Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has penned the anti-adoption bill into law to prevent Americans from adopting Russian children, Mr. Putin then signed an Executive Order called “On Measures Concerning the Implementation of Government Policy on Orphaned Children and those without Parental Care.”
The loss of American families to adopt Russian orphans will leave a gaping hole in the Russian orphanage system and the new Executive Order aims to improve government policy on orphaned children. In the order, President Putin ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s Russian Government to adopt a number of policy positions on the legal, organizational, psychological and pedagogical support for Russian citizens intending to adopt or care for such children; simplification of adoption procedures; and improved health care for affected children.
The Government has also been instructed to submit to the State Duma draft federal laws that provide for tax credits to parents of adopted children and expanding the social security benefits of disabled children. Instructions also provide for increasing other payments and cash rewards, as well as the salaries of employees of educational, medical and social organizations working with orphaned children.
