Adoption system in the US needs improvement - expert

Robles: Voice of Russia World Service. This is John Robles; I am speaking with Irene Steffas. She is an attorney, accredited under the Hague International Convention on incoming and outgoing adoptions. My first question regards the situation right now with Russian orphans in the United States. Does this situation involve mainly Russian orphans? 

Steffas: No, in the areas of abuse of adopted children we have some cases from other countries as well. It is not only of Russian children.  

Robles: What are the screening procedures in the US? Do you think they are effective enough? Do you think improvements could be made to the system? 

Steffas: Under the Hague Convention, the requirements are much stronger. And under the regular orphan program, we still have significant safeguards. For example, a family we look into there if they’ve ever committed physical abuse, sexual abuse, if they have a criminal history, if there are any incidents of domestic violence. And we look at that from the age of eighteen. 

Robles: Do Russian adoptions come only under the Hague Conventions or are there loopholes that these children are falling through? 

Steffas: Russia has signed the Hague Convention on the protection of children, cooperation and respect of inner-country adoptions. However, Russia has not ratified it as of yet. And once Russia ratifies it, then Russian adoption will proceed under the Hague Convention.  

Robles: What is the process it goes through in the US? Say, a family wants to adopt a Russian orphan. 

Steffas: For many years - about ten years - I represented an agency that had a program in Russia. I also have several cousins who have adopted children from Russia. So, the process is the following. First, the family must obtain a home study, during which they investigate questions of physical abuse, sexual abuse, criminal history, domestic violence. And the home study process is very thorough. There is a fingerprint check for the Federal Bureau of Investigations and there is usually a state-wide check in the criminal database.  

Robles: Now, the last case that came up. Did they go through any screening whatsoever? 

Steffas: Yes, they all went through the screening process, and you know, how did they get through this screening process - what can I tell you? If you ask me specifically about the case from Tennessee, where the adoptive mother sent a child back to Russia, I can speak a little bit about that.  

Robles: Please, do, because the whole world knows about that one.  

Steffas: In that particular case, all of the attorneys, adoption agencies and the adoption community are outraged that criminal charges were not brought against the adoptive mother.   

Robles: They were not brought? 

Steffas: They were not brought as of a couple of months ago. By now, perhaps, they have been brought. But everyone believed - from attorneys to judges - that she should have been charged criminally for deserting her child.  

Robles: So, you are saying that many US-based attorneys and American citizens were outraged as well?  

Steffas: Absolutely, because one child who is abused is one too many. And we don’t want to see that happen to any child - a biological child or an adopted child. In the case with the child from Tennessee, the agency that did the home study was a stellar agency. The actual case worker, who went into the home, has a full-time position, working at a residential center for troubled children. So, this woman had excellent, incredible resources available to her. However, she never disclosed anybody that she was having problems with the child. Had she disclosed this? 

Robles: This was the adoptive mother? 

Steffas: Correct. She had resources at her an arm’s length away that would have gladly helped her. She was en emergency room nurse and emergency room nurses do triage - that is part of their everyday work. So, the manner in which this woman dealt with this was just way out of character. 

Robles: What do you think can be done to improve the situation and protect the children better?  

Steffas: The home studies, the more in-depth as they go, the more education that’s given to the adoptive parents to know that there are viable options for their children. The better prepared, we will be in serving all children of all nationalities, whether they are adopted or biological.  

Robles: Do you think that the tracks and balances are working? Do you think the regulations are enough? 

Steffas: I believe - and this is my opinion as an adoption attorney - that if a person has zero children and goes from zero to three overnight - it’s going to be overwhelming.   

Robles: What kind of post placement screening is there in these cases? 

Steffas: Russian requires post placement report and I think the kind of investigations that need to be done after a child enters a home, should be more in-depth, than what they currently are. A country such as Russia, which sends children for adoption, has the legal rights to put into place any controls that they want.  

Robles: Do you have anything you would like to close off with? 

Steffas: Adoptions internationally should continue not for the adoptive parents, but for the children themselves. So that every child, whether the child is from the United States or Russia or, you know, from Mexico or Romania, can have a permanent home. 

Robles: Thank you very much. 

Steffas: You are welcome. 

Robles: This is John Robles; I was talking to Irene Steffas on defects in the US adoption system.