U.S.: Status of Russian Adoptions Unclear

Updated at 5:03 p.m.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday that adoptions of Russian children by U.S. families had been suspended, although other Russian and U.S. officials disputed this.

Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said during a briefing that new adoptions by Americans are on hold pending a visit in the next few days by a U.S. delegation to reach an accord on future placement of Russian children.

The U.S. hopes to resolve a bitter dispute that broke out last week, when an American woman sent her 7-year-old adopted son back to Russia on a plane by himself.

"Further adoptions of Russian children by American citizens which are currently suspended will be possible only if such a deal is reached," Nesterenko said in a televised briefing.

"Russia believes that only an agreement that contains effective tools for Russian and U.S. officials to monitor the living conditions of adopted Russian children will ensure that recent tragedies in the United States will not be repeated," he said.

But the Russia Education and Science Ministry, which oversees international adoptions, said it had no knowledge of an official freeze. A spokeswoman for the Kremlin's children's rights ombudsman said that organization also knew nothing of a suspension.

And in Washington, the U.S. State Department said the administration had gotten conflicting information when it sought clarification from Russian officials about the status of adoptions. Spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. was continuing to seek clarification. "Right now, to be honest, we've received conflicting information," he said.

A State Department official says Michael D. Kirby, a deputy assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, will leave this weekend for Moscow and has scheduled talks on Monday and Tuesday with Russian officials, CBS News Reporter Charles Wolfson reports.

For now, the State Department has set up an e-mail address russiaadoption@state.gov for Americans with questions about pending adoptions.

A spokesman for Russia's foreign ministry, Andrei Nesterenko, said U.S. and Russian officials will discuss a possible bilateral adoption agreement "in the next few days."

The Tennessee woman who sent back her adopted Russian son last Thursday claimed she had been misled by his Russian orphanage about his condition.

The driver hired to pick up the little boy at the airport in Moscow told the Associated Press Wednesday he looked cheerful, played with a Spider-man toy, and did not seem to show any of the mental problems the woman claims he has.

Russians were outraged that no charges were filed against her in the United States.

"How can we prosecute a person who abused the rights of a Russian child abroad?" Russia's children's rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, said in a televised interview Wednesday. "If there was an adoption treaty in place, we would have legal means to protect Russian children abroad."

Some 3,000 U.S. applications for adopting Russian children are now pending, according to the Joint Council on International Children's Services, which represents many U.S. agencies engaged in international adoption.

But the numbers have declined sharply in recent years - with only 1,586 U.S. adoptions from Russia last year, compared with more than 5,800 in 2004.

Russia itself has been a big factor in the drop-off, adoption experts said, citing a perception that many children from Russian orphanages can present special challenges, due to such conditions as fetal alcohol syndrome.

Russian lawmakers for years have nevertheless suggested suspending such adoptions, after other cases of abuse and even killings of Russian children adopted in the United States.

Thousands of American adoption advocates had hoped this week to petition Russian and U.S. leaders to prevent the halt in adoptions announced Thursday. Poignant pleas from would-be adoptive parents were included in an online petition, signed by more than 11,000 people and addressed to President Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, the council said.

U.S. officials appeared willing to consider Russia's demand for a formal adoption pact, after years of resisting such entreaties while arguing that an international accord called the Hague Convention would be sufficient once Russia ratified it.

"We're willing to talk about some sort of bilateral understanding where we would ensure that these kinds of things could not happen," U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, told CBS's "The Early Show".

More on Russian Adoptions

Driver: Russian Boy Didn't Seem Mentally Ill
Petition Urges Russia Not to Halt Adoptions
Ambassador: Russian Boy "In Very Good Hands"
Adoption Scandal Abuse Probe
U.S. Adoptions from Russia
Officials to Visit Moscow to Discuss Adoptions
Adoption Outrage
Orphan Uproar
Russia's Adoptions Threat Worries Advocates

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