Posted on 04/18/2006 9:04:30 AM PDT by x5452
Apr 18 2006 1:45PM Twelve U.S. adoption organizations might be banned in Russia
MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has demanded that several U.S. adoption organizations working in Russia be closed.
"Owing to failure to comply with accreditation terms, including the reporting on the living conditions of Russian children adopted by foreign citizens, we recommend early termination of the accreditation of foreign adoption organizations," Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinskyi said in a communication addressed to Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko.
Twelve U.S. adoption organizations are mentioned in the communication.
Reporting on the post adoptin conditions of the children seems a reasonable accreditation issue.
Perhaps there is an issue with the truthfulness of the adoptors that would not make the Russian Orthodox Christians too happy.
Yes apparently you do, or you would approve of tougher regulations on the agencies. It has zero to do with the government and everything to do with the agencies.
Yep - you've got me all figured out, don't you?
Perhaps they only want Iranian adoption agencies to function there.
The text of the CONVENTION ON PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND CO-OPERATION IN RESPECT OF INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION can be found on the Hague Conference on Private International Law" website.
Most likely, they are referring to the lack of reporting requirements, not the actual condition of children adopted by U.S. citizens. As a rule, children of international adoption fare very well here. My wife and I know several familes who have adpoted abroad, both from China and from Russia.
Suspending 20 out of a hundred after a few high profile cases of gross neglegence does not seem politcally motivated (at least not against America, but rather in favor of the massive public outcry).
Tell it to these kids:
(From about.com)
February 9, 1996 - David Polreis, Jr: age 2, of Greeley, Colorado was beaten to death. Over 90% of David's body was covered in cuts, which his adoptive mother, Renee Polreis, claimed was due to the boys severe RAD. Renee stated that David would hit himself with a wooden spoon. Husband, David Polreis, Sr. was out of town at time of attack and was not implicated. Rene Polreis was convicted of child abuse resulting in death and sentenced to 18 years in prison. David was adopted 6 months before his death.
November 25, 1998 - Logan Higginbotham: age 3, of Shelburne, Vermont died of massive head injuries. Adoptive mother Laura Higginbotham, stated that Logan fell and hit her head on the floor of an upstairs bedroom. It took 3 years for the medical examiner to determine whether the case was accidental or homicide. In 2004, Laura Higginbotham pled no contest to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 1 year in prison. Logan was in US 7 months before her death.
October 31, 2000 - Viktor Matthey: age 6, of Hunterdon County, New Jersey died of cardiac arrest due to hyperthermia after adoptive parents Robert and Brenda Matthey locked him overnight in a damp unheated pump room. Viktor was also severely beaten by his adoptive father. Both parents are sentenced to 10 years for confining Viktor to a pump room, 10 years for excessive corporal punishment and 7 years for failing to provide medical care. The sentences run concurrently. Viktor was in the US 10 months before his death.
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November 30, 2001 - Luke Evans: age 1.5 of Lowell, Indiana died of massive head injuries, shaken baby syndrome, and poor nutrition. Adoptive mother, Natalie Fabian Evans, stated that she couldn't wake Luke one morning and so placed him in a tub of water to "stimulate him" where she says he may have bumped his head on the tub. The authorities took a year to investigate the case. Evans is scheduled to stand trial for murder in October 2005. Luke was in the US 6 months before his death.
December 14, 2001 - Jacob Lindorff: age 5, of Gloucester Twp, New Jersey died of blunt force trauma to head. Also suffered from 2nd degree burns on feet, hemorrhaging in 1 eye; bruises, and seizures. Adoptive mother Heather Lindorff, was found guilty of 2nd degree endangering, aggravated assault and sentenced to 6 years. Adoptive father, James, sentenced to 4 years probation and 400 hours of community service for child abuse. Adoptive mother claimed that the injuries were accidents. Jacob was in the US 6 weeks before his death.
August 15, 2002 - Zachary Higier: age 2, of Braintree, Massachusetts, died of severe head trauma. Adoptive mother Natalia Higier, stated that he had fallen out of his crib or hit his head on the floor. She later admitted to tossing him into the air and he hit his head on the coffee table. Zachary sustained a bilateral skull fracture, strokes, brain swelling, and detached retinas. Natalia pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail with 18 months balance of sentence suspended for 4 years.
October 23, 2002 - Maria Bennett: age 2, of Lancaster, Ohio, died from shaken baby syndrome. Adoptive mother Susan Jane Bennett, said that she had tripped while carrying Maria and had dropped her. Medical evidence proved otherwise. Susan Bennett pled no contest to 1 count of reckless homicide and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Maria was adopted 9 months before her death.
August 11, 2003 - Jessica Albina Hagmann: age 2, died from smothering. Adoptive mother, Patrice Hagmann claimed that she accidently killed Jessica while trying to stop her from having a tantrum. Patrice was sentenced to probation and to 2 suspended 5 year terms.
October 16, 2003 - Liam Thompson: age 3, of Columbus, Ohio, died from scalding and neglect. His adoptive father, Gary, placed him in a tub of 140 degree water. He recieved 2nd and 3rd degree burns. His LPN adoptive mother, Amy, neglected treatment for 2 days, then treated him with Tylenol and Vaseline. She took Liam to the hospital only after he went into respitory failure. Amy was sentence to 15 years for child endangering and involuntary manslaughter. Gary received 15-life for murder. Liam was adopted 5 months prior.
December 18, 2003 - Alex Pavlis: age 6, of Illinois, was beaten to death by his U.S. adopted mother, Irma, 6 weeks after his adoption from Russia. He was found to have 32 bruises, scars, and cuts. Irma had a difficult time with Alex. He banged his head on the walls, floors, and defecated and urinated on himself. Reports indicate that his injuries could have been self-inflicted. Irma was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
January 22, 2005 - Dennis Merryman:
age 8, born Dennis Uritsky, of Harford County, Maryland died after suffering cardiac arrest brought on by starvation. He weighed 37 pounds. Both parents, Samuel and Donna Merryman, were arrested and charged with manslaughter and first degree child abuse resulting in death and reckless endangerment. He was adopted almost 5 years ago.
July 2, 2005 - Nina Hilt:
age 2, of Wake Forest, North Carolina died after suffering several blows to her abdomen. Her adoptive mother, Peggy Hilt, has been charged with second degree murder. Nina was adopted in 2003.
From Wiki
Masha Allen (born ????? ?????????? ????????, (Russian:Mariya Nikolaevna Yashenkova, 1992; Novoshakhtinsk, Russia) is a young girl previously known only as Disney World Girl, Internet Girl or Internet Porn Girl. She had appeared in over 200 sexually explicit images that circulated for several years on the Internet. For a long time, police feared she was still being abused in the manner depicted.
Authorities had mounted an effort to find her that took the unusual step of digitally removing her from the photos in the hope that someone would be able to identify the setting. Very quickly they learned where they had been taken, but the girl's identity remained unknown until another database match found that she had been removed from her home two years previously. Police say the case points to the need for better coordination of visual databases of child pornography victims.
The images
The search began when the Sex Crimes Unit of the Toronto Police Service repeatedly found images of the same girl on the hard drives of many of the child pornography offenders they arrested. They had her digitally removed from some of the images and then released them to the public in 2004 to see if any of the locations depicted could be identified. This information would be a strong lead in finding the girl, whom authorities feared was still in danger.
Within a short time, the location depicted in the images was identified, chiefly through the fountains in the background of one shot, as having been taken at the Port Orleans Resort at Walt Disney World in Florida. Police went further in May 2005 and released another photo of a small girl playing a handheld video game, whom they believed was not a victim but a possible material witness.
[edit]
Masha found
Three months later the hunt ended when a search through child pornography photo databases found a match. The girl, only eight years old at the time the photographs were taken, was a Russian orphan, who had been adopted in 1998 by Matthew Mancuso, a 46-year-old retired engineer from Plum, Pennsylvania for the express purpose of molesting her and using her to produce pornographic photos, which he would then share with others.
Once found, she was removed from his custody and was finally safe. Mancuso was at the time serving a 15-year federal prison sentence after being arrested and convicted in 2003 of distributing child pornography online. Masha has since been placed with a new family.
The dark-haired girl in the later photo was found to be a friend of hers, one of the few friends she was allowed to have. She herself had photographed the friend when Mancuso let her use the camera. Mancuso never abused her sexually.
[edit]
Mancuso sentenced
On August 23, 2003 Mancuso was found guilty of 11 sexual abuse-related charges in a stipulated non-jury trial in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court in which he offered no defense and did not contest the charges, an unusual proceeding known as a "slow guilty plea." However, in Pennsylvania, by offering no defense, he preserves his right to appeal the prosecution later. His lawyer, Stanley Greenfield, said he planned to do exactly that since it had been more than a year since Mancuso had initially been arrested, violating his right to a speedy trial.
On November 17, 2004 he was sentenced to 35 to 70 years, which will only begin once his federal sentence is completed. Florida prosecutors, too, may still seek further charges.
[edit]
Adoption
Masha was born in 1992 in Novoshakhtinsk, a small town near Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Her biological father left her mother to raise her on her own. The woman was an alcoholic and stabbed Masha in the head at the age of five, forcing police to remove her from the house and put her in the local orphanage.
Her mother visited occasionally, and told Masha she would be able to return home soon. But eventually Masha was told she would instead be among a group of children to be adopted by American families. She was hopeful that her life would improve, although slightly disappointed that she would have only a father (Mancuso was a single man).
However, upon returning to America with him, she learned of his true plans for her. Mancuso made her sleep with him naked on her first night in his house and began regularly raping her shortly afterward, forcing her to share his shower as well and barring her from eating junk food, pasta and raw vegetables in favor of peanut butter sandwiches to keep her thin and delay the onset of puberty. She reported later that he even made her go through a mock wedding to him.
After he had begun abusing her, he began to take pictures, she said later. At first they were typical pictures any parent takes of a child, with her fully clothed, but gradually he began to photograph her in her underwear, then naked and finally performing sexual acts. At one point, she said, he even chained her to the wall in his basement for some pictures with BDSM overtones.
He kept her in line with threats not to talk to anyone, and rewarded her participation in photography sessions with toys and video games, as well as an annual trip to Disney World.
This went on for five years until FBI agents arrested Mancuso at his house in 2003. Mike Zaglifa, a police sergeant in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights, had given Mancuso's IP address to them after going undercover and trading pictures with Mancuso online.
They had not expected to find him living with a child, and Masha quickly told the police what he had been doing with her. She was removed and readopted by Faith Allen, a single woman who had herself been through similar experiences in her own childhood. She was able to give Masha more parental attention by giving up her status as a foster mother to concentrate on Masha alone. They have since moved to another state. She still receives intensive therapy but otherwise lives a normal life.
[edit]
How did it happen?
Many people wondered how Mancuso was allowed to adopt the girl in the first place. While he did not have a previous criminal record as a sex offender, single men are very rarely allowed to adopt unrelated girls and in fact the law in Russia's Rostov Oblast, where Novoshakhtinsk is located, prohibits such adoptions.
A Cherry Hill, New Jersey woman named Jeannene Smith had overseen the adoption through an Indiana-based agency called Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA), after Mancuso, who had explicitly requested a five-year-old, blonde, blue-eyed girl, selected Masha. When FTIA's founder, Keith Wallace, fired her midway through, she went to New Jersey and founded another agency, Reaching Out Thru International Adoption (ROTIA), which finished the adoption and was supposed to do post-placement checks required by Russian law.
However, Nancy Simpronio, the Pittsburgh-area social worker who had done the original home study required for the adoption never did, and at the time Russia had no provision for enforcing that regulation (since then, foreign adoption agencies that fail to provide those reports run the risk of losing their accreditation to operate in Russia). A post-placement would have revealed that Masha had no bedroom of her own at Mancuso's house and slept with him, among other things.
Prior to the adoption, Simpronio also failed to contact Mancuso's ex-wife as well as his biological daughter, Rachelle, despite being aware of them. Mancuso had sexually abused Rachelle regularly and had had no contact with her since she was 13, and Rachelle says she would have told anyone who had asked about it. She told ABC News correspondent John Quinones on a December 1, 2005 segment of PrimeTime devoted to Masha that she feels considerable guilt over what happened to her onetime half-sister and her inability to prevent it when she heard her father had adopted a young girl (She was able to apologize to Masha in person later).
Smith has since cofounded a lobbying group called Focus on Adoption which lobbies on behalf of agencies that primarily do international adoptions. She has not commented on the case publicly, citing confidentiality laws.
Masha intends to file a civil suit against Simpronio's agency for what she alleges was an inadequately researched and overly positive home study, as well as FTIA and ROTIA, which her lawyer says fault each other for permitting the adoption to go through.
Authorities in Pennsylvania have promised to review the circumstances surrounding the adoption.
[edit]
Similar case
Masha and advocates for her fear that there may be other children in the same situation whose plight remains undiscovered.
A month after the PrimeTime segment aired, these concerns proved to be true when William Peckenpaugh of Silverton, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. After an employee at a local electronics store discovered explicit material on a video camera he had dropped off for repair and called police, he admitted and pled guilty to sexually abusing a Romanian boy he had adopted four years earlier.
Like Mancuso, Peckenpaugh was a single man, although he had never married.
[edit]
Thousands of children are adopted from foreign countries by American families every year. This does not lessen the tragedy of any particular case of abuse or neglect, but by and large children are a lot better off in permanent adoptive homes than foster care, and I daresay much better off than those in Chinese or Russian orphanages.
With as many cases as I have posted, (and knowing that NOT everyone is caught). there is CLEARLY a need for better regulation.
Eliminating the license of agencies which do not comply is the only way to enforce such regulation.
If the Russian government wants to decertify certain adoption agencies, that's their business. But there's too much regulation as it is. Do you know hard it is to adopt? If you really care that much about children, lobby for more monitoring and reporting on biological families.
The orphanages sell the girls to pornographers when they reach puberty anyway.
If you read the article all they are suggesting is decertifying agencies which have failed to comply.
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Russia Federation
PATTERNS OF IMMIGRATION OF ADOPTED ORPHANS TO THE U.S.: Recent U.S. immigrant visa statistics reflect the following pattern for visa issuance to orphans.
FY 2003.....................................5209
FY 2002.....................................4939
FY 2001.....................................5004
FY 2000.....................................4687
FY 1999.....................................4470
Source: U.S. Department of State
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A message board for families who already have already adopted or want to adopt children from former Soviet countries.
Families for Ukrainian and Russian Adoption
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And a rather large site of a secular charity aiding orphanages in the Ukraine. Sort of hard to navigate but many pictures of the conditions these orphans live in.
God bless and good luck.
Best thing we ever did was getting our Vanya from Kamchatka in, I think it was 1997. Worked through a great agency (actually a one woman operation) who had excellent people on the ground.
Yes, there was / is corruption. I recall a woman in our party having to donate her gold necklace as a "gift" to a certain official whose signature was needed. We knew going in that sort of thing was "bidness as usual."
We chose foreign after getting weary of the incredible difficulty of domestic adoption here. There were basically two routes.
1. Governmental. Which means you become foster parents and open all your life to Mother State. Went to one meeting. No thanks.
2. Private. Killer with this is that the rage was "open adoption." The birth mother maintains some degree of contact with the child. Great. So when there is friction within the adoptive family, the kid can appeal to his real Mommy. No thanks.
The Russian option was not cheap. More than option 1. Much less than option 2.
We did submit reports back for a few years. Our lady told us it was important to do so, in order to keep the doors open. If that is not happening, and some children are being harmed on account of it, I say good on the Russians to bar the bad eggs.
Thank you very much! :) I'm always glad to hear from people who have experience in this matter. A few years ago close friends of ours returned from China with a wonderful toddler. She brings them much joy. Some acquaintences of ours have been to Russia, and adopted a young boy and her older sister. They are very happy, too.
We chose foreign after getting weary of the incredible difficulty of domestic adoption here.
I understand what you're talking about. My wife and I are ready, but are put off by domestic adoption. It's so difficult, expensive, and fraught with legal risks, it seems it is discouraging adoptions which only hurts the children who need it most.
The people we know that have adopted abroad have done so from China and Russia. We had planned on going to Costa Rica, but as they have halted all adoptions from the U.S. we are now investigating Colombia and Guatamala. Both of those nations allow international adoptions. Sadly, there are very few Central and South American countries that do. Going to Guatamala or Colombia is a little easier than going all the way to to Asia.
We did submit reports back for a few years. Our lady told us it was important to do so, in order to keep the doors open. If that is not happening, and some children are being harmed on account of it, I say good on the Russians to bar the bad eggs.
You're absolutely right, of course.
Regards, lion.
I agree, if the Russians have found some bad eggs among the agencies, then they should bar them from work in Russia.
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