The Russian news today reported the DUMA (Russian Parliment) voted to continue adoptions to Americans. The Russian authorities decided that they did not want to stop these adoptions as most of them are successful. They recognize the majority of adoptions have both happy parents and happy children. They indicated that they are concerned about the welfare of the children. In order to protect children they indicated that both countries should promote more openness. A commitment was offered to work on removing some of the barriers that protect privacy of important information on children so that important information will be fully disclosed to adopting parents. Russian officials are very pleased with the meeting that occurred last week with the US State Dept. and indicated that the next meeting on May 12th will only be for additional discussion and that an agreement will take several months to formalize.We are moving forward with your adoptions. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Warm regards,
Brent E Yoder
