Dear Reader: Please read a portion of the Huffington Post article on Putin’s barring of U.S. Adoptions and my Huffington Post commentary:

MOSCOW — Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament’s upper house voted unanimously in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.

The bill is widely seen as the Kremlin’s retaliation against an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Dozens of Russian children close to being adopted by American families now will almost certainly be blocked from leaving the country. The law also cuts off the main international adoption route for Russian children stuck in often dismal orphanages…There are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia, according to UNICEF.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/russia-adoption-ban-against-us_n_2364481.html For those of us fortunate to have adopted internationally, especially from Russia – my ancestors’ homeland – today’s headlines are maddening and saddening. I am especially struck as I think back to the adoption of my two youngest, from Russia, and the undeniable obstacles, roadblocks, and sheer exploitation we endured, just to have what we so fervently and passionately desired – our children and a family. With multiple and repeated unnecessary trips to Russia, countless dollars, tears, and humiliating experiences and circumstances to endure, to have held our children in our arms and touched down on American soil (thus, cementing their citizenship) began the healing of it all.  Until now. […]