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Russians adopting disabled children more often than foreigners - ombudsman

“Russian families adopt children with disabilities by a factor of several time more often than foreigners do,” he said
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

St PETERSBURG, July 10 (Itar-Tass) - Claims that foreigners adopt disabled children in Russia much more often than the Russians themselves do are little more than a myth, the Russian President’s ombudsman for the rights of children, Pavel Astakhov said Wednesday during a trip to the Leningrad regions.

“Russian families adopt children with disabilities by a factor of several time more often than foreigners /coming to Russia for adoption purposes - Itar-Tass/ do,” he said.

The issue of a note, in which the U.S. Department of State was asking to make an exemption from the so-called Dima Yakovlev law and to permit the adoption of 259 children by American parents after the transition of the law into legal effect, is definitively closed, Astakhov said.

“The issue is closed and no lists exist anymore,” he said, adding that a total of 116 children from the list have already found new families and another five children have returned to their mothers.