Since Tennessee adoptive mom, Torry Hansen, placed her 7-year-old adopted son on a flight back to Russia last Friday, everything has been chaotic in the adoption community.
Today, it seems like a situation where one hand doesn't know what the other one is doing. Earlier today a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Andrei Nesterenko made a bold statement that all pending and future adoptions between the U.S. and Russia are suspended until, "a bilateral agreement with the United States is signed."
However, a quick check of the U.S. Department of State's and Joint Council's Web site - a different story is told. At the time of this blog posting this statement is found on the Joint Council of International Adoptions Web site "...the Ministry of Education (the ministry responsible for intercountry adoption in Russia) has not confirmed the suspension nor issued a statement."
The plan? A representative from the U.S. Department of State will travel to Moscow on April 20,2010, to discuss needed changes. Whether the "bilateral agreement" will include Russia becoming a part of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions or another agreement altogether - I have no idea. But I'm sure things will be just as clear or unclear as they are today - with one person stating adoptions are suspended and the U.S. and other Russian officials saying - "not yet."
Update: Russian adoptions on hold pending April 20th meeting in Moscow.
SOURCES:
Joint Council of International Adoptions
Russia says freeze on US adoptions; US says not so
U.S. Department of State
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