Russian Adoptions May Be on Hold for South Florida

Tennessee woman's return of boy hurts South Florida families

An adoption controversy that started in Tennessee and ended up in Russia could have devastating consequences in South Florida.

Prospective parents like Annette Vitier, a Miami-Dade school social worker, are worried that a new Russian policy could leave them childless.

The problems started when a 7-year-old boy showed up back in Moscow after his mother in Tennessee sent him alone on a 12-hour flight with a note in his backpack that said she couldn't care for him anymore.

Russian child care services moved in to act, and now Vitier, just one of many South Florida families currently in the pipeline to adopt a child from Russia, may not be adopting anytime soon.

"I'm a wreck. It's very devastating with what's happened, the fact that Russia is stopping adoptions," Vitier said. "I've invested my heart, my love, my time into this, I'm in the process right now, and for Russia to stay they're stopping, it's a very difficult situation."

"It's incomprehensible," said South Floridian Maria Del Carmen Castellanos, who has adopted four Russian kids and told them what happened.

Castellanos is outraged over the return of the boy to Russia.

"She just sent him and the boy didn't even know where he was going," said Russian-born Alejandro Castellanos, Maria's son.

Many South Florida parents travel to Krasnoyarsk in central Russia to find children to bring back with them.

Castellanos hopes the public and ultimately the Russia government will not let the actions of the Tennessee woman blind the efforts South Florida parents have made to give the Russian children loving, caring homes.

"It's an incredible experience," she said of adoption.

Castellanos said the Tennessee woman was simply ignorant about procedures that are in place to help parents cope with children that may be too much for them to handle.

The South Florida parents are putting a petition drive to send to the White House to see if Washington can work with the Russian government to allow some adoptions to continue.

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