[miss marmelstein]

I am shocked and horrified by the responses on this thread. These Russian babies are completely unwanted by Russians. They are suffering from fetal alcohol problems (sorry, I don't have the correct name for the illness) and will languish in evil, awful orphanages if not adopted. Europeans want no part of these poor kids.

With rare exceptions, these children are adopted by decent law-abiding American citizens and I'm disgusted that people would think otherwise.

[papertyger]

With rare exceptions, these children are adopted by decent law-abiding American citizens and I'm disgusted that people would think otherwise.

Thank you for your words of support.

Yes, there are occasional problems. No system is perfect, especially when dealing with rational actors actively trying to game the process, but we who adopt internationally are vetted...HARD. We are literally adopting in BOTH countries, and so are meeting a markedly higher standard than ANY domestic adoption qualification.

The proof is easy to see at any gathering of the kids for our occasional cultural celebrations. A meeting of 150 of our kids winds up leaving the place looking like the Tea Party just left.

Try that with the kids of 50 random American families and see what the place looks like.