2012 was marked by violent unrest in the ranks of the stratum that calls itself the "creative class." Following the "fight for fair elections" and the support of the scandalous group Pussy Riot, a new wave of protests from the angry "creative elite" swept the country at the close of the outgoing year. The reason was the adoption by the State Duma of Russia of the "Dima Yakovlev Law" as a response to the "Magnitsky Law" adopted in the United States.

"Cannibal law", "anti-orphan law", "law of scoundrels", "Tsar Herod", "evil persecutor" (about President Putin), "infanticide", "fiends", "orcs", "voluntarily renounced the title of civilized people" , (about State Duma deputies) - these are just a few epithets that liberal journalists and the blogosphere have awarded the Russian president and Duma deputies from all four factions.

Novaya Gazeta and other online media are organizing regular campaigns to collect signatures of outraged writers, pop stars and Internet users - the last time such a mass hysteria took place only in the Pussy Riot case. The already notorious US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul made a special statement. A petition has been posted on the White House website calling for the inclusion in the "Magnitsky lists" of deputies who supported the "Dima Yakovlev law." To date, this petition has been signed by 13,000 people. If by January 20 the number of those who signed the petition reaches 25 thousand, the administration of the US President will take it for consideration. President Putin is under massive pressure to veto the law he supported during his press conference.

The first signs of a split in the ruling elite have emerged. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov, as well as Mikhail Abyzov, who coordinates the activities of a rather strange structure called "open government", declared their disagreement with the law passed by the Duma. Even patriotic people, such as TV journalist Mikhail Leontyev and historian Alexander Dyukov, expressed their disagreement with the adopted law.

The schism also affected the church ranks. The heads of two synodal departments expressed their full support for the adopted law - Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the Department for Church and Society Relations, and Archpriest Dimitri Smirnov, Chairman of the Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies. On the other hand, criticizing the law, the head of another synodal department, for church charity and social service, Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk and Vyazemsk, was unexpectedly surprised.

What is the essence of the problem, which once again led to the revolt of the notorious "creative class" and became a reason for disagreement in church circles?

The fact is that Russia, like all countries of the former Soviet Union, has become a base for the massive export of children with the aim, at best, of their subsequent adoption, and at worst, use in the field of child prostitution or transplantation. The most egregious case occurred with a certain Nadezhda Fratti-Shchelgacheva, who fraudulently, allegedly for adoption, took 1260 Russian children to Italy. Of these children, only five were adopted. Russian investigators found only five (!) Children adopted.

According to representatives of the Italian authorities, these children may well have become victims of black transplantation. According to the then Minister of the Interior of Italy Roberto Maroni, from 1974 to 2008. in Italy 9802 minors disappeared without a trace, 8080 of whom are foreigners. Every week in Italy, according to Maroni, eight young children disappear. As the newspaper La Stampa wrote, from the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea, where reception centers for illegal immigrants are located, more than 400 out of 1,320 children disappeared in 2009. Fratti-Shchelgacheva herself mysteriously managed to escape punishment and leave the territory of Russia without hindrance.

Russia has become one of the main suppliers of children to the United States and European countries - it has shared these "prizes" with Ethiopia and Guatemala. According to Pavel Astakhov, ombudsman for the rights of the child under the President of Russia, up to 30 thousand children were taken out of Russia during the 90s. In addition to the official ones, there were also "gray" schemes for the export of children - rest, treatment, study, acquaintance, etc. Today, the market for foreign adoption of children from Russia is about $ 300 thousand per year. On the territory of Russia there are about 80 intermediary firms for the adoption of Russian children by foreigners.

The average cost of adoption is up to $ 60,000 per child. Today, there are about 13 thousand residents of Russia in the queue for the adoption of children, but they do not pay for adoption and therefore are not interested in “business with children”. Foreign adoption is several times higher than Russian in the Jewish Autonomous Okrug by three times, in the Irkutsk region by 2.5 times, in the Khabarovsk Territory by 1.5 times, in St. Petersburg by 1.3 times. At the same time, in the same regions, there was still a queue of Russians wishing to adopt an orphan child: in St. Petersburg, there are 360 ​​people in the queue for adoption of children, in Khabarovsk - 185 people.

There is a false myth that Russians are only interested in healthy children, while Americans willingly adopt sick children. Of the 20 thousand orphans exported from Russia in 2009-2011, 70% are healthy children aged from several months to 6 years. In 2011, Russians adopted 188 children with disabilities, Americans - only 44. At the same time, it seems completely incomprehensible that Americans are interested in children from Russia. According to the American website The New Civil Rights Movement, 2.9 million unadopted orphans and 1.6 million homeless children live in the United States today.

The topic of the ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans was not born yesterday - it has long been expressed by the most diverse representatives of Russian society. For several years, we have been confronted with the facts of cruel treatment and even murder of Russian children in the United States. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, American justice is extremely strict when violence involves American children. For example, a court in the Texas city of Dallas sentenced local resident Elizabeth Escalona to 99 years in prison for bullying her own daughter, as a result of which the girl was sent to intensive care. At the same time, the same courts show "incomprehensible and unacceptable leniency" towards adoptive parents. Thus, in Pennsylvania, the Cravers, who were guilty of prolonged torture and death of seven-year-old Ivan Skorobogatov, on whose body 80 wounds were found, were sentenced to only 16 months in prison. At the same time, due to the fact that they served this term during the investigation, the Cravers were released right in the courtroom.

Brian Dykstra

At the same time, American Brian Dykstra, who beat to death one and a half year old Ilya Kargyntsev, never spent a day in prison. The adoptive father called 911 and said that the adopted son had a "minor seizure." Police and doctors found the child unconscious on the living room floor with "obvious head trauma." At the hospital, he was found to have extensive cerebral edema, severe intracranial bleeding, edema of the retina of both eyes, as well as severe bruising on the trunk and legs. According to doctors, the injuries were received by the child earlier in the day and were incompatible with the explanations given by Dikstroy. The boy underwent brain surgery, but he died without regaining consciousness. The investigation of this case lasted for several years, but the main suspect was released almost immediately. Having paid a bail of 15 thousand dollars, he did not spend a day in isolation. On November 3, 2011, the Johnson County Court of Iowa acquitted Dykstra. Throughout the trial, the American authorities did not say a word to either Russian diplomats or the Ministry of Education, which oversees the adoption.

In February 2009, a three-year-old Russian girl, Daria McNulty, was admitted to a Pennsylvania hospital, diagnosed with multiple second-degree burns, as well as bruises on her head, neck, limbs and back. The court found that her adoptive mother Teresa had been beating her for a long time. The sadist received about two years in prison, but this very freedom was released after 8 months.

In March 2010, Michael Grizmor was arrested in the United States, who systematically raped his adopted daughter Ksenia Antonova. The American citizen Martha-Annette Blenford, who adopted her from Kemerovo, after a while decided to abandon the girl. After that, Xenia was taken on bail by the family of Martha-Annette's sister, where the girl was sexually abused by her new adoptive father. The court still cannot make an unequivocal verdict against Grizmor, as he claims that sexual intimacy with Xenia took place "by mutual consent" even when the girl was already 16 years old (according to the laws of the state of Georgia, this is the age of puberty). Grizmor even submitted a certificate to the court stating that Xenia at the time of sexual intercourse with Grizmor was not 15 (as according to Russian documents), but 16 years old.

In April 2010, seven-year-old Artem Savelyev was found on a plane en route from the United States to Russia with a note accompanied by his adoptive grandmother Nancy Hansen. According to Mrs. Hansen, her daughter Tory "cannot become a real mother to Artem, since the child adopted in Russia allegedly" suffers from alcohol syndrome. " American justice did not take any special measures against Nancy Hansen and her daughter Tory.

In May 2010, American adoptive parents named Leszczynski decided to set up a real forced labor camp for three adopted girls from Russia. Children were raised early in the morning and forced to run 10 kilometers, and then sent to other "developmental activities", the main of which was standing with fists and sitting on nails. For every disobedience, the girls were severely beaten. According to the father of the family, Steve Leszczynski, this is simply "a system of upbringing for children from Russia" who "simply cannot be brought up in another way." As a result, the spouses Steve and Edelwina Leszczinski were sentenced by the American court to ... 4 years of probation and a ban on the adoption of a child under 15 years old.

In 2011, the Shed and Christie Trailors were arrested in Florida on suspicion of ill-treatment of their adopted Russian son, Maxim Babaev. The court subsequently closed the case. In September of this year, Russian diplomats demanded from the US authorities exhaustive explanations and the earliest possible establishment of Babayev's whereabouts in order to arrange a consular meeting with him, however, upon the request for consular access to the child, Florida District Judge J. Mal made a negative decision. The boy was transferred to temporary guardians, but Russian diplomats have not been able to find out his location and state of health. All requests for information about his location, the circumstances of the incident and the further fate of Maxim were refused.

In the same year, a 40-year-old manager from Massachusetts, who adopted a three-year-old Denis in the Voronezh region, simply gave him to her friends. According to the failed mother, she "did not feel warm feelings for the child." The agency Wide Horizons For Children, responsible for the adoption of the child, not only violated the deadlines for submitting mandatory reports on Denis's living conditions in the United States, but also forwarded inaccurate information to Russia. The report sent by the agency, in particular, said that Denis was doing well, he was getting used to a new life, he became attached to all family members. However, a month later, the agency reported that the American adoptive parent had abandoned Denis. Later it became known that the agency had transferred the boy into temporary custody to a new foster family.

In 2012, in the state of Virginia, seven-year-old Daniel Krichun, adopted by them in Tula, escaped from adoptive parents, spouses Matthew and Amy Sweeney, and said that he was often beaten in the foster family. On examination, traces of severe beatings were indeed found on his body. The Sweeney spouses were charged with child abuse by prosecutors and released pending trial on $ 20,000 bail.

But there are stranger things too. In particular, this is the Ranch For Kids shelter in Montana. There live, according to various sources, from 10 to 32 orphans from Russia, abandoned by foster parents, in complete remoteness from the outside world. Some children are transferred to the ranch immediately after adoption. In separate reports, the status of the child is designated as “happily living with a foster home” while on the ranch. Some children return to this ranch several times. Some are transferred to psychiatric hospitals or juvenile penal colonies.

In 2010, the orphanage was denied a license due to the fact that the premises for children were not properly equipped, that there was no sensible firefighting and fire evacuation plan, that the employees of the institution did not have licenses to carry out their activities, and the children themselves were actually deprived of any rights ... At the same time, most of the children on the ranch suffer from serious physiological and psychological disorders, but do not receive qualified medical care. Moreover, the owner of the institution, Joyce Sterkel, refused to provide the authorities with any detailed information about her pupils. Authorities in Montana have been pushing for the closure of the ranch since 2010.

A few months ago, the Association of Parental Committees and Communities (ARKS) began to develop a bill to restrict the international adoption of children in the working group of Deputy Yevgeny Fedorov, and this work was successfully completed. This bill should have been adopted regardless of the adoption or rejection of the "Magnitsky law". Thank God that the anti-Russian act passed by the American Congress and signed by the US President helped to pass the law prohibiting international adoption.

Yes, in addition to the above, there were good examples of adoption. And we should be grateful to those selfless families who were able to bring to life a fairy tale for thousands of disabled children. And we should be ashamed that in Russia there is no (or just faded away) the same attitude towards suffering children, as in most traditional American Protestant families.

But let's imagine that the American adoption of all Russian children is going well. That there were no 19 murders, numerous rapes and beatings of adopted children from Russia, their donations to other people or sending them on airplanes back to Moscow. Suppose even an Associated Press article about a strange ranch in Montana is a journalistic myth commissioned by Kremlin lobbyists. Let's imagine for a moment that all Russian children adopted by Americans are happy in new families. In this case, the adoption of Russian children - healthy and disabled - by foreign adoptive parents would be justified.

In my opinion, no. First, because Russia is not a banana republic. Russia cannot be ranked on a par with Ethiopia and Guatemala. If only for this reason, any foreign adoption of Russian children by foreigners (with the exception of Russians from the former USSR), for whatever "humanitarian" reasons, should be prohibited. Simply because no self-respecting country would allow it, just as the United States does not allow other countries to adopt 3 million of its own orphans. A beggar mother who sells her child to a wealthy family is committing a crime, no matter how kind the foster family may be. As journalist Denis Tukmakov wrote in his blog, if we choose “life with strangers” for Russian children, then we, as a nation, end there.

And secondly, there is the issue of faith. And this question, in my deep conviction, is the main one. Children born in Russia, many of whom have already been baptized in Orthodox churches, will find themselves in the bosom of an alien, heretical religious tradition. It is impossible to give children into the hands of practicing heretics (no matter how good people they are) even for the sake of saving their lives. Saving their lives, we close the way for their souls to salvation, which is not outside the Church of Christ. For "what good is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but does harm to his soul?" (Mark 8:36).

Both the state and the Church must learn from this whole story. It is necessary to eliminate all bureaucratic delays for Russian adoptive parents in the adoption of children. It is necessary to make sure that children with disabilities in Russia live as well as in America. The adoption of orphans should become the norm for Orthodox families. It is necessary to develop and encourage the system of church and monastic shelters, such as the orphanage in the Svyato-Aleksievskaya Hermitage, created by Hieromonk Peter (Vasilenko). Every public building and underpass must be equipped with wheelchair ramps. But the issue of foreign adoption must be closed once and for all.

Countries with which Russia does not have an agreement on the adoption of orphans will no longer receive a positive decision on the adoption of a Russian child. Only two countries have such an agreement - Italy and France. This was stated by Pavel Astakhov, Commissioner for the Rights of the Child under the President of the Russian Federation.

The adoption of Russian children has actually been suspended for citizens of countries with which the Russian Federation does not have an adoption agreement. At the moment, only two countries have such an agreement - Italy and France. This was stated by the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Pavel Astakhov, commenting on the explanations of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the procedure for applying the provisions of Federal Law No. 167 "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on Issues of Arranging Orphans and Children Left Without Parental Care."

We are talking about the clarifications of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated August 29 of this year on how the courts apply the provisions of Federal Law No. 167 "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Issues of Orphans and Children Left Without Parental Care", which prohibits adoption of children in countries where same-sex marriage is permitted.

If you carefully read these explanations, you will see the following thing: in fact, today international adoption in the courts of the Russian Federation will practically be terminated. The point is that in order for international adoption to continue, with the state with which it was carried out - we have about 20 such states - an agreement is required. We have it today with Italy and France. That is, there are only two countries.

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On June 18, State Duma deputies voted to ban the adoption of Russian children by foreign same-sex couples. In addition, orphans will not be given to single citizens of those countries where homosexual marriages are allowed. In addition to the ban on adoption of children by homosexuals, the size of the lump-sum allowance for adopted children with disabilities, children over seven years old, as well as blood brothers and sisters has been increased from 13 thousand to 100 thousand rubles. Remaining the current requirement for a 16-year age difference between the unmarried adoptive parent and the child he is adopting. Earlier it was supposed to exclude this norm, but the deputies considered that it would play into the hands of pedophiles.

Deputy Elena Afanasyeva spoke about the reasons for the ban on the adoption of Russian children by foreign same-sex couples.

Most often, citizens of Italy and the United States applied to Russian courts with a request for the international adoption of children in 2012, according to the statistics provided in the review of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of the practice of consideration by regional and equal courts of cases on the adoption of children.

In 2012, most often Russian children were adopted by Italian citizens (27% of cases considered with approval), US citizens (24%) and Spanish citizens (20%). In addition, according to the summary data, Russian children were also adopted by citizens of France (10%), Germany (5%), Israel (4%), Canada (2%), Sweden (1.4%), Ireland and Great Britain (1 %), Finland and Malta (0.6% each). At the same time, an insignificant place in the general statistics (up to ten cases) is occupied by adoptive parents from Argentina, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine and Austria.

The law prohibiting giving Russian children to same-sex families has reduced international adoption to a minimum. To restore it, the "adoptive" state needs to conclude a new agreement. So far, only Italy and France have such an agreement.

Moscow. September 18th. site - The adoption of Russian children has actually been suspended for citizens of countries with which the Russian Federation does not have an adoption agreement, said Pavel Astakhov, plenipotentiary for the rights of the child under the President of the Russian Federation.

He referred to the explanations of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated August 29 on how the courts apply the provisions of Federal Law No. 167 ("On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Issues of Orphans and Children Left Without Parental Care"), which prohibits adoption of children in countries where same-sex marriage is permitted.

Its meaning is that in order to continue international adoption with the state with which it was previously conducted, an agreement is required. “Today we have it with Italy and France. That is, there are only two countries,” the children's ombudsman explained. Earlier, children from Russia were adopted in about 20 countries. Adoption agreements are also being prepared with the UK and Spain.

There was a law banning the adoption of children by same-sex families. The document also prohibits the adoption of children by unmarried or unmarried foreigners from those states where such marriages are permitted.

Earlier, due to the fact that gay marriage was allowed in France, the Russian side wanted to terminate the agreement, but so far it is valid.

The situation with the adoption of Russian orphans

According to the head of the State Duma Committee on Family Issues, Elena Mizulina, even a bilateral agreement with Italy and France does not guarantee one hundred percent protection of the rights and interests of the child (such an agreement provides for strict control over the life of adopted Russian orphans abroad). Therefore, the parliamentarian proposes new measures to prevent orphans from entering same-sex families.

According to the agreement, the central authority of the receiving state (in this case, France and Italy) is obliged to notify the central authority of the state of origin (Russia) about the transfer of the child to another family for re-adoption. At the same time, a decision cannot be made if Russia does not familiarize itself with the information about new candidates and does not give consent to adoption (this happens if the child retains Russian citizenship).

Under the current legislation, foreign adoptive parents can jointly submit an application and actually deprive the child of Russian citizenship. This means that some provisions of the agreement will no longer apply to the child, since he will cease to be a citizen of the Russian Federation. "And if such a child is adopted into a same-sex family, then the Russian Federation will not be able to influence the fate of such a child," the explanatory note to the bill says.

Currently, Russian consular offices keep records of minor children adopted by foreigners. If a crime is committed against a child who has lost the citizenship of the Russian Federation, then the Russian side may not learn about the commission of such a crime.

The issue of foreign adoption has acquired particular relevance in Russia after the deaths of Russian orphans. Since January 1, 2013, Dima Yakolev's law has been in effect in Russia, prohibiting Americans from adopting Russian children.

Let us remind you that last week American journalists exposed an illegal network of intermediaries and traffickers in minors. According to media reports, 261 children were traded or sold in the United States. The vast majority of children (70%), whom their parents tried to get rid of, came to the United States from abroad, at least 26 orphans were adopted in Russia.

Citizens of countries where same-sex marriage is allowed will no longer be able to adopt orphans from Russia. The corresponding decree was signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The Russian government changed the rules for transferring orphans for adoption, adding a ban on foreign adoption by same-sex couples. The decree published today on the government's website contains a clause according to which adult citizens of both sexes can be adoptive parents, except for “persons who are in an alliance concluded between persons of the same sex, recognized as a marriage and registered in accordance with the legislation of the state in which such a marriage allowed, as well as persons who are citizens of the specified state and are not married. "

Thus, the ban on adoption applies not only to same-sex couples (President Vladimir Putin signed the relevant law back in July 2013), but also to all citizens whose countries recognize such marriages. “The implementation of the resolution will contribute to improving the procedure for transferring children left without parental care to be raised in families of citizens of the Russian Federation and foreign citizens and ensuring the protection of the rights and interests of such children,” the government is convinced.

Since January 1, 2013, Russia has banned the adoption of orphans by US citizens. In April of the same year, Vladimir Putin called for a review of the adoption agreement with France, where at that moment the issue of legalizing same-sex unions was being decided. At the end of 2011–2012, orphans from Russia most often left for the USA, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Ireland, Great Britain and Israel.

Same-sex marriages are currently recognized by Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Children from Russia will not be able to go to Belgium (18 adopted children in 2011-2012), Denmark, Iceland, Canada (109 adopted), the Netherlands, New Zealand (7), Norway, Portugal, Sweden (61 children) and a number of others countries. The question remains open whether citizens of Germany will be able to adopt Russian orphans, where same-sex unions are registered, but the adoption of children by such couples is prohibited. Italy, which adopted the most orphans from Russia at the end of 2012, does not register same-sex marriages at the moment, but there is an active debate on the legalization of such marriages in the country.

The author of the film about orphans "Bluff, or Happy New Year" Olga Sinyaeva in the "Kommersant FM": “This also applies to unmarried citizens. Personally, I am a supporter of traditional relationships, but children who grow up in orphanages, in an orphan environment, do not belong to themselves, they do not feel their body at all, contact with their body. They are constantly growing in the deprivation of, first of all, personal emotional contact. For them, especially for small children, it is so critical that if, for example, even a same-sex family or unmarried citizens can give this contact to a child, this close contact, then the child flourishes, comes to life and moves on. "

Why Alexander Bastrykin asked the United States to deal with orphans

In November 2013, the head of the ICR, Alexander Bastrykin, sent a request to the US Attorney General to verify the possible violation of the rights of 26 Russian children adopted by Americans. We are talking about the facts stated in the journalistic investigation of Reuters and the NBC television channel: as the correspondents established, an underground network of orphans exchange was organized in the states.

Why Intercountry Adoption Fizzled Out

In one European country there is a family that has been dreaming of a child for many years. Maria and Jan cannot have their own children. It is almost impossible to adopt a compatriot child: the number of those wishing to adopt orphans is several times greater than the number of orphans themselves. A few years ago, family friends adopted a boy from Russia with developmental delays and other diagnoses that are often found on the medical records of orphanage children. The adoptive parents spent a lot of effort and money, and today the boy goes to a regular school, draws beautifully and is dearly loved by all his relatives.

Where do Russian children who disobey American parents go?

One of the main arguments of supporters of the law prohibiting US citizens from adopting Russian orphans was the impossibility of exercising control over the life and fate of children. An example was a ranch for children located in the town of Eureka, Montana. According to Children's Rights Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, this orphanage was specially created for American parents who want to get rid of their adopted children from Russia. Mr. Astakhov claimed that he was not given the opportunity to visit there. Kommersant tried to figure out what was happening at the ranch and why Mr. Astakhov could not get on it.

How does the ban on American adoption work in practice?

In January, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation simplified the procedure for adopting orphans for Russian adoptive parents. And by February 1, the government was supposed to submit to the State Duma a bill that should stimulate the adoption of children with disabilities. The emergency measures were prompted by the widespread public reaction to the State Duma's legislative response to the "Magnitsky Act" prohibiting the adoption of Russian children in the United States. Kommersant has found out who will suffer from the "anti-magnetic law" and whether the Russian authorities will be able to minimize these losses.

Everything except Italy. Tomorrow, the State Duma will consider in the first reading the next amendments prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by foreigners. Who will be affected by the new bans and why are they needed, said Igor Sevryugin, a parliamentary correspondent for Dozhd, and Anton Zharov, adoption lawyer.

Dzyadko: Tell me, how much is all expected for you?

Zharov: Very expected. In fact, the termination of international adoption has already taken place. Now the deputies, in a strange way, through such a well-known person by the name of Fedorov, are again pushing the law, which, unfortunately, again has not been passed by any expert community, has not been discussed with anyone. And just the very first decision that came to mind, the very first idea in response to some problem that arose in the head of a particular deputy, this law is being pounded. Whether it will be adopted or not - this does not matter much, because today, in fact, and so, international adoption has been practically stopped to zero.

Dzyadko: Why?

Zharov: There is a very interesting story here. In the CIS countries, no one adopts any children, except for the options when the stepfather or stepmother adopts the child ...

Dzyadko: I mean, there are no volunteers?

Zharov: Of course not willing. Ukraine has its own problems, there is no queue to Kazakhstan either. They have plenty of children of their own. They have no need to go to Russia to adopt children. When we talk about international adoption, we mean adoption in Europe and earlier in the United States. Now in the US there is no adoption at all. In Europe, the situation is as follows - it has practically dropped to zero, adoption is only going to Italy and not only, because there is an agreement, because our courts in an interesting way accept this norm prohibiting adoption to single persons if same-sex union is allowed in this country.

After all, when your colleague said that adoption is prohibited in countries where same-sex marriage is allowed, this is not entirely true. Adoption by single people in these countries is prohibited, because suddenly he is the same, respectively, and same-sex couples go there. But our law enforcement officers, our courts have gone very far in this matter. They still do not allow adoption, explaining this by the following point - if something suddenly happens to the adoptive parent, the child will be left without parental care and can be placed in a same-sex family. That is, if the parents ...

Dzyadko: Here is a hypothetical situation on a hypothetical situation.

Zharov: Absolutely. That is, if both mom and dad die, and I must say that foreign adoptive parents are practically not given permission by local authorities, if they are not married, it is impossible to get it, for example, neither in Italy nor in Spain. A single adoptive parent practically does not receive permission there. The couple is married, and they actually say to her: "When you die, you are going to die before the child comes of age, and then the child can get into a same-sex family."

Again, very hypothetically, because in these countries it is not animals either who do not deliberately spoil the child's life or build it up in some other way. But this hypothetical situation, unfortunately, works almost like a clock. And there is absolutely no adoption in Western countries now.

Dzyadko: Why do you say that European adoption is practically zero, because there are not so many countries where same-sex marriages are allowed?

Zharov: Well, there is again a hypothesis on a hypothesis. In very many countries, same-sex marriage is not allowed, but various kinds of cohabitation are allowed, which are recognized as marriages to one degree or another. But our law enforcement practice interprets everything as broadly as possible. If at least in some form the country has recognized that there are same-sex unions, goodbye, adoption in this country is not carried out, because, God forbid, history will happen and further in the text.

But here the question is much broader than the initiative of a small five or ten deputies. Here the question is about what we are solving, what problem. After all, the issue of foreign adoption is not a thing in itself, it is a humanitarian issue. After all, adoption in another country around the world is perceived as the last chance for a child, which means that he could not be adopted in the country inside. In the Russian Federation, adoption abroad is, in principle, possible only if the child has been in the federal database for 12 months. This means at least 14, and in life it is 15-16 months of being in a child care institution, and maybe more.

In principle, no one needed this child for 15-16 months on the territory of the Russian Federation, either under guardianship, or in a foster family, or carcasses, or stuffed animals, to paraphrase the anecdote. And in this situation, out of despair, they try to give the child a family, believing that the family is more important for the child than any ideas about where he was born, and there it came in handy. It is this question that the deputies today are closing the last wicket through which it was possible to somehow get through, although in fact no one has got through it anymore.

Dzyadko: We heard today's speech by Olga Batalina in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, if I'm not mistaken, there was a certain event dedicated to adoption in particular. And she says that "Dima Yakovlev's law" has given positive results over the past two years, that it is in effect. Do you agree with her similar assessment?

Zharov: A very positive result - everyone started talking about it. He did not give any more positive result. He gave the results, in my opinion, directly negative. According to statistics, there are fewer orphans, in fact, the number of children in orphanages has not decreased, the number of children who can be adopted has simply decreased.

Dzyadko: Explain.

Zharov: The federal center requires a figure so that there is a lower-or-lower figure in the data bank of orphans. How can you reduce it? Send fewer children there. How is this done? If earlier the child ended up in the child's home, and almost immediately it could be transferred to the family, now, by hook or by crook, in various other ways, statements are received from relatives or from the child's mother that she allegedly temporarily placed the child in an orphanage. And a child can stay there for 3 years, 2 years, as many years as he wants, being considered as a parent.

The state pays the orphanage to be there, he is not considered an orphan, no one will give him to the family, there are no orphans in the data bank, no one is trying to arrange him in the family. In fact, parental care has been lost, but everyone is happy. The orphanage remained alive, the number of children in the data bank is falling, everyone is happy. But in reality the orphan problem is not being solved. Nobody asked the specialists about anything, everything was under the slogan “Give a figure, let's decrease it”, only Pavel Alekseevich and respected Olga Batalina could report that there were fewer orphans.

Dzyadko: If we talk about the number, have our citizens started to adopt more?

Zharov: No, the number of devices per family has remained at about the same level, it fluctuates from year to year. But you need to understand that if only adolescents - 12-13 and older years old and children with very serious diseases - are left in the data bank, then you need to understand that this figure will fall. Indeed, there is not so much to take a child with big problems neither in Russia, nor abroad, anywhere.

Dzyadko: And do people, citizens of other states, be it the United States, have those people who fell under the "law of Dima Yakovlev", or if we are talking about a single person, for example, from France, where a law has been passed allowing same-sex marriage, is there a possibility , if there are precedents of successful appeals against refusals in Russian courts?

Zharov: In principle, this is impossible, because these paths have passed not once, not two or three times up to the Supreme Court, and the answer is always the same. You see, this is a campaign, here no one thinks about children, here no one thinks about why this is being done and why. Here the command “Atu!” Is simply said, let's do it like this, and this is how it is done.

Unfortunately, most of the laws on children's topics that are now being adopted begin with the word “prohibit”. Prohibit adoption, prohibit custody, restrict, make it even more difficult, and so on. Therefore, children find it very difficult to get into families, which means that they have fewer chances to get there, which means that they have more chances to grow up in an orphanage with understandable consequences for these children.

Dzyadko: Communicating with people who deal with this issue, do you or other experts have a feeling that in the near future the vector or trend with regard to adoption will be changed from prohibitive to some other?

Zharov: I don't think so. If I were the director, if I were a deputy, this is the first thing I would do. Our government spending on education is decreasing, our government spending on healthcare is decreasing. This means that the issue of cutting costs will inevitably affect orphans. This means that even their today's stay in an orphanage will be even more difficult, difficult, and terrible. Name any word.

This means that by forbidding these children to get into a family of foreigners, or into any family in general, we make it so that these orphans can even less count on getting into a family, and will have to worry with our country, although they are absolutely not in this. we are to blame, we are of the age when we vote, and these children did not even vote, to experience the problems that most likely await us in the near future, although they are not guilty of anything.

Igor Sevryugin:

In Italy, there are no same-sex marriages and there is an adoption agreement, which is necessary to take Russian children into a family. If the law is adopted, then only the existence of such an agreement will give the right to adopt orphans from Russia. Those who do not have such a document will be banned. The corresponding amendment to the Family Code will be considered in the first reading on Tuesday. The authors of the bill believe that this will ensure the safety of children during adoption.

The bill was submitted to the State Duma a year ago. After all the approval procedures, the deputies are ready to submit it to the court of other parliamentarians. The initiative belongs to Evgeny Fedorov. The authors of the bill were also United Russia deputies Anton Romanov, Gennady Kulik, Oleg Valenchuk, Airat Khairullin, as well as members of the A Just Russia faction Alexander Terentyev and Oleg Mikheev.

As Evgeny Fedorov noted, control over the observance of the rights of Russian children abroad will be entrusted to Russian embassies and consulates. The deputy also added that now only Italy and France have agreements on adoption with Russia.

But in France, same-sex marriage is allowed, and in this case, the adopted law will conflict. There seems to be an Adoption Agreement, but in July 2013, Russia introduced a ban on the adoption of children by same-sex families.

Following this, our country stopped the practice of international adoptions with those countries where same-sex marriage and marriage are allowed and there are no agreements with Russia on adoption. In addition to France, Spain is also banned. This, incidentally, is the third country in terms of the number of adopted Russian children, said Deputy Fedorov. But even if she draws up an adoption agreement with Russia, she will still be banned. Chances of international adoption remain in Finland, where there are also a lot of orphans from Russia, and there are no same-sex marriages there yet.

But even if the United States tries to conclude such an agreement, it will most likely not work either. Indeed, since January 1, 2013, Russia has signed the "Dima Yakovlev law" prohibiting Americans from adopting Russian children. And as deputy Olga Batalina said today, there are already positive results from this law.

In addition to all currently existing bans, as well as those that are planned, for a long time they discussed the possibility of banning the adoption of Russian children by citizens of those countries that have applied sanctions against Russia, its citizens and legal entities. But the initiative of the deputy from the LDPR faction Roman Khudyakov was commented on by Olga Batalina, who said that there were no grounds for such a ban. But there is a basis for the Agreement on adoption, for which the State Duma in the first reading will vote tomorrow.

The deputies propose to remove the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States from the effect of these amendments. That is, the CIS does not need to draw up any agreements with Russia. The adoption procedure will remain the same.