How do children live in America, adopted to "the law of Dima Yakovlev"

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At the end of December, it will be 5 years since the adoption of the “Dima Yakovlev Law” in Russia, which banned the adoption of Russian children by US citizens. Before this, according to official statistics, since 1999, more than 46 thousand children from Russia have found new families in America.

The story of two such children told the publication “Currently,".

Brian and Matthew Devine were adopted from the orphanages of the Bryansk region 16 years ago after employees of the organization World Links They invited a group of orphanages for the summer holidays to a small city in the state of Pennsylvania.

The American host family loved the boys so much that they decided to adopt them. First, Brian moved to his new parents, and a year later, Matthew. So they became brothers. Very soon other children from orphanages appeared in their family.

Now Brian has a mom, dad, three sisters and three brothers. All children are from different Russian orphanages.

Brian and Matthew still remember very well their first days in America.

“I’ll tell you one story, it happened right after I was adopted. My dad took us to a hockey game and we went out to eat. I ordered chicken wings and fries. Everyone had finished eating, but I hadn't finished the potatoes yet. I took everything that was left, put it in my pocket and ate throughout the game. For me then it was normal. In the orphanage, we always took with us the food we didn’t finish, put it under the pillow and ate it at night. It looks funny now, but back then my shorts had greasy potato stains all over them. It was funny,” Brian said.

Adaptation was not easy - an unknown language, unfamiliar classmates, unusual holidays.

The elder Brian supported Matthew from the very first days of his arrival.

“It all started with his arrival. Then the grass was being watered on the school field, and during recess Matthew decided to run through the streams of water and got wet. Our mom got a call from school and was told to bring him dry clothes because it happened during lunch and he had to be at school for another 3-4 hours and he couldn't go back to class because he was all wet. So it was fun for my mom, I'm sure,” Brian noted.

There were many such “fun” moments at the beginning of a new life, but every year the brothers’ behavior changed. Matthew credits the change to his family and Brian's influence in high school, as well as his friends.

“I have a lot of friends who were adopted too. I have a friend from Guatemala who was adopted when he was just a child. And I see how they change with age. And I see how I have changed since I came here,” Matthew admitted.

The brothers studied in the same school, but in different classes. Lessons, friends and sports - everything was common.

In high school Matthew was engaged in powerlifting. Brian was his trainer. Together they traveled to Costa Rica and Sweden to train. Matthew was a champion of international competitions. For this, he thanks Brian.

Now that school is over, a new period has begun in their lives.

Matthew just finished school. He is going to go to college to study the mechanics of diesel installations. And Brian has already graduated from college and received a diploma builder.

Brian says that he immediately found a job - not the best, but a good one. And later, his father talked with the company that built their house, and he was hired by that company.

Two and a half weeks ago Brian got married. He has just returned from a honeymoon trip.

“We went to the Dominican Republic. It was wonderful. My wife also does powerlifting with me. We have a lot in common. We hope to buy a house next year,” the man said.

In America, it is customary to marry at a more mature age, when you stand confidently on your feet, and you have a successful career behind your back. And a married 23-year-old man gets a little out of the general trend.

Brian explains his early marriage by falling in love and knows what he wants to do.

He has already decided on his life priorities: “I would say family, be happy, take care of yourself and what you do. What's the point of doing something if it doesn't make you happy? You just feel depressed. Life is too short to be depressed. Be happy! Make the most of all the opportunities on your way. I think that's what came to me with adoption, because you realize that you gain new opportunities, and you don't take anything for granted. You just have to take whatever life gives you.”

Let us recall that the “Dima Yakovlev Law” was adopted by the Russian State Duma on December 28, 2012, along with a package of Russian sanctions against foreign citizens and became a response to the “Magnitsky Law” - an anti-Russian sanctions list. This regulation established a ban on the adoption of Russian children for all US citizens and came into force on January 1, 2013. This act received its name in honor of a 21-month-old baby adopted from Russia. He died in 2008 due to the fault of his adoptive father, Miles Harrison, who forgot the child in the car in the heat. The man was later acquitted by the court. Supporters of the law argued that it was safer for Russian children to remain raised in their homeland.

The “Dima Yakovlev Law” was adopted against the backdrop of a discussion of tragic cases with adopted Russian children in the United States, but, as practice shows, the Russian passport of the adoptive parent or guardian is not a guarantee against such manifestations, writes RBC.

According to Veronika Voronova, the number of cases of ill-treatment of children adopted or taken care of has begun to grow. According to statistics from the Investigation Committee of Russia, 2015 brought thousands of people to the court who had committed crimes against children - 11,5% more than a year before.

406 children were killed, and in 193 cases of crime were committed by relatives, 153 children died from the actions of their own parents, 7 - from the actions of adoptive parents and carers, and three died in boarding schools.

Difficult category

According to the office of the Ombudsman for Children's Rights, information about 61 794 children is now stored in the state data bank on juvenile orphans.

“At the same time, it is almost impossible to find a small child under three years old and still relatively healthy. There is a queue of adoptive parents for such children! In reality, in orphanages there are children over 10 years old, with a certain path in life, children with serious health problems, as well as brothers and sisters who should be taken into a foster family together,” said the Commissioner for Human Rights in Moscow, Evgeniy Bunimovich.

According to statistics from the office of the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, a third of all children in orphanages have disabilities or serious health problems, half have brothers or sisters, and 80% of orphanage residents are over 10 years old - all of them are difficult categories for adoption.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How do children in the USA adopt from 15 years ago?

How do children from Russia live in the USA?

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