On December 28, 2012, Vladimir Putin signed a law that prohibits U.S. citizens from adopting children from Russia. It went into effect on January 1, 2013. Currently, the ban will only last for one year–until January 1, 2014. It has yet to be determined if those currently in the Russian adoption process will be allowed to continue, and it’s still unclear if Russia will allow those children who have been adopted out of the country. The US government is trying to come up with a compromise with the Russian government, but nothing has been sorted out yet. Check back later for updates.
*UPDATE* – The Russian government released a letter on January 22, 2013 that states U.S. prospective adoptive parents whose cases already had court approval before or on January 1. 2013 will have the decision honored. This means that the adopted children will be placed with their adoptive families who have already received judge approval and official custody will be granted accordingly.
