation with the assistance of the Authorized Organization or the Competent Authority…"

It is significant that nowhere in this AGREEMENT can one find the request for psychological testing of adoptive parents. Indeed, there is no such requirement, in spite of the active preliminary discussions of introducing one. The AGREEMENT confirms that the only legal document that verifies the "fit-to-adopt" status of the prospective adoptive parents is the Home Study procedure. Vladimir L. Kabanov, the Head of the Section of Orphan's Protection, Ministry of Education and Science, Moscow, RF personally confirmed, by e-mail and telephone conference, that no psychological testing of parents is required by the Russian Authority. Thus, any psychological testing taking place now is the initiative of local districts of the country of origin or local American adoption agencies - an extra and unnecessary expense for adoptive parents.

ARTICLE 14 of the AGREEMENT spells out the "dissolution" procedure - disruption of the adoption and placement of the child with another family or a return to the Country of Origin:

• With the goal of ensuring the protection of the rights and best interests of the child and creating favorable conditions for his or her harmonious development following the dissolution of an adoption, in the Receiving Country measures are taken to place the child with another family that is appropriate for adopting this child."
• In the event that the Executive Bodies of the Parties become aware that in the best interests of the child it is essential to provide for the return of the child to the Country of Origin, the Executive Bodies of the Parties shall consult regarding such return and reimbursement of expenses associated therewith".

Now the Russian authorities will be closely involved with this process from the early stages. In general, the AGREEMENT is certainly a positive step on the way to finding orphaned children the right home in America.

B. Gindis, Ph.D.

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