The U.S. State Department said Russia had 3,816 children adopted by U.S. parents in fiscal year 1997, compared to 3,597 from China. In the previous fiscal year, Americans had adopted 2,454 Russian children. With the number of foreign adoptions growing since Russia began allowing them in 1992, two cases of abuse allegations in the United States provoked broad indignation in Russia and provided emotional fuel for the proposed changes. A Phoenix couple is accused of abusing their adopted Russian daughters on their flight from Moscow back to the United States. May. The girls were placed in the custody of Mrs. Thorne's brother while the couple undergoes psychological evaluations.
Criminal charges are pending.
Renee Polreis was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Polreis and her husband, Dave, contended the boy suffered from a psychological disorder that caused him to harm himself. Experts say the condition, reactive attachment disorder, affects children who received little affection as infants. A kid has died, and that means we ought to change the rules. The legislators' main goal, he said, is to have foreign parents personally go through adoption procedures and to curb the intermediary activities of adoption agencies, which lawmakers accuse of corrupting Russian officials charged with guarding children's rights.