Why We Are Adopting from Russia

We are frequently asked why we are adopting from Russia. When we first began to consider adoption several years ago, I was watching a t.v. show and saw very cute twin girls who were adopted from Russia. At that time, God began to speak to our hearts about Russian adoption. Then, in Spring of 2006, I got on the internet and researched to find out why there are so many orphans in Russia. As I learned more and shared it with Michael, God began to actively work in our hearts about adopting from this country. Over the next few months, we began to research adoption agencies and spoke with them about possible countries from which we could adopt. After speaking with them, we felt God confirming in our hearts that He was leading us to Russia to adopt our child. Below are a few statistics regarding children in Russia.

Taken from www.russianorphan.org

About 15,000 children leave Russian orphanages each year, once they are 16 to 18 years old. Of these, 5,000 are unemployed, some 6,000 are homeless, around 3,000 resort to crime, approximately 1,500 commit suicide, and roughly half the girls are forced into prostitution. (From The CoMission for Children at Risk, 2002.)

There were over 700,000 orphans in Russia in 2000. After leaving their orphanages:
· 50% - fall into a high-risk category
· 40% - become drug users
· 40% - commit crimes
· 10% - commit suicide

(From Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, 2000.)

Over forty million children in the former Soviet Union are living in "genuine poverty". (From European Children's Trust, 2000.)

Orphans in Russia - of whom 95 percent still have a living parent - are exposed to shocking levels of cruelty and neglect. Infants classified as disabled are segregated into "lying-down" rooms, where they are changed and fed but are bereft of stimulation and lacking in medical care. Of a total of more than 600,000 children classified as being "without parental care", as many as one-third reside in institutions, while the rest are placed with a variety of guardians. Thousands more are temporarily quartered in various public shelters and institutions under police jurisdiction simply waiting for an available space in an orphanage. Thousands of children are abandoned to the state at a rate of 113,000 a year for the past two years, up dramatically from 67,286 in 1992. The evidence gathered reveals several systematic disadvantages imposed on young Russian orphans, which violate their fundamental rights to survival and development, and place them in a underclass. (From Human Rights Watch, 1998.)