Irish couples who wish to adopt Russian children must now enter the adoption process on their own, without the use of an adoption agency, the Minister of State with responsibility for children's affairs, Ms Mary Hanafin, has told The Irish Times in Moscow. "Couples can still come to Russia to seek adoptions but they cannot use an agency," she said.
Strict new Russian regulations on adoption stipulate that agencies can deal only with couples from their own countries. American adoption agencies which have helped Irish couples adopt Russian children in the past will now be restricted to acting on behalf of American citizens.
The new rules also stipulate that agencies wishing to act in Russia must be established for at least five years and must have an operation based in Moscow. No Irish agency meets these requirements.
Up to the end of 1999 Irish couples adopted 133 Russian children and in the first half of this year 30 children were adopted.
"Russia is fast becoming the most popular country for foreign adoptions," Ms Hanafin said. "It had been working very well and was a very positive experience for everybody. The parents themselves have set up a network and they met the Russian ambassador to try and ensure that the children don't forget their culture even though they have full Irish rights."
Ms Hanafin met the Russian Education Minister, Mr Vladimir Filipov, in Moscow as Ireland is about to ratify the Hague Convention on adoption. As a signatory of the convention Ireland could continue to have adoptions from countries which have signed the convention or with which Ireland had a working arrangement.
The meeting with Mr Filipov was set up more than two months ago with a view to setting up a working arrangement with Russia but two weeks ago Russia changed its own procedures. "The good news was that Mr Filipov announced that Russia is going to sign the Hague Convention," Ms Hanafin said, "but their own changes that they have introduced are going to make life difficult, because they are being very stringent, and quite rightly so, on the number of agencies working here. They would be concerned, and we would have concerns, about a lot of the agencies and about the fees they're charging."
Ms Hanafin stressed that Irish couples can still come to Russia and seek to adopt children without the mediation of an agency. This was a very difficult procedure, she said, but couples have done it successfully.
