This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

180935Z Apr 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALMATY 001415 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Frankfurt for RCO RBROWN 
State for CA/CI: CLAMORA; SCA/CEN JMUDGE; DRL/PHD CKUCHTA- 
HELBLING 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KOCI PREL PHUM PGOV CASC CVIS KPAO KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN ADOPTIONS: ALLEDGED ABUSE OF ADOPTED 
CHILD SPARKS HEATED DEBATE 
 
REF: LAMORA/LODINSKY EMAILS 
 
¶1. SUMMARY.  The first-ever reported allegation of sexual 
abuse of an adopted Kazakhstani child in the United States 
has ignited a firestorm of anti-adoption criticism in the 
Kazakhstani parliament and provoked widespread hand wringing 
among adoption providers and pro-adoption advocates.  With 
confirmed information scarce on the alleged abuse, some 
parliamentarians have called for a moratorium of further 
adoptions and have brought to a head the previously stagnant 
draft amendments to the current Kazakhstani Family and 
Marriage code.  In an effort to provide information to the 
Kazakhstani public, the Ambassador has led a coordinated 
effort to meet with media representatives and senior 
decision makers to discuss general adoption issues in the 
context of the allegation. 
 
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Report's Ripple Effects 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  News reports that an adopted Kazakhstani child had been 
abused in the United States ignited a firestorm of 
consternation in the Kazakhstani parliament last week, and 
led to the introduction of several bills calling for a 
banning of intercountry adoptions.  Although legislation 
modifying current adoption regulations was ultimately 
rejected, the reported abuse served as a convenient platform 
for anti-adoption advocates.  The ensuing debate also 
revealed that a reported 100,000 children are living without 
the care of their biological parents in Kazakhstan. 
 
¶3.  Embassy was initially alerted to the report by a key 
Ministry of Education contact that had heard of the 
allegation and requested the embassy investigate its 
veracity.  On Friday, April 7, the weekly Kazakhstani press 
published headlines trumpeting the alleged abuse and "the 
scandal of Kazakhstani children in the United States." 
Subsequently, the consular section, in close cooperation 
with CA/CI, has maintained an ongoing dialogue with key MFA, 
MOE and local adoption coordinators to provide them with the 
most accurate and complete news on the allegation.  Ministry 
contacts and local officials were initially stunned by the 
report and concerned about the inevitable backlash in the 
parliament and among the public.  Their fears were quickly 
confirmed. 
 
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Parliament Debate Condemns Adoptions; Exposes Rifts 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶4.  Days after the report first aired, the Kazakhstani 
Parliament, in a previously scheduled debate on adoption and 
family issues, seized on the abuse story to launch charges, 
countercharges, and anti-adoption hyperbole.  Several 
deputies demanded a ban of intercountry adoptions.  A later 
report that the accused child molester had been released on 
bail fueled even sharper vitriolic debate.  Deputy Tito 
Syzdykov accused Kazakhstan of gross negligence in adoption 
processing and charged that the government is unable to 
track the status of adopted children abroad.  "Why don't we 
care about our citizens?" Syzdykov charged, "We sell oil and 
gas, but we should stop selling our children."  Deputies 
focused attention on the number of children adopted by 
single parents, same-gender parents, and homosexuals.  Other 
deputies demanded that the Prime Minister and Procurator 
General investigate the allegation and report back to the 
parliament. 
 
¶5.  A director of an Astana-based orphanage charged that the 
bail paid by the alleged abuser "was outrageous; if he had 
been caught in Kazakhstan he would have been shot."  The 
Deputy Akim (or mayor) of Almaty pointed to the failure of 
adoptive parents to submit post placement reports (PPRs) 
confirming the status of adopted children as "the key 
problem.  We do not have information about adopted children. 
We are the child's country and we need to know about her 
life." 
 
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Venting Accomplished; Proposals Tabled 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  Although the debate on the Family and Marriage Code was 
heated and sustained, no modifications to existing law were 
passed, and current law was allowed to remain in force. 
Local media were remarkably balanced in their reporting of 
the debate.  An Interfax report examined the variety of 
opinions between the upper and lower houses of Parliament 
and of experts from within the government itself, and 
concluded that although the case of the abused child was 
tragic, equally tragic was the status of thousands of 
abandoned children in Kazakhstan.  Parliament rejected calls 
to make only sick and ill children available for adoption, 
the prohibition of adoption by single prospective parents, 
homosexuals, and adoption "to parents residing in bad 
weather countries and in difficult social and economic 
conditions." 
 
¶7.  The government agreed to establish an ombudsman position 
that would be charged with safeguarding the rights, health 
and treatment of Kazakhstani children both domestically and 
abroad.  A working group consisting of representatives from 
UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and several NGOs has been 
formed to hammer out a draft proposal on the creation of an 
ombudsman office.  According to press accounts, the 
ombudsman will be an independent entity with full 
investigatory authority. 
 
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Over 94,000 Orphans in Kazakhstan 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  The abuse allegation revealed the dark underside of the 
plight of orphaned children in Kazakhstan.  According to the 
minutes of the parliament debate, there are over 94,000 
orphans in Kazakhstan (population 15 million); of that 
number 16,843 live in orphanages and over 80 percent of the 
orphans are "ill children" with a growing number infected 
with sexually transmitted diseases.  According to Bakhyt 
Syzdykova, Chairman of the Parliament's Adoption Committee, 
"Kazakhstanis adopt only healthy children-and if the 
children are found to be ill they are frequently returned to 
the orphanage or abandoned again."  Of the 5,000 Kazakhstani 
children adopted over the past decade, ten percent were 
adopted by single prospective adoptive parents (PAPs)-- 
providing ammunition to anti-gay adoption groups that 
Kazakhstani children are endangered by homosexuals. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Cost of Adoption: Between USD 100 and USD 25,000 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶9.  Although the cost of adopting in Kazakhstan was not 
mentioned in the debate, Post received a diplomatic note 
several days later asking for an explanation behind figures 
the Embassy estimates as the cost of adoption.  According to 
the diplomatic note, the "official" cost of adopting a child 
"can be no more than USD 100, while the Embassy states that 
the cost is between USD 18,000 and 25,000."  Although the 
embassy has no first-hand statistics supporting the higher 
amount, we gleaned the adoption cost figures from 
questionnaires completed by PAPs prior to their departure 
from Kazakhstan. 
 
¶10.  According to the questionnaires (taken from 266 PAPs 
FY2006 year and 3,701 overall from FY2000 to present), 71 
percent claimed the cost of adopting a child was between USD 
15,000 and USD 30,000.  The majority of families (36 
percent) stay in country between 31 and 49 days. 
Approximately 12 percent of PAPs stayed in Kazakhstan for 
more than 50 days, with a few reporting stays of 75, 90, and 
120 days, respectively, with most of those stays occurring 
in FY2005 and FY2006.  Many PAPs make multiple trips to 
Kazakhstan with one family admitting to having returned 
three times.  Fully 66 percent of PAPs adopted one child, 
while 14 percent adopted two children (the remaining 
percentage is "unknown").  Forty percent of adopted 
Kazakhstani children were male and sixty percent were 
female. 
 
¶11.  The huge disparity between the "official" and "real" 
cost of adoption is due to how one computes the actual cost 
to adopt a child thousands of miles from the United States. 
The GOK ignores travel and per diem costs, as well as the 
cost of food, clothing, transportation and facilitation 
services in Kazakhstan.  In addition, there is substantial 
anecdotal information that PAPs provide orphanages and a 
range of Kazakhstani officials with financial "gifts" to 
compensate them for completing adoption processing 
expeditiously. 
 
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Post's Outreach Program 
----------------------- 
 
¶12.  Post has embarked on a sustained and aggressive 
outreach program to inform the Kazakhstani public of the 
circumstances behind adoption by Americans and to dispel 
rumors of how the pending allegation of abuse would be 
handled in the U.S.  The Ambassador, Public Affairs 
officers, and Consular officers have met with print, 
television, and media representatives as well as with MFA 
and MOE officers to provide the fullest detail behind the 
alleged abuse.  Extended interviews have aired on all 
national television newscasts and have received prominent 
display in the print media as well. 
 
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Comment 
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¶13.  The first-ever reported abuse of a Kazakhstani child by 
an adoptive American parent caused a strongly negative 
reaction here. Despite the rhetoric and hyperbole of 
parliamentary debates, there were signs that the allegation 
would spur deputies to make a serious review of current 
adoption laws and strengthen the largely unregulated plight 
of orphans in Kazakhstan, including the potential for a 
centralized PPR database.  Fears of a complete adoption 
moratorium have subsided; however the prospect of an 
informal slowdown of adoption dossier processing is an 
ongoing threat, given that judges and prosecutors may feel 
that political attitudes toward international adoption are 
now changing.  The embassy will continue its proactive and 
aggressive outreach efforts, in close cooperation with 
CA/CI, to answer questions and dispel rumors. 
 
Ordway