Unfortunately, these Americans are not unusual. Child abuse by parents, and relatives, is a growing problem in America. Nine years ago Andrea Yates drown all five of her children in her bathtub. Another mother drove her car into a lake and let her two children drown because she was "tired" of raising them. Americans should be the last people to adopt children from Russia because they don't seem to know how to raise a "difficult" child. Americans expect instant gratification in their lives and when they adopt children from Russia, life often does not turn out as they expected.

American parents are not worse than any others. The real issue is that many of them are truly religious persons. And as such, they adopt very small children without enough medical information available. They accept such adoption as God's gift - and unfortunately some of them are not ready to stand medical issues. Unlike Americans Europeans prefer to adopt older kids - when medical state is clear. Still it unfair for bashing Americans. They adopted ca. 60,000 kids since 1991. So it's like a town with population of 300,000. Sad things occur.

Just for your information to leave Russia for USA you have to have medical exem done, all shots, that some Americans even don't have. Plus when they adopt a child - this is the first thing what the "parents" get - medical history of the child, with all shots from day of birth to up-to-date. I've seen couples in American Embessy in Moscow who actually agreed to adopt an ill child just because it was faster, that wait for a perfect. They wanted to take care of him, because USA has better doctors. And then I've seen other couples flying to New York - the same - with adopted kids and some health issues. I was actually so touched - our children were rejected by their parents, but families from another countries want them. God Bless them!

Americans are just like others -- there are a some very sick, disturbed people in every country who should not have children. However, regarding the Andrea Yates case, which Kihnu mentioned, as an American woman I always felt the guilty party was the husband (since remarried with a new family) because, even though Andrea had already been hospitalized before with schizophrenia and the doctors told the husband she should have no more children for her mental health sake (plus she was taking care of her dying father in addition to all the children -- while living only in a school bus at one point), her extremely selfish husband sought more children. As doctors expected, after she had even more children, her mind snapped. She should have been in a mental hospital, not hospital for giving birth. If anything, this story demonstrates the blight of many abused wives and mothers while husbands have no idea or no concern for their situation or well-being. But that's not just in America either. That's also everywhere.

they have some horrible foster parents and social workers in america. i know because i'm american and watched first hand what they do to kids. take them from the poor and give them to dirty low-life M.F.'s that i wouldn't let raise my dogs. i am unsure about adoption placements next to any other country. i'd like to find out.

The question is: why did this American couple kill their adopted Russian boy? That is why I am focusing on Americans. I have heard of several instances where Americans have killed children adopted from Russia, and yet, not one instance where an American has killed a girl adopted from China. One of my relatives lives in Des Moines, Iowa (USA). Several of her neighbors have adopted little girls from China, and the ones I have met are really great girls. They are obedient, clean and terrific students. The RT story mentions that perhaps only 1 in 15 kids in Russia orphanages adjusts well to a normal life. Any American who adopts such children will have to have the patience and parenting skills far above that required for other children. People who frustration quickly turns to anger, should not adopt children from Russia.

Even if a child is difficult, there are plenty of non-violent steps that can be taken, such as placing him in a foster home or juvenile facility. Clearly these parents have mental problems. Fortunately these incidents are very rare, but it is appalling that they happen at all.

Kihnu makes a valid point. Yes, there are good people who have adopted without any problems. However, child molestation is a huge problem. There is a reason why America has "Child Protection Services". First, America has a huge "sexual perversion" problem unique to the USA. Many child molesters are addicted to porn. America has sex available easily on the internet, corner book stores, etc. Sex sells and is used to promote anything from candy to cars. Having sex always on the mind is unnatural. There is a cause and effect on the subconscious. Second, "Life" is not valued as precious. The unborn have no rights. Is it any surprise children are killed at an older age?

Why to adopt kids if you hate them? This is completely unreasonable. These maniacs should be kept in prison, and their neighbourhood, relatives of the mad ones, was it so difficult to inform the police? what the heck is going on with this country. Russia, shame on you, watch your kids before you give them to people with mental problems. USA you prooved your leadership in child abuse...

John: ""Life" is not valued as precious. The unborn have no rights. Is it any surprise children are killed at an older age?" Very true. Ask any Afghan or Iraqi how much Americans value their lives. A people willing to kill millions of Afghan and Iraqis to satisfy their quest for a "victory" will not hesitate to kill their own children. The couple who killed their adopted Russian boy didn't care if he suffered while they beat him, nor did they care when they killed him. Russian adoption agencies have to be very careful when Americans show up at their doors to take Russian children with them, for they may be sexual perverts, child abusers, or people unqualified to raise an unruly Russian orphan.

John--you said America "has a huge sexual perversion problem." What? To what other country are you comparing it? I think it possible that we are merely exposing it more -- like on our infotainment news channels (Fox, e.g.) -- and trying to deal with it more in the open than other countries. Perhaps some other countries are still at the level of the Catholic Church (no offense to practitioners of that faith) who for centuries took every step possible to keep people from knowing what their priests were doing. In America, in general, now any instance makes big news! And look at the Pravda--dominated by ads for women for hire, it seems. Can make one wonder how Russian women are being raised. So I challenge your statement that America "has a huge sexual perversion problem" if you mean more than other countries. Humans perhaps have a sexual perversion/porno problem (check out Pravda online for a demonstration).

It is difficult for me to understand why Russia which is underpopulated and has a decent youth' social and educative system let violent and sick societies like America has become (obsessed and polluted by money, sex, alcohol, tobacco and drugs) adopt children, born in Russia. If parents do not want the child or are unable to rise him correctly, let the country waste a little less money on armaments, (like that useless Mistral) and do some good for those children who are also Russia's future...Sincerely... Jean-Claude Meslin

I have never seen so many people that do not have a clue of what they are talking about. It is very sad that 15 children have lost their lives from the people that were suppose to protect them from harm, but that happens in many countries and not just in the USA. Americans have adopted thousands of children from various nations including Russia. Most of these children would not have had a good life unless they were adopted by a family. I have seen some orphanages in Russia and they are pretty well run insinuations, but an institution is no place to raise children. In a recent article on RT, stated 1 out of 15 are able to survive a normal life once they leave an orphanage. Do not judge an entire nation by a few horrible acts, so many children have been adopted by Americans and are treated like family. The ideal thing would be for these children to stay with their "natural" family, but those people rejected many of these children and if it wasn't for a caring family they would spend their life in an orphanage and have a 1 in 15 shot having a normal life.

To answer Dee. I am not comparing America because it is incomparable in riches. Materialism, narcissism and the warped "freedom of speech" right that allows violence and sex to reign free with little restrictions. When Solzhenitsyn was living in America he said, "Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society appears to have little defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as, for example, misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror. It is considered to be part of freedom and theoretically counter-balanced by the young people's right not to look or not to accept. Life organized legalistically has thus shown its inability to defend itself against the corrosion of evil." This "corrosion of evil" has truly spread to other countries including Russia but not to the height of America's moral corruption. I live here in the U.S.. Most people do not see this truth until it is too late. Many children are molested without anyone knowing it until they grow up and tell their story. See the man boy love association: NAMBLA's home page to see the real depths of this perversion. They are based in NY and San Francisco. Child Protective Service put out a percentage report every year of who the child molesters were and known molestations and abuses. The Catholic church was only about 3%. Almost 80% were relatives or known friends of the child. There are many good and noble people in America whose values and morality are exceptional. They were the norm in America until the "sexual revolution" of the late 60's decayed America. There is not really a "culture war" in America as a war between "good and evil" that Solzhenitsyn already recognized. Once I had a captain of a freighter from Singapore asked me if he should move to America and raise his children. I said no. The culture would corrupt his children. No wonder "Home Schooling is becoming more popular in the US..

Child abuse in America is absolutely ridiculous. I know more abusive parents than non-abusive parents here. It's disgusting, and if Russia disallows adoption by Americans, then good for them! Personally, I'd rather be raised in an orphanage than by most parents here! I thank God every day that I was given the parents I have. I'd probably have become a serial killer if I had been raised by any of the other maniac parents I know.

To the Russian goverment, Please don't pospone adoptions that are in the process now. We are in the middle of an adoption and can't wait to get our little girl. Please don't let what a few horrable people do prevent good people who really want to have and love a baby.

To the people of All the world. Do Not let KIDS go to families in USA. People in USA are NOT family oriented. They have NO tradition. They only think about been better than other people. Keep your KIDS and try to help them wherever they are. But dont let people of USA adopt children only because they are white and have money.

The United States is an extremely diverse place, as is Russia, as is the rest of the world. On most of Earth, good kind people reside within a short distance from people who are greatly evil. Broad generalizations concerning the United States, Russia, Switzerland or anywhere are not constructive and are not accurate. The truth is that some of the children housed in Russian orphanages could not receive the holding and nurturance which is essential for the normal brain development necessary for furthur development. A percentage of these children cannot feel pain and really are predisposed to self mutililation, most especially head banging to the point of subdural hematoma. Sadly, adoptive parents who may be well intentioned, do not realize that the tantrumming of some of these children may be fatal. This is how some families with absolutely no prior history of child abuse, adopt internationally, and the child is seen by hospital workers with signs and symptoms of injury. Even if you adjust for the fact that evil does exist within the world, it is counterintuitive that families would pay a fortune to agencies, endure a year long homestudy for a specific Russian adoption, learn elements of a complex language, come to Russia multiple times, simply to being home a child to injure. Please understand that child abuse is, and has been an issue all over the world for a long time. It occurs most often in homes where alcohol abuse or drug abuse are issues. I am afraid that those in America have no furthur predilection to abuse than does anyone else.

In all this we seemed to have missed something that is very important; this little girl has lost her brother and essentially is completely alone in this big bad world. With this case everything else is secondary. Is there a relative in Russia tat would come for her so she has family or is she left destitute? I have read all the posts and am surprised to see Americans posting comments. I am surprised in a good way because this means to me that America is growing up a little and moving beyond their self-interest.. Personally, I learned that American News Media was just a tad bit media oriented instead of news oriented. In Paris, Rome and Athens we watched the news and were able to see how Americans are viewed by people that live in other countries; this gave us perspective that I appreciated having and that is unavailable in American News Media. FOX News, CNN, MSNBC and most other American News Media are simply myopic and focus only on what they think will sell air time instead of reporting important news. Sadly, these News Media Organizations, and I stress that I use term loosely, focus on issues they think we want to see; they are of course wrong and most US citizens don't know how much they don't know. I watch RT and other news organizations from other countries because I am tired of hearing how an American Soldier was killed in a roadside blast in Iraq while just down the road 90 Iraqis were killed by a similar bomb. The important thing is that many people were killed and the families for each individual is marginalized in American News and not marginalized in news from countries other than America. I only learned of this child being killed because I watched RT this morning; it was covered very little in the US news Media. My rant, my opinion. Courtesy and respect are things we expect from others but fail to provide in return.