Russian and US officials gave birthday gifts on Friday to an eight-year-old boy who was returned to Russia by his adoptive US mother, as Russia sent conflicting signals about whether all adoptions to the US were now suspended.
A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday that adoption of Russian children by US families had been suspended after Artyom Savelyev was sent unaccompanied to Moscow last week with a note from his adoptive mother in Tennessee saying he had psychological problems and was violent. People who have spent time with the boy in Moscow say he seems like a happy child.
Russian officials have provided little clarification about hundreds of US adoptions now in progress.
PHOTO: EPA
The Kremlin children’s rights ombudsman said on Friday that potential parents may still prepare the paperwork for adoptions during the freeze, but courts will not hear US adoption cases.
The Education and Science Ministry, which oversees international adoptions, insisted, however, that it had received no formal instructions to freeze adoptions and it was up to the courts to decide.
The US ambassador in Moscow met on Friday with Russian officials on the issue.
US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the US does not believe there has been a official suspension of adoptions.
“There are a number of cases that are in the legal system now and are continuing,” he said. “We are also aware of a number of cases that were pending before the courts that have been postponed.”
A US delegation is flying to Moscow for talks tomorrow and Tuesday to address Russian concerns and hammer out an accord that would allow the placement of Russian children to go ahead, said David Siefkin, press attache at the US embassy in Moscow.
Siefkin said the US has not received notification of a freeze.
“A lot of American families are now concerned,” he said. “We hope the process will keep going, especially for people who applied before and have been waiting for a long time.”
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