On December 28th, Russian President Putin banned the adoption of Russian orphans by Americans. This new ban has been named the Dmitry Yakovlev Law. With over 700,000 orphans living in Russia, one would think that foreign adoption would be an excellent idea for both America and Russia. In fact, over 70,000 Russian orphans have been adopted by Americans.Russia's orphans are horribly neglected and mishandled by caretakers in their orphanages, and without parents their futures are bleak. So why not allow American parents to adopt these children and give them a better life? Russia's excuse is that American parents abuse, manipulate, and even kill their adopted children. While there have been freak cases of mistreatment to Russian orphans, these cases are not the norm. The real reason Russia's government made this ban was to combat American foreign policy. It has no legitimate concern for Russia's orphans and is wrong.
Dmitry Yakovlev was a Russian adoptee who had been accidentally killed by his father when he was left in a car for nine hours. Miles Harrison, Dmitry's father, had forgotten to drop his child off at day care, leaving him in a parking lot while he was at work. Harrison was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter for his hideous mistake, but the Russian court of opinion was much harsher. Public outrage started in 2005 "by the deaths of two Russian-born children after severe abuse at the hands of adoptive parents," both of which were convicted, as well as another case in which "a Pennsylvania man was convicted of sexually abusing a girl he had adopted from Russia" exploded following Dmitry's death in 2009, with some Russians wanting to cease American adoption already.
But why not ban adoption in 2009? The Dmitry Yakovlev Law is more like Russia's retaliation to America's Magnitsky Act, a bill that bars Russians allegedly involved in the detainment and murder of a lawyer. Putin's reaction to the bill was so severe that he severely bashed America's own justice system, pointing out the flaws of Guantanamo Bay (regardless of Russia's own flawed prisons) and describing the change in US-Russia relations as "at stake." Magnitsky was a lawyer who believed he uncovered "a web of corruption involving tax officials" who was imprisoned and abused for almost a year, dying in 2009. Both Magnitsky and Yakovlev died in 2009, with bills named after them being passed in 2012. Both bills restrict foreign access to the country. However, the Magnitsky Act was passed first. The Dmitry Yakovlev Law was created after Putin's sour response to the Magnitsky Act and seems impulsive. It is a rash law that will only hurt Russia, as its orphans will stay, albeit mistreated and unhappy. Russian adoptions by American parents was a mutual relationship between the two nations and it's a shame that Russia will take it away to display disgust about a different issue.
What do you think? Please comment!
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