If you’ve found this blog, then you’ve probably heard of the U.S.-Russian adoption. You’ve also probably heard about the American woman who put her Russian adopted child back on a plane back to Russia with a note on his chest. You’ve also probably heard about the man whose adopted child tragically died from heat exposure as a result of being left in the car all day.
It’s these examples and more that give Pavel Astakhov the moral steam to unashamedly resist Russian-U.S. adoptions. According to a recent NY Times article, Pavel Astakhov paints himself as a “fighter for the rights of Russian children,” and as one who is “fighting with those who violate children’s rights.”
The NY Times article also reports that Astakhov graduated from a KGB run law school and received a Masters of Law from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2009 he became Russia’s children’s rights commissioner – though he had little expertise in the area prior to the appointment.
The article points to light at to the end of the tunnel as there may be an agreement that will bring an end to the Russia-U.S. adoption ban on January 1, 2014.
For a closer look at the man behind the ban, you can visit the personal website of Pavel Astakhov.
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Thanks to the Center for Adoption Policy for highlighting this story.
Astakhov is doing NOTHING good for Russia’s orphans in keeping them in Russia. He is angry at 19, maybe 20 kids killed by American parents, which is right. Yet there have been 50,000-60,000 kids adopted by American parents from Russia over the years. He is a fool to think that kids are better off in his country where they are turned out on the streets at 16 years old. The kids with special needs are institutionalized for life. Most of them die in the institutions within a year or few after being transferred from the baby homes. Those kids have no chance at a good life and will have their lives shortened, thanks to Asthakov.
This is all so hypocritical of Astakhov. He says the US was his second home. He went to law school in the US. Had his wife give birth in a private hospital on the French southern coast plus owns expensive homes in the West, yet he condemns western influence on Russia and wants to stop Russian orphans from being adopted by the dangerous West. He is anti American but he openly supports, on his website, the American/Russian mother, Marianne Grin, who kidnapped her children from Italy to Russia, after losing custody for mental instability. He doesn’t care about children, he only wants to follow the anti-American wind currently blowing in Moscow