Alaska International Adoption Agency, Ltd. is a registered NGO in Russia and is accredited by the Russian Government to arrange adoptions of eligible minor orphan children in the Russian Federation. Certificate of accreditation, Hague re-accreditation is pending.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT

Adoptions in Russia are in a state of change. For several years the Russian government has been promoting adoptions by Russians, and given the recent economic success of Russia, increasing numbers of Russians are adopting children who might have been available to foreigners. In addition, Russia has a low birth rate, and the Russian government has been providing financial incentives to Russians to adopt. Russia is also building a system of foster homes and guardianships, which reduces the number of children in orphanages available for adoption by foreigners. Also the number of European and Canadian agencies who successfully compete with US adoption agencies has significantly increased. Therefore AIA, like any other foreign agency working in Russia, faces a reduced volume of referrals of children. The Russian government has a policy of providing one referral at a time to each agency, in order, on a rotating basis, without reference to the size of the agency.

Not only are adoptable children increasingly scarce, but those referred for foreign adoption will likely have health or development issues. AIA clients should not have unrealistic expectations of adopting from Russia a "perfectly healthy child born from teenage mother at full-term without any correctable problems." And if this is their requirement, they should consider adopting domestically or from another country. The referred children probably will have been passed over by Russian adoptive parents. These children do not come from healthy mothers in healthy relationships. The mothers may have been smokers or substance abusers, or criminals, or in abusive relationships, or their parental rights may have been terminated by a court for neglecting or abandoning their child, or they may have been unable for financial or psychological reasons to provide adequate care for their child. The child may have been born prematurely.

AIA provides referrals of children who can be expected to thrive and grow in a loving family environment, and minor or correctable health concerns usually can be resolved satisfactorily in the United States, but until they are adopted, the children will show the effects of institutionalization in an orphanage, which can affect their growth and development.

Note also that the referral process is changing due to the smaller number of referrals available. There will not be any blind referrals (i.e. where the adoptive parents have no information about the child.) The Russian authorities will be providing some medical information about the referral before the parents' trip to Russia. This should eliminate the situation where parents fly to Russia on a blind referral and then decline the referral in anticipation of another referral. There may be no second referrals at the time of the trip due to the limited availability of children.

AIA continues to limit the number of clients it accepts who are looking for young children, in order to keep the referral time for such children reasonable.

AIA will continue to monitor and post an accurate description of the situation as it develops, on our website.

Only accredited agencies with NGO status and which maintain an office in Moscow registered and functioning according to Russian regulations, may represent non-Russian adoptive parents in arranging adoptions in the Russian Federation under current regulations. Russian Federation is nor Hague Convention country and doesn't require placement agencies to be Hague accredited.

Although AIA is located in Anchorage, Alaska, most of our clients are from the other forty-nine states.

AIA has offered adoption programs in different regions of Russia since 1993. All current AIA programs strictly comply with Russian legal procedures

Russia Program Adoptive Parent Eligibility
Married couples and single women with no criminal record may adopt in Russia Russian law does not specify an upper age restriction, however, this is within the discretion of the Russian court and may vary in each region of Russia. There are some health limitations listed in Russian law for adoptive parents. Please contact the agency for specific information on known restrictions in different regions of the country.

AIA agency currently works in Moscow city, Khabarovsk, Magadan regions

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE AGENCY EITHER TELEPHONICALLY (907-677-2888) OR VIA E-MAIL info@akadoptions.com

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