Russian officials are considering stopping adoptions to the United States after a Purcellville, Va., father who left his Russian-born adopted son in a sweltering car to die was acquitted last month, U.S. adoption officials confirmed.
The story of Miles Harrison, 49, whose adopted 21-month-old son Chase, born Dmitry Yakolev, died in a hot car in July has made national news in Russia. Harrison forgot to drop Chase at day care and went straight to work, leaving him in the car for nine hours.
Russians were outraged after a Fairfax jury acquitted Harrison of involuntary manslaughter charges last month, saying the tragedy was enough punishment.
Last week, the mounting pressure caused outcry from Russian political party officials who called to restrict or end the adoption of Russian children by Americans, the New York Times reported Sunday from Moscow.
Russian embassy officials did not return calls for comment.
U.S. adoption officials confirmed the report to The Examiner and said much of the Russian outrage is the result of a cultural misunderstanding over what adoption means in America.
“There is a concern [in Russia] that adoptive children don’t have the same rights as biological children,” said Chuck Johnson, vice president of the National Council for Adoption, a Virginia nonprofit adoption advocacy group.
Other cultures don’t always understand why Americans would take in children who come from different backgrounds, and they often assign a disingenuous motive to explain it, Johnson said. In Russia, there are rumors that Americans are adopting children to harvest their organs.
“A tragedy like this confirms those suspicions,” Johnson said.
Vladimir Belyaev, who runs a cultural consulting firm in San Francisco, said Russia has long dealt with a high rate of abandoned babies. The news of Chase’s death “brings home something that embarrasses them,” he said.
Belyaev added, however, that some of the outrage is the result of the deteriorating political ties between Russia and the United States.
Since Russia’s August invasion of Georgia, tensions between Russia and the United States have risen and Russians are quick to paint Americans in the same poor light they feel Americans have applied to them, he said.
Belyaev said the case should serve as an opportunity to examine adoption policies.
But, Johnson said, “I wouldn’t want policies made on this case. … It was a tragic accident, but I don’t see how we could screen for something like this.”
