The United States continues to process some child adoption cases with Russia, Special Advisor for Children's Issues Suzanne Lawrence said on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th March, 2019) The United States continues to process some child adoption cases with Russia, Special Advisor for Children's Issues Suzanne Lawrence said on Thursday."On Russia, there are some pipeline cases that continue to be processed," Lawrence said.
In late 2012, the Russian parliament approved legislation dubbed the Dima Yakovlev Law, which banned the adoption of Russian children by US nationals, among other provisions. The law is named after a Russian toddler who died of heatstroke in 2008 after his adoptive US father left him in a car in the sun for nine hours.
Lawrence expressed the US readiness to cooperate with any country on adoptions but said that all international cases require willingness on the part of the country of origin for children to be adopted.
"And we are absolutely open to having conversations with countries that are interested in having a partnership with us and working to make this a possibility for children who have exhausted all other options," Lawrence said.
Earlier on Thursday, the US State Department published its annual report on international adoptions. In fiscal year 2018, American families adopted 4,059 children from other countries, or 655 fewer than the previous year, the report said.
