I think it is more than prudent that this adoption ban stays firmly in place for the following reasons: first Russia needs its children;s second, it is profoundly shameful that Russian cannot protect its children within its borders; third, there is no shortage of children waiting to be adopted by loving adoptive families in the United States , thus, the U.S lawmakers would well to focus their attention in matching adoptive families with children inside the United States before seeking children in Russia; fourth, there is unspeakable elephant in the room, Russian children are adopted as much for racial and demographic quality more anything else and that cannot be good for Russia because Russia needs to retain all of its children- in addition, Russia need to hasten the modernisation of the social services and healthcare, education and overall social domain and this mass transfer of Russian children to foreign countries- such as the United States- which does not have demographic crisis as Russia does- is suicidal for Russia. The adoption of Russian children in mass is extremely bad policy and it must end. I want to stress that I am neither anti-American or pro Russian; I do care the wellbeing of these children and their best chance in life for them is to remain in their homeland, language and tradition.

This is a technique as old as time, so i'm not surprised at all that the US is panicking. Take the youth of a country you fear and are determined to undermine, and brainwash them somewhere else, in another political system, then call that obligation in, sometime in the future. Why isn't the US going after the mother more forcefully? What about the multiple murders of Russian and Ukrainian children whilst in US foster homes? Where is the alleged child protection? I don't think this has much to do with genuinely caring about Russian kids taken abroad, and everything to do with undermining Russia's future. Take a generation or 2 out of any country, and see the gap it leaves in that country's progress. Read between the lines, and see the truth.

NO, Russia has to work harder at getting its kids adopted at home.What exactly are you doing? giving away the very thing you crave most-your population

I think most of us can see something terribly ugly is going here for Russia needs its kids very badly, and yet, all efforts have not been made to keep Russia’s kids within the country. Russia’s orphaned kids are lucrative commodity and certain people are making their comfortable living arranging foreign adoption of Russian kids. The country’s leadership does not seem to have to guts to say no to this, it seems. Well, I cannot see the logic in face of this why Russia still worries on Russia future demographic health! It seems those running the country do not see the urgency to end this practice. I would have expected a national outrage long before little Artyom has been sent back to Russia alone back. There should have been outrage over this cruel act fine but also over the murder of dozens of Russian kids adopted in foreign countries. Talk about bad PR. In the eyes of the world there is nothing more shameful for Russia than feeling the nation cannot protect its children.

To quote a previous RT article: “Every child has a right to a family, so a potential moratorium on US adoption may be ''counterproductive',” Aleksandra Panasova, from Spanish adoption agency AAIM, told RT. “Fifteen cases of children dying abroad have been registered over the last 15 years, which is far less than the number of orphans dying in Russia.” This is not a thorough look at the problem since differences should be looked at in accordance with rates rather than absolute numbers, however, I can elaborate that as of 2002, according to figures supplied by the Russian government , Russia had 650,000 orphans, and upon being released from the government at age 16 the statistics were that 40% of the orphan children became homeless, 20% turned to crime, and 10% committed suicide. 200,000 Russian orphans are living in Russian orphanages and internats. Russia may justify its retaining of these orphans on the grounds that keeping them will help combat its internal population implosions, but it would be utterly irrational for anyone to assert the children are better off remaining in the system than living with any of 99% of the US families that adopt Russian children. This new ban appears to be political grandstanding and media sensationalism at the clear expense these youth.

American, Yes every child has the right to a family but every child also has a right to language, history and a tradition, high quality education, access to healthcare, etc. In the United States, notions of rights is dubious for 80 million Americans lack access to basic healthcare and system and education is highly stratified. Blocking foreign adoption of Russian children is a critical first step but it should not end there; the overall health of the population must be drastically improved. This will reduced the rate of premature deaths of the tens of thousands of Russian.

According to media reports [see the url link below], Russia and the United States will hold a high level talk on a new bilateral adoption protocol. My guess is Ms Clinton and her Russian counterpart, foreign Minister, Lavrov will discuss about the need for a comprehensive adoption deal. My guess is that this will not work because of U.S attitude toward Russia is highly negative and Ms Clinton will not sign on to a new adoption deal that may allow Russian family the legal rights to adopt American children! She wants a one way adoption imperative of U.S adopting Russian children. http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100425/158737871.html

The problem has all sorts of implications, and this is as good a time for Russia to take a good look at what is going on. And it is up to Russia to do that, nothwithstanding the pressure from US politicians, who --- of course --- are getting pressure from the families whose adoption cases are now stuck in limbo. Russia needs to look at its demographic condition in an entirely new light. It can pay price now, or will pay dearly later. The fact that orphans are such a hot commodity is troubling. And their living conditions are troubling as well. It is troubling that over 70% of pregnancies in Russia end up in abortions. Focusing on the techicalities of adoption, there are some very, very troubling things happening right here, in US. An adopted childs a period of supervision with the new family until the adoption is final. Problems are identified, and at times, the family may not be the best choice. Apparently, no such procedure is in place for foreign addoptions. Had such a procedure been in place, troubled child would have been referred to counceling and an evaluation. Parents as well. What happened here, was a glaring example of what is wrong with foreign adoptions. Child is brought into a different country and does not speak the language. He loses whatever little friends they had, and whatever little attachments they may have formed with the adults in their unhappy lives. And in this case, the adoptive mother KEPT THE CHILD OUT OF SCHOOL. For six months, he was supposed to be "home schooled'. How on earth did the authorities permit that? This child needed socialization, as well as the English learning programs that all schools systems have. If he had problems of such magnitude, school would be quickly become aware of it. Children with such severe behavioral health problems cannot hide that in school setting. It seems that she wanted to have a "trial ride" with no obligations. He may have a serious problem, but so does she.

Child abuse is really different here in the US. They can't runaway when stressed, so it develops into a serious problem instead of sending flags for interventions of various sorts. They also don't check people of higher social status because a lot of our social workers come from places where they don't expect this or that, or they only deal with what seems out of the norm to them and one can protect oneself while the other can't. The mom that's intoxicated until 3pm and who everybody hates could actually be a better parent that Sally Sue who has abandoned her child or used to things like servants all of the time and doesn't have patience or understand reasons. When child service arrives at both doors, one is stressed even more while the other fluffs it away and says how ridiculous child protection laws are these days; she can't even properly discipline her child, so no wonder he acts like that. It's obviously somebody else's fault or just a general problem of society that everybody understands. You wanna give me on since I need to be in a family to be a good person. Kid better like cleaning and monlogues. Poor things. Just keep your free school later on and enjoy freedom in adulthood. The things that you attribute worth to are what burden you over there, so just stop caring about them.

I think Russian Children would be better off in their own culture even if they are in institutional care because the practice of placing Russian children up for adoption in the U.S. is basically, linked to private people who have alot of money or espouse a particular religious agenda and who aren't adopting the thousands of orphaned multiracial children because they don't want them. I had two friends in New York City many years ago who worked for BCW( Bureau of Child Welfare) and a friend who graduated Masters in Sociology from Columbia University. She's from Shri Lanka .Her father was a Provincial Governor of Ceylon. One brother and his wife are doctors. She told me horror stories about the Catholic Charities. It's Just too long to detail here. I definitely wouldn't recommend it. The representatives who are involved are definitely working for someone's interests but, not the children. I also had two neighbors who told me their experiences growing up in the Guardian Angel Institutionin Brooklyn and their foster home experiences.

Well, maybe they would lift the ban if the people adopting them from here would stop beating them to death!

I wish my father had learned his mother tongue, Russian, from his parents. I have no connection to the land of my grandfathers. Russia, don't send your children to America. If American's want to adopt Russian children, let them do so...in Russia. If they love your children so much, let them move. Don't climb into bed with the American government; They will give you an incurable disease.

It is ironical, for a country like Russia with an aging population is still giving away its own children to countries beyond. The Russian government is suppose to the right ensure that Russian children are well provided for in foreign countries. The problem is not with adoption but the manner in which Russian children are treated. It must be understood that some scars never wipe out and children under 18 must be protected and it is the responsibility of every country to protect its children and people rather than sell in the form of adoption. In short, the Russian government should find better mechanism of providing for its children rather than in a civilized manner sell them to unknown individuals. It is all so disgusting. It is like irresponsible parents who take their children to the wild jungle and tell the child you are on your own now...good luck and bye...it is all so unfair. Poor children may God guide you all!!! Everything is so wrong...may God help us all!!!

I hope Mr. Putin doesn't rush into any decision regarding Russian adoptions especially now while the USA  is in such economic turmoil. There are plenty of American children that need to be adopted by American parents. It makes no sense to adopt a child from a foreign country when there might be family who would want to be a part of a child's life. There has to be a better solution. If children don't have a family then the government, school, community need to rally around them so that they have a special, privileged life. Can't the birth mother be helped and trained so that she can play an important role in her child's upbringing?  Children should know who gave birth to them. They don't need to live with the parents but they should know where they came from. It's cruel to turn children into commodities, to be traded for a price. It's  immoral and un-Christian. There is a better solution for Russia's unwanted children. This issue should be made a national priority.

The US and the lawmakers could not care less about the welfare of the Russian children in America, as they are actually being abused, killed or abandoned once adopted.

The only concern for the lawmakers in the US is that they arrogate themselves the image of better than anybody in the care of children and families and it would not look good that actually they are murdering or abusing Russian children in American homes.

I have written a comment on that in a related topic, about American step parents torturing 3 little Russian sisters.

Regards