NYT - Russian Orphanage Offers Love, but Not Families

From my archive of press clippings:

New York Times

Russian Orphanage Offers Love, but Not Families

James Hill for The New York Times


A child at Orphanage No. 11. Of the 45 to 50 children there, just one has been adopted this year.


By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
Published: May 3, 2010


MOSCOW — There is nothing dreary about Orphanage No. 11. It has rooms filled with enough dolls and trains and stuffed animals to make any child giggly. It has speech therapists and round-the-clock nurses and cooks who delight in covertly slipping a treat into a tiny hand. It has the feel of a place where love abounds.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The case of a Russian boy who returned alone to Moscow, sent back by his American adoptive mother, has focused intense attention on the pitfalls of international adoption."

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"Ms. Mizulina noted that for all the complaints about the return of the boy, Artyom Savelyev, by his adoptive mother in Tennessee, Russia itself has plenty of experience with failed placements. She said 30,000 children in the last three years inside Russia were sent back to institutions by their adoptive, foster or guardianship families."