R 250633Z JUN 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3957
INFO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 
AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 
AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG

UNCLAS MOSCOW 001661 
 
 
DEPT FOR CA/OCS/CI AND EUR/RUS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: CVIS CASC KOCI PGOV RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN MEDIA, OFTEN CRITICAL OF FOREIGN 
ADOPTIONS, NOW TURNS GAZE TOWARD DOMESTIC ABUSE 
 
REFS:  A) MOSCOW 368 B) MOSCOW 692 C) MOSCOW 1466 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  A recent series of news items in the 
Russian press has cast an introspective spotlight on the 
perils that Russian children face in orphanages and 
domestic adoptive families.  The media has increasingly 
drawn public attention to a spate of incidents in recent 
months in which Russian children have been victims of 
domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and neglect in 
orphanages and foster families.  After months of 
persistent Russian media coverage on a handful of tragic 
international adoption cases, which peaked following the 
death of a Russian-American adopted child in 2008 (ref 
A), the recent news stories have injected a degree of 
balance into the Russian media's portrayal of adopted and 
foster children.  U.S. adoption agencies have downplayed 
the effect on the political climate for international 
adoptions in Russia.  However, even-handed coverage on 
the dangers that Russian children face at home has the 
potential to tilt the public dialogue towards a more 
balanced approach to foreign adoptions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  Recent Russian concern over the safety of 
international adoptions, with a focus on U.S. adoptions 
in particular, intensified with the death of Chase 
Harrison, an adopted Russian-American who died last July 
after his father left him in a locked car in Virginia. 
News of the father's acquittal received prolonged, 
scathing coverage in the Russian press as politicians 
clamored for restrictions on international adoptions. 
The public outcry also had political repercussions; on 
March 18 the State Duma approved a resolution urging the 
Russian Government to conclude bilateral agreements on 
adoptions with the United States and other destination 
countries for Russian orphans (ref B).  The indignation 
surrounding the Harrison case infused political urgency 
into Russian government policy to encourage more Russian 
families to open their homes to orphans through adoption 
and foster placements (ref C). 
 
¶3.  As the Russian government turned its attention to 
encouraging domestic placements, however, the media has 
provided a steady flow of graphic reminders of the 
everyday dangers that Russian children can face at home. 
In May, the press highlighted two recent incidents of 
alleged child abuse, applying tabloid headlines about 
"beaten" children returned home as "used goods".  In the 
Russian city of Tver, a two-year-old girl arrived at the 
hospital with multiple injuries while authorities 
searched for her legal guardian.  Prosecutors initiated 
criminal proceedings, suggesting that officials had 
neglected to carry out required safeguards before placing 
the child in her foster home.  Earlier this spring, 
another incident generated revulsion when local 
authorities in the Moscow Region permitted the return of 
a four year-old boy to his parents shortly after he 
turned up in a hospital covered with bruises, burn marks, 
and evidence of head injuries.  Authorities were derided 
for accepting the parents' account that he had simply 
"fallen down the stairs"; local physicians insisted that 
his older injuries were indicative of abuse over time. 
 
¶4. One prominent incident in April focused public outrage 
squarely on a horrific example of mismanagement and 
neglect at a Russian orphanage in the Sverlovsk region. 
A regional court acquitted the director of a local 
orphanage following reports that more than 30 children 
had been raped while under his staff's care.  Media 
reports mocked the judge's decision by citing the 
certainty of local law enforcement authorities that the 
director was fully aware of the violent crimes taking 
place under his supervision but kept silent for fear of 
ruining his career.  Yet another media story pointed to 
the callousness and irresponsibility of a Kaliningrad 
couple that attempted to "cancel" its adoption when they 
were refused a loan two months after taking custody of 
the child. 
 
¶5.  While the media coverage may be drawing attention to 
Russia's endemic social ills as potential dangers for 
orphaned children, some adoption agencies remain 
skeptical of the impact of these stories on the climate 
for foreign adoptions.  Natasha Shaginian of Happy 
Families, a New York-based international adoption agency, 
feels encouraged by the balance in Russian media 
coverage.  She says the stories are promising evidence 
that the public is looking inward at the country's social 
problems associated with alcoholism, child neglect, and 
domestic abuse.  Others make the point that these cases 
are gaining attention simply for their value as tabloid- 
driven scandal, drawing readers with lurid details of 
abuse and neglect.  Alex Dzurovchik of the Pennsylvania- 
based International Assistance Group (IAG) downplayed the 
impact on foreign adoptions, attributing the media 
coverage to sensationalism rather than to journalistic 
balance. 
 
¶6.  Some observers acknowledge, nonetheless, that as the 
Russian public becomes more aware of the dangers that 
orphans face at home, it may also take a more sympathetic 
and pragmatic view of international adoptions.  One of 
this spring's most widely-publicized stories drew 
widespread public support for a foreign adoptive family 
of a Russian child.  A 6-year-old girl who had been 
adopted by a Portuguese couple as an infant was returned 
to her Russian mother by a Portuguese court.  The girl 
speaks no Russian; her Russian mother had been living in 
Portugal illegally and was subsequently deported. 
Television coverage sparked a public outcry by airing 
footage of the girl crying upon learning that she was 
adopted and would be returned to her mother in Russia. 
Media coverage also focused on the Russian mother's 
alleged alcoholism and abuse; within days, a YouTube clip 
had generated over 11,000 signatures on a petition 
calling for the girl's return to Portugal. 
 
¶7.  According to Alex Dzurovchik of IAG, the Portugal 
story could reflect a favorable change in the climate for 
foreign adoptions.  He points to the thousands of online 
comments by Russian users advocating for the child's 
return to Portugal as an example of public revulsion over 
the abusive conditions that children can face in Russian 
families.  While tragic incidents associated with foreign 
adoptions will always command media interest, he says, 
instances of abuse in Russian families and orphanages are 
drawing just as much attention.  Natasha Shaginian makes 
the case that negative media attention on foreign 
adoptions has been falling recently as instances of 
domestic abuse have captured public curiosity. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  The Russian press will undoubtedly cover the painful 
issues of child abuse and neglect whether they occur in a 
Russian home or a foreign adoptive family.  However, the 
recent media focus on the failure of Russian authorities 
to protect the country's most vulnerable citizens may 
reflect -- or trigger -- increasing public concern and 
awareness of the dangers confronting Russian children in 
orphanages and foster care.  Such portrayals may produce 
a public opinion climate that is more balanced and fair- 
minded when reacting to coverage of rare instances of 
abuse or neglect of Russian orphans at the hands of 
foreign adoptive parents. 
END COMMENT. 
 
BEYRLE