John Thielepape, Director of Missions for the Parker Baptist Association, and his wife, Lottie, count their blessings everyday when they look into the eyes of their three children.
Kelcie, 18, is the oldest, followed by her two younger, energetic brothers, Sean, 9, and Nikolai, 8. What makes their story unique is that the two boys were adopted from Russia when the Thielepapes discovered they couldn't have any more children.While it's not unique to adopt children internationally, the Thielepape's story hits close to home with the news that earlier this month the Kremlin has decided to stop adoptions of Russian children headed to the U.S.John believes there were several reasons why the Russian government took such a hard-lined approach. First, he cited an incident that occurred in 2010 where a woman from Tennessee placed her 7-year-old adopted Russian son, alone, on an airplane and sent him back to Moscow saying he had behavioral problems and she didn't want him anymore."The Russian press carries stories about the 19 Russian children who have died in America through abuse out of the thousands who have been adopted," John said was another reason. "Each one of those situations is tragic, but so is the situation that hundreds of thousands of Russian children face who live in institutions without loving families."He said it was the lack of a bilateral agreement at the time between Russia and the United States that held up Nikolai's adoption. The agreement was being negotiated at the time, and since one had not yet been signed, the prosecutor objected to the adoption being granted by the district court."The local prosecutor in Krasnodar, where Nikolai was from, appealed our case to the Russian Supreme Court so we had to wait several weeks," he added.He said that, basically, the agreement was about Russians still having access to the children and making sure that they were being cared for.But John believes what put the latest chain of events into action was when Congress passed a law to freeze the assets of people who have been known to commit human rights abuses in Russia."In retaliation to that, the Russians were going to pass a law that had an element in it banning adoptions to the U.S.," John said. "They'll punish their children to get back at the U.S."He said Russia claimed that their going to increase its care for children living in orphanages but that he didn't see how that was possible because the resources were simply not there."It just makes me sad," John said. "We weren't planning on adopting again so it doesn't affect us in that way, but it's just sad that there are children that are not going to be cared for."He said that if Russians would step forward and adopt more that would be "great," but that the reality is that more children are going to remain institutionalized.John believes there are approximately 700,000 orphans in Russia and history shows that as soon as they turn 16 they "age out" of the orphanage, many without any skills. A small percentage go on to be productive but many enter into a life of crime or commit suicide."It's just sad that politicians are going to do what their going to do, rattle sabers, and in the midst of this the people that really do care about children, and want children to have a home - they are powerless," John said. "But it's the children that are the most powerless of all."He said he and his wife loved visiting Russia and that the Russian people were very kind to them."The adoption ban is driven by politicians with an agenda, not by ordinary Russian citizens," he added.Debbie Wynne, Director of Adoptions and Maternity Services in Dallas, and who the Thielepapes used when adopting, said they are "heartbroken" about the recent law passed in Russia banning U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children."It was an unexpected and tragic decision that puts the most vulnerable, at-risk children at greater risk with no regard to their human rights," Wynne said. "We are talking about primarily older children and children with special needs who were being adopted by U.S. citizens, especially through our Buckner adoption program."She said Russian families were not coming forward to adopt the children and that is why they were available for international adoption to begin with."Unless the Russian government does work to improve their domestic adoption system and actively seek more Russian families to adopt, hundreds of thousands of children living in institutions in Russia will never have a chance for a permanent family and continue to be raised in the institutions with little hope for a future," she said. "It is unbearable to think about what will happen to those children."She said Buckner has had the privilege to work in Russia for more than 17 years and has placed more than 260 Russian children with U.S. families."In 2012, we placed 31 children internationally with 12 of those being children from Russia," she said. "Processing adoptions in Russia was getting progressively harder over the last few years due to stiffer regulations which required families to make three trips to complete an adoption."She added that it had been "amazing to see wonderful families like the Thielepapes" come forward to adopt children from Russia despite the many challenges and hurdles experienced during the Russian adoption process."It has been a blessing to see over the years these older Russian children who have been adopted into U.S. families thrive and have the opportunity to reach their full potential within a loving family," Wynne said. "I cannot bear to think of what the alternative would have been had these children remained in the Russian orphanage system with no one to turn to once they reached adulthood."Since 1992, more than 60,000 Russian children have been adopted by Americans, according to the U.S. State Department.Twitter: @LancewinterHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
