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Kids, for the adoption of which the court verdicts were passed before January 1, 2013, can go to their US foster parents

The Russian Supreme Court gave explanations for regional courts on Tuesday

The Russian Supreme Court gave explanations for regional courts on Tuesday, how the decisions should be taken for the adoption of Russian children by the US citizens. The kids, for the adoption of which the court verdicts were passed before January 1, 2013, can go to their US foster parents after all. The law that envisages the full ban on US adoptions of Russian children came into effect from January 1, 2013.

The Russian Supreme Court has made public this explanation on Tuesday in reply to a letter from Russian Presidential Children’s Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov, “Russian children can be adopted by their US foster parents in the cases, the court verdicts under which are passed before January 1, 2013 and entered in legal force (including after January 1, 2013) on the adoption of the children, who are Russian citizens, by the US citizens,” the Novye Izvestia daily quoted the document as saying.

On the first day of this year a resounding Dima Yakovlev law entered into force, the newspaper recalled. The new law envisages the ban on US adoptions of Russian children. The law is named in memory about a 2-year-old Russian boy, who died as his foster US father locked him up in the car amid a heat spell. The Tuesday ruling of the Russian Supreme Court will embrace only 40 disabled children, the court verdicts for their adoption by the US adoptive parents were handed down before the beginning of this year.

However, some questions arise, whether the US-Russian adoption agreement will remain in effect partially, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily noted. Some human rights activists said that under Article 17 Clause 5 of the agreement the adoption will be possible for one more year after the enactment of the foresaid law. Other activists did not agree with them, noting that the effect of the agreement would be terminated on January 1, 2013, simultaneously with the enactment of the law on the ban for adoptions. The media have recently made the reports that some adoptive parents, who gained the court verdicts for adoption before January 1, 2013, cannot take their adopted children.