[mimc]

I found this story in the adoption.com news site, and it seems a little out of character, given the anti-adoption sentiment that seems to be coming from some in Russia lately. Has anyone heard anything about this?


180,000 RUSSIAN ORPHANS ON WEB Jun 3 2005


Bid to find homes for kids

By Mark Ellis



RUSSIA has put 180,000 children up for adoption on the internet.

A government website offers would-be parents the chance to choose the sex, hair colour and eye colour of their child.

The site will encourage foreign couples to adopt. An English language version is to be launched in the next few days, with German, Spanish and Italian to follow Russia is struggling to cope with 800,000 orphaned or abandoned kids. Education minister Andrei Fursenko said of the website: 'We intend to help the children find families that will love them.'

The site has details of 180,000 youngsters. Each child's profile is accompanied by a photo and a description of his or her personality, such as 'sociable' or 'lively'.

A search of the site for blue-eyed boys with blond hair born in 2002 yielded 263 returns.

The site has a section for disabled kids and a gallery of drawings by the children.

One girl painted a scene with flowers and birds and added the message: 'For my new mummy and daddy.'

The site says adoptions can be completed online.All clients have to do is hand over documents to Russian consulates.

Would-be parents will be asked to prove that they are healthy, have no criminal record and earn enough to raise a child. They only have to go to Russia once - to collect their youngster.

The numbers of children abandoned in Russia have soared since the collapse of communism. The state-run orphanage system does not have the cash to cope.

Of about 24,770 children adopted last year, 38 per cent were taken by foreigners. Only five per cent of those who went overseas came to Britain.

The UK Government said overseas adoptions were strictly controlled.

A spokesman said: 'It is a popular misconception that it's easy to adopt from abroad. It is probably more difficult than adopting in the UK.

'It is a very strict and lengthy process. Adoption is only allowed if it is in the child's best interests and we work closely with the Russian authorities

[dcfuss1996]

This seems way out of character, given the sentiment of the Russian courts and the laws that they have passed in regards to using the internet for adoptions.

[mimc]

Exactly. That's why I was so puzzled to see it on news.adoption.com. I am wondering if it is some sort of hoax, because the article(s) that I've found on the subject don't list an actual website.

[Kasey]

The actual website is on the FRUA boards, yes it is real and many people have actually seen their referrals on it, it is only in russian so you need to use a translation site to convert it, there was a thread below concering this, but no links to that kind of site is allowed here, if you search the thread you can find the previuos discussion about it, it seems they are really trying to promote domestic adoption.

[klk88]

The MOE has set up a website of all available children for adoption. This happened just a few days ago. I found my kids on the site and got a little worried. I called my agency and they said not to worry. We will just have to wait and see how this will impact international adoptions. This could actually be good news as far as maybe no more blind referrals. There was a posting about this earlier with a little more information about it.

[bmarsicano]

I actually found a baby picture of my soon to be daughter on it. At least I'll have a baby picture of her for her scrapebook.

[proudmommyof 2]

I found a picture of Tommy on it. Should I freak out? How often do they update these? There is still contact info on there.

[Vicki H]

I looked but couldn't find it, maybe I was clicking on the wrong link on the website.

Vicki

[RussiaBoundMom]

I too, found a baby picture of my daughter. It was bittersweet seeing her little face in a picture I haven't seen yet on this website promoting her to others. :O(

[Shay]

How are you finding pics of children on this site? I found the English version but do not see pics on there.

[Ktates]

Someone on another forum found their child that they adopted 9 months ago - not sure how true that is but I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't the most up to date thing...especially when they are just starting to get it up and running...I hope it just encourages more people Russian or foreign to adopt!

[papedge]

can someone pm me the web address


please

[papedge]

thanks everyone who pm'd me I have found the web site

[cherylanderson3]

can someone pm me the web address and how you get the english version or how you searched on it

thanks
cheryl

[carolindy]

can someone pm me also with the web address?
thanks