Legal loopholes open door for adoption abuse Monday, January 30, 2006
By DAVID RYAN, Register Staff Writer
Napa-based adoption firm Yunona USA is closed now. Its leader was reportedly arrested in Russia last week, and the accusations that Yunona scammed more than a dozen U.S. couples is now under investigation by Napa law enforcement agencies. [More...]

Adopting internationally January 29, 2006
By Ruth Ann Replogle Lifestyles Editor
Paige Keithly saw a segment by TV newswoman Diane Sawyer about adoption from Romania and was hooked. “From that point on, we were set on an international adoption,” Keithly said. At the time, Keithly and her husband, Kent, were living in Wichita, Kan., and had a 2-year-old. [More...]

Leader of Napa adoption agency may be under arrest Thursday, January 26, 2006
By DAVID RYAN, Register Staff Writer
Russian authorities have apparently detained Ivan Jerdev, the owner of Napa-based adoption firm Yunona USA, and will likely charge him with fraud and illegal disclosure of confidential information, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday. More than a dozen would-be adoptive parents across the United States allege Yunona engaged in bait-and-switch tactics to convince them to spend thousands of dollars to adopt children from around the world. The couples later found out the children were never available, and then could not get refunds from Yunona. [More...]

TV spotlight on Sarah's story 1/25/2006
Charity worker's adoption anguish revealed tonight This charity worker battling against the odds to adopt her Romanian foster son, will be sharing her story with the nation on TV this evening. Luton woman Sarah Wade, 24, who lives and works in an orphanage in Romania, tried to adopt four-year-old Dylan last year, after she realised the special bond they had, and how much he had developed in her care. [More...]

KidsFirst service creates families, bonds January 26, 2006
Gatherings get word out about adopting children from Russia, China.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- Before adopting a child from another country, Michael and Michelle Marker of Washington Township advise talking to as many people as possible. The couple adopted a boy and a girl from Russia nearly a year ago through KidsFirst Adoption Services in Indianapolis. Michelle met other adoptive families while working at a dentist's office in Fishers. [More...]

INT'L "CHILD-SELLING" RING BUSTED Wednesday, January 25, 2006
An international child-trafficking group has been busted, in a joint operation involving the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and U.S. law enforcement agencies. According to a report by Interfax, Russian and U.S. citizens had set up an organization known as Unona in California, to take advantage of law loopholes to collect confidential information on children in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Guatemala and a number of other countries. It then sold the data to adoption agencies [More...]

Internet Adoption Jan. 25, 2006
Ivan Zherdev, president of the U.S. Yunona Charitable Fund, has been detained in Russia on suspected infringement of child’s privacy right and on suspected fraud. According to Krasnodar investigators, Yunona’s business was to illegally gather and sell to adoption agencies the data on private lives of children from Russia’s orphan homes or boarding schools. Exactly Yunona helped adopt Alex Geiko, who was killed by his adoptive mother Irma Pavlis just in a few months after leaving for the United States. [More...]

Russian Prosecution and US police exposed group of child traffickers January 25, 2006
The Russian Prosecution together with the US police has stopped unlawful activities of an international criminal group that pretending rendering various services was practically involved in child trafficking [More...]

Russia, U.S. Halt Activities of Adoption Firm Suspected of Human Trafficking 24.01.2006
MosNews
Russia’s Prosecutor General’s office together with the U.S. law enforcement bodies have stopped the activities of an international firm suspected of trading in children. The firm Yunona was established in Napa County, California, by Russian and U.S. citizens. Russia’s deputy prosecutor general, Sergei Fridinsky, quoted by Interfax news agency, said the organization formally rendered legal services but was actually “engaged in a real children trade”. [More...]

Russian and US special services arrest international child traffickers 01/24/2006
The services of the agency that was virtually selling children to the USA cost up to $20,000 Russian and US special services have conducted a special operation in Moscow to arrest members of an international criminal group that was dealing with the trafficking of children. The operation was completed successfully. "The group was conducting illegal activities for several years under the guise of various public services," Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia, Sergei Fridinsky said Tuesday. [More...]

Russia, U.S. break up child-trading gang 24/ 01/ 2006
MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russian prosecutors and American law-enforcement agencies have broken up an international criminal group trading children, the Prosecutor General's Office said Tuesday. "The Russian Prosecutor General's Office and U.S. law-enforcement bodies have ended the operations of an international criminal group that engaged in child trafficking for several years under the guise of various services," prosecutors' statement said. [More...]

Russia, U.S. bust child-trafficking ring (Part 2) Jan 24, 2006
MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - An international child-trafficking group has been busted in a joint operation involving the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and U.S. law enforcement agencies. "Pretending to provide various services, this group was effectively engaged in trafficking in children," Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky told Interfax on Tuesday. [More...]

Russia Vs Traffic in Children Moscow, Jan 24
(Prensa Latina) The Russian Attorney General´s office dismantled an international network of t raffic in children Tuesday, which provided confidential information to adoption agencies in Independent States Community countries. Deputy Attorney General Serguei Fridinskiy informed that the criminal group has for years carried out their illegal acts under the pretext of providing different medical services for years, supported by organizations registered in Russia, Ukraine and other neighboring nations to legalize adoptions for foreigners. [More...]

Jacksonville family adopts two Ukrainian children January 23, 2006
By April Barbe
Three-year-old Valerie and her baby brother, Casey, sat on a park bench in the Ukraine, in the cold — alone. On a Thursday night in Jacksonville recently, Valerie and Casey, now almost 5 and 3, sat at a table with their two new brothers, and “Papa” and “Mama.” [More...]

Giving a home Monday, January 23, 2006
by Juan Ameen
Between 2000 and 2004, Maltese couples have adopted 245 children from 18 countries, including Malta. Juan Ameen talks to Laura Agius from the Adoption Unit in the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry to find out what the adoption process entails and the problems that couples may encounter [More...]

Hardest question: Why? Sat, Jan. 21, 2006
Family strife, misguided discipline often behind slayings of children
ERIC FRAZIER
efrazier@charlotteobserver.com
Why would a person kill a child?
That's the gruesome question some are asking as police investigate the deaths of two children. It's the second double homicide case in the Charlotte area in two weeks. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police charged David Lauren Crespi with fatally stabbing his 5-year-old twin girls Friday in southern Mecklenburg County. In Cabarrus County last week, Lisa Louise Greene's 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son died in a fire at their Midland home. Greene is charged in the deaths. [More...]

Transforming adoption Saturday, January 21, 2006
By Stephanie Dunnewind
Seattle Times staff reporter
MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Kenda Cook fell in love over the Internet. Surfing the Northwest Adoption Exchange's online pictures of waiting foster children, one 8-year-old girl's "bright eyes just jumped out of the Internet at me," said the Bonney Lake single mom. Cook eventually adopted Siobhan, now 13, as well her half-brothers, Curtis, 11 and Kerry, 8. "Through that one little Web page I have built an entire family from adoption," she noted. [More...]

A lesson in charity and orphanages Saturday, January 21, 2006
By BILL STERLING
What better gift could there be than the gift of family? And there is always the gift of hope. Gifts have taken on a new meaning for three children in the household of Jeff and Linda Harlow of Accomac. Natalia, 12, Delena 10, and Tatiana, 9, spent the early years of their lives in a Russian orphanage before being adopted by the Harlows three years ago. [More...]

For Lorelei, every day is Mother's Day January 21, 2006
By Amy Berkowitz
Times Herald-Record
aberkowitz@th-record.com
Rock Tavern - Last Mother's Day, Lorelei Osborn hoped to hold baby Nikita, but since his adoption was blocked by court dates and paperwork she could only look at a picture of him in a Russian orphanage. Now, Lorelei steps outside her home and looks into her son's bedroom window and sees something she never thought would happen. Her husband, Eric, is sitting in a large green chair cuddling their son and reading him a bedtime story. It's then Lorelei realizes that every day is her Mother's Day. [More...]

On 'bribes' and the international adoption business Friday, January 20
By CORRINE NIKOLENKO
We have followed your coverage of the adoption company Yunona. We do appreciate the fact that your latest article explains that my husband, Alex Nikolenko, quit the company prior to any consumer complaints. Thank you for writing it. One issue, though, that concerns us is the concentration of your Jan. 17 article on "bribes" of officials. I think Americans misunderstand the word "bribes" in how things occur outside of the Western world. The fact is that, unfortunately, it is only in the Western world that business regularly occurs without "bribes." The word "bribe" means "money given with a view to corrupting the behavior of the person." Basically, it means money given outside of the rule of the law. In the second and third world, because systems do not work with the same uniformity or diligence as they do in the Western world, money is often given to the assisting person in the country to make it work with the same diligence as in the United States. [More...]

Taubman fails to change Tariceanu's mind on adoption laws Friday, January 20, 2006
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu declared yesterday that his recent meeting with American Ambassador in Bucharest, Nicholas Taubman, has not influenced his opinion on international adoptions. "I told the American Ambassador that the country's current laws should not create hopes for foreign families who want to adopt children, but, on the contrary, the laws are restrictive and meant to encourage national adoptions," the PM said. [More...]

6,000 Russian children adopted by U.S. families in 2005 Jan 18 2006
YEKATERINBURG. Jan 18 (Interfax) - Adoptions from Russia represent the second largest number of annual foreign adoptions by U.S. citizens with 6,000 Russian children being adopted by American families last year, U.S. Consul General to Russia James Pettit told a news conference in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday. Children's communities across Russia are home to some 800,000 children, including 120,000 orphans, Pettit said. The United States would like to encourage adoptions by Russian citizens, he said. [More...]

Underground network moves children from home to home 1/18/2006
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
TRENTON, Tenn. — At the end of a long tree-lined driveway, amid 18 acres that include a greenhouse and gazebo, sits a historic plantation home where, a state indictment says, children were beaten and forced to sleep in a totally enclosed baby crib. [More...]

Asian Adoptions On the Rise Jan 18, 2006
C.N. Le,
Asian Nation,
In the last several decades, the adoption of children born in Asia to new parents in the U.S. has become increasingly common. As these adopted Asian children grow up in predominantly White families, they frequently encounter adjustment and ethnic identities issues and conflicts about their "place" in American society. [More...]

U.S. Ambassador Taubman speaks out on adoption and crime Thursday, January 19, 2006
Alecs Iancu
Romania must respect its pledge to resolve inter-country adoption cases, in spite of the virtual ban of all inter-country adoptions after new laws came in effect last year, said the U.S. ambassador. "The American government believes the Romanian government has made several promises regarding the adoption of children by American families and this promise (...) must be respected," said U.S. Ambassador Nicholas F. Taubman during a press conference yesterday. [More...]

Former Orphaned Teen To Continue Collecting Luggage Monday January 16, 2006
Sherwood, AR - A teenager has collected more than 1,000 pieces of luggage for children in foster care. 16-year-old Katya Lyzhina was orphaned in Russia and now lives with her adoptive parents in Arkansas. She remembers carrying her belongings in a trash bag and read recently of a Pulaski County foster child who had to do the same thing. [More...]

Family to talk about international adoption Mon, Jan. 09, 2006
Anyone interested in international adoption is invited to attend an informational meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Ford Rockwell Branch Library, 5939 E. Ninth. A family that adopted through the Children's Hope International adoption and humanitarian agency will offer information about adopting from China, Vietnam, Russia, Colombia and Kazakhstan. [More...]

Foreign changes derail adoption January 15 2006
But a Lake Worth family hopes to unite Romanian twins with their sister.
By Joel Hood
Staff Writer
Palm Springs · Madalina stands erect, stiff, as she peers into the camera lens with a perplexed glare. Her brow furrows beneath a red knit cap. Her twin sister Manuela appears more playful, gently shoving Madalina aside to mug for the camera. Manuela's mouth is slightly open and she has a tuft of light brown hair hanging down over her forehead. [More...]

From Russia with love January 14, 2006
Eastburg family grows to 9 with adoption of Down syndrome child
CAROL O'NEILL
Pocono Life Writer
Two-year-old Yulia Grace Torres smiles as she walks around the living room on hands and feet. She hasn't quite mastered walking upright yet, but she's determined to get around any way she can. Born with Down syndrome Aug. 5, 2003, in Russia, the blond-haired toddler now lives in East Stroudsburg with her new family — five sisters, one brother and two parents who adore her. [More...]

Bleak House, Moscow
Red tape and xenophobia block foreign adoptions
By Kevin O'Flynn
Newsweek International
July 4 issue - From their farmhouse in New Hampshire, Dan and Joanne Berard e-mail Christina, the deaf girl in Moscow they hope will become their adopted daughter. Christina is 18 years old but has the mental age of a 6-year-old. The Berards want to bring her to the United States with her two teenage siblings, Vala and Chinza. If Christina's adoption falls through, her future will almost certainly be bleak. [More...]

Trial scheduled in 2-year-old's death Jan 13, 2006
From Staff Reports
A March trial date has been set for Peggy Sue Hilt, 33, a Wake Forest woman accused of beating her 2-year-old daughter who died in a Virginia hospital, a prosecutor said Thursday. Hilt is charged with murder in the death of Nina Hilt, 2, who was adopted from a Siberian orphanage by Hilt and her husband, Christopher. Peggy Sue Hilt's trial is scheduled to begin March 1, said Paul Ebert, commonwealth attorney for Prince William County, Va. A mental evaluation found that Hilt was able to stand trial, he said. [More...]

Russia: orphanages found spending 1 US cent a day per child Jan. 13, 2006
An investigation by the Russian general prosecutor's office into violations of the law in state orphanages has found some institutions allocate as little as one US cent a day for each child's care. The report reveals catastrophic conditions in thousands of children's homes across the country, many of them crumbling buildings where children go barefoot or without adequate clothing. [More...]

Russian orphanages spending less than a penny a day on each child Friday January 13, 2006
Tom Parfitt in Moscow
The Guardian
An investigation by the Russian general prosecutor's office into violations of the law in state orphanages has found some institutions allocate as little as 30 kopecks (0.6p) a day for each child's care. [More...]

Chechnyan orphan struggle Friday, January 13, 2006
By ASYA RAMAZANOVA
GROZNY, Chechnya -- In the quiet of the small library of Grozny's only orphanage Madina Akhmadova, 15, sits reading an Agatha Christie novel. "I've been here since 2001," she says sadly. "I came here after my parents died; Mama died in the second war, Papa in the first." Akhmadova attends classes at School No. 33 and says she wants to study law at university, train to be a lawyer and "fight injustice." "First of all I will defend the rights of orphaned children," she adds [More...]

Bad Parenting 101 Friday, January 13, 2006
Two gay films premiering in Atlanta teach lessons in guilt, hope and perhaps most strongly, how to raise messed up kids.
By BO SHELL
Lost parents, lost children and the search for reunion and closure are threads that tie together two gay films premiering locally on Jan. 13. “Loggerheads” is a film about the consequences of closed adoption, and “Breakfast on Pluto” tells the story of an orphan’s search for his birthmother. Both movies bring diversity to the big screen, with the former shining as the better film. [More...]

Romania struggles with adoption dilemmas 13 Jan 2006
BUCHAREST: Theodor's mother abandoned him in hospital soon after giving birth. Three years later, the dark-haired boy with a shy smile is living with a foster mother in a bare apartment in Bucharest, still waiting to be adopted. Theodor's story, and the tales of tens of thousands of other Romanian orphans, pull at the heart-strings in a country where adoption and child care were crippled and corrupted by years of dictatorship and the graft-tainted society it spawned [More...]

Andersons Tell of Ukranian Adoption, From Zero to Three January 11, 2006
By Yvonne Miller
Sitting in their living room, Michael and Jayne Anderson and their three children appear to be a typical all-American family. With two sisters and brother wrestling on the floor while their parents occasionally hush them as the aroma of dinner baking wafts through the house, nothing seems out of the ordinary. While building a family is never easy, this picture was especially interesting and difficult to create. It took an international adoption and lots of faith. [More...]

Russian-born man sued in California over adoption scandal 11/ 01/ 2006
WASHINGTON, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - Authorities in California have filed a civil lawsuit against a Russian-born man for defrauding U.S. families that sought to adopt Russian children, a local newspaper said Wednesday. According to the Napa Valley Register newspaper, the local district attorney office has filed a suit against Ivan Jerdev and two other defendants for more than $1.5 million, and is seeking an injunction to officially close the Yunona USA adoption agency. [More...]

Wexler asks Romanian leader to dig into twins' adoption case Wednesday, January 11, 2006
By Susan R. Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, spent Tuesday in marathon discussions with top Romanian government leaders and members of nongovernmental adoption organizations in Bucharest appealing for help on behalf of Richard and Kathy Springer. The suburban Lake Worth couple has been stymied for three years in efforts to adopt twin 4-year-old girls, biological sisters of their 8-year-old daughter Gabriella, who was adopted from Romania in 1998. [More...]

Napa County DA files civil suit against defunct adoption company January 10, 2006
NAPA – Prosecutors have filed a civil lawsuit against the owner of a defunct adoption firm and two former employees who are accused of taking money from would-be adoptive parents for children who were never available. The Napa County District Attorney's Office obtained an injunction Monday ordering the shutdown of Yunona USA's Web sites, Deputy District Attorney Daryl Roberts said Tuesday. [More...]

Congressman urges adoption of Romanian twins Tue Jan 10, 2006
By Justyna Pawlak
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A member of the U.S. Congress wants Romania to bypass its ban on foreign adoptions and allow twin girls to join their sister and her adoptive parents in the United States. During a visit to Bucharest on Tuesday, Congressman Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Florida, praised Romania's efforts to improve its once horrific child welfare, the saddest legacy of Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. [More...]

U.S. congressman to seek flexibility in adopting Romanian children 2006-01-10
The adoption of children by people in other countries, now banned in Romania at the request of European Union lawmakers, is an issue that should be judged case by case, a visiting U.S. congressman said Tuesday. Congressman Robert Wexler, from the state of Florida, said he will press the case for flexibility in permitting Romanian children to be adopted abroad, particularly in the case of Florida residents Richard and Karen Springer, who adopted a Romanian girl seven years ago and have been fighting to adopt her two younger twin sisters. [More...]

U.S. Court Condemns the Hansens for Leaving in Danger Children Adopted in Russia Jan. 10, 2006
The U.S. Utah Court passed a surprisingly mild award re: the Hansens, who had been initially charged with felony counts of child abuse/neglect and misdemeanor count of child abuse concerning the children (four and five years old) adopted in Russia. [More...]

Chechnya: Forgotten orphans Tuesday, January 10, 2006
War and social breakdown have left thousands of children without a proper home
by Asya Ramazanova
In the safety of the small library of Grozny’s only orphanage Madina Akhmadova, 15, sits and incessantly reads Agatha Christie detective novels. “I’ve been here since 2001,” she explained sadly. “I came here after my parents died. Mama died in the second war, papa in the first.” [More...]

A special gift January 09, 2006
BY STACEY SHEPARD
The Tonawanda News
North Tonawanda, NY —
Cindi Tysick found herself on Christmas Day in an orphanage in Russia waiting anxiously to meet a one-eyed toddler named Mara, her soon-to-be daughter. The decision to adopt a special needs child from another country came to the 38-year-old North Tonawanda resident and University at Buffalo librarian three years ago, when she realized she still was single but ready to start a family. [More...]

Wexler off to Romania to promote inter-country adoptions Monday, January 9, 2006
Congressman will urge officials to let Palm Beach County family complete its adoption
by Dale King
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., a senior member of the House International Relations Committee and ranking Democrat on the Europe and Emerging Threats Subcommittee, is in Bucharest, Romania through Wednesday to focus on the issue of inter-country adoption. [More...]

Waiting can be hardest part By Michelle Mitchell
For the Palladium-Item
Jennifer and Jerry Spencer tracked the shipment and took the day off work to wait for the special package from China. It contained the identity of their adoptive daughter, Jiselle, and the picture of her that now hangs on their refrigerator. The FedEx truck pulled up and Jennifer couldn't wait any longer. "My baby's in that envelope!" she yelled as she ran out into the rain to meet the unsuspecting delivery man Aug. 2, 2004. [More...]

Busy family adapts to adoption Sat, Jan. 07, 2006
By HEATHER SVOKOS
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
A year ago, the Star-Telegram chronicled the awe-inspiring adoption saga of the Waybourn family. Two trips to Russia and five new sons later, Bill and Laura Waybourn would be forever altered. And so would a handful of Russian orphans. With so much at stake, with the potential for so much to veer off-kilter, one might reasonably wonder: Will this work? A year later, we check back in and find out. [More...]

Victim of child porn, 13, joins legislative fight Saturday, January 7, 2006
By Kevin Rothstein
Her face is already known to the corrupted minds of child pornographers worldwide, but now 13-year-old Masha Allen is going public to help pass a law opening up child porn purveyors to bigger penalties for their sick practices. “I know that the abuse stopped,but those pictures are on the Internet and that shouldn’t happen to anyone,” Allen said at a press conference yesterday with Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). “I’m going public to help other kids because no one should have to go through what I went through, or what thousands of others go through.” [More...]

Napa adoption firm closes under fire Saturday, January 7, 2006
By DAVID RYAN, Register Staff Writer
Napa police were responding to the concerns of just one woman when they raided a Napa-based adoption business last month. But the list of those who say they were bilked by Yunona USA is long and diverse, with several families claiming they were never able to adopt a child and lost more than $10,000 in the effort. [More...]

Russian sisters reunited by couple from Columbia Friday Jan. 6, 2006
By GREG MENZA/Staff Writer
Maria and Katya Amosova were having breakfast in the tiny Russian village of Bulgalcova when officials came to their home and took them away from their parents. They have not seen their parents or siblings since that day. Shortly after being removed from their home, the children were separated and questioned by authorities [More...]

Seeking Doctors' Advice in Adoptions From Afar January 3, 2006
By JANE GROSS
MINNEAPOLIS - Dmitry, a 15-month-old Russian orphan, grins playfully in the photograph on Dr. Dana Johnson's desk here at the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota. It is an appealing image but useless for the task at hand. Dr. Johnson is looking for the telltale features of fetal alcohol syndrome. For that, he needs a photo of Dmitry, expressionless, looking directly into the camera. [More...]

Worldwide adoptions spawn a medical field TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2006
By Jane Gross The New York Times
MINNEAPOLIS Dmitry, a 15-month-old Russian orphan, smiles playfully in the photograph on Dr. Dana Johnson's desk here at the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota. It is an appealing image but useless for the task at hand. [More...]

Local couples make international adoption their "Plan A" Jan. 3, 2006
By Molly Snyder Edler
In the popular cartoon "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends," none of Miss Spider's kids look the same. Bounce is a blue bed bug, Squirt is green with purple legs and Shimmer is a pink jewel beetle. Such is the case for thousands of Wisconsin couples who have adopted children from other countries and buzzed beyond the belief that family is defined by DNA. [More...]

A hard look at children up for adoption TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2006
By Jane Gross The New York Times
MINNEAPOLIS Dmitry, a 15-month-old Russian orphan, smiles playfully in the photograph on Dr. Dana Johnson's desk here at the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota. It is an appealing image but useless for the task at hand. [More...]