Russia will establish a ban on changing the citizenship of adopted Russian children in order to continue to reenforce their Dima Yakovlev Law, which ended the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens in late 2012. Along with this citizenship ban–which is lifted when the child comes of age–there will also be a ban that would restrict the transfer of adopted Russian children to other families.
As of this year there are 53 NGOs–non-government organizations– in Russia that specialize in adoption. Russian officials will be closing off branches the government doesn’t have control of and centralizing the adoption process intergovernmentally with other countries. The Russian government believes these NG’s are responsible for organizing the transport of Russian children to the U.S. after the ban.
The Russian government will continue to pursue gaining and maintaining control over all adoptions in Russia.
What does this mean to Russian children hoping to be adopted? The adoption process will slow to a snail’s pace and will most assuredly become a headache for any foreigner wishing to adopt Russian children, preventing many Russian orphans from finding permanent families.
