Interesting Facts about Russia

• The official name of Russia is the Russian Federation.
• Russian Federation came into being after former Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, into 15 separate geopolitical entities.
• Russia is the largest country in the world, stretching over an area of 17.1 million square kilometer. It covers 1/7 of all of the land of our planet. Russia also has longest borders in the world, it is washed by 22 seas and has 12 in-land seas.
• Russia is a transcontinental country, extending halfway around the northern hemisphere and covering much of eastern and north-eastern Europe and the whole of northern Asia.
• Because of its vast size Russian climate differs drastically depending on where you are located. Most of Russia lives in a continental climate with distinct periods of warm and cold weather. This continentality increases as you travels east. Temperatures for Moscow and St. Petersburg range from highs of 32 C in the summer to low - 25 C in winter.
• Russia has about 145.5 million people. Another 30 million Russians reside outside of Russia, mostly in as called "near abroad." Eighty percent of Russians reside in Western Russia. Moscow alone has 11 million people. It is the largest city in Europe. St. Petersburg has 5 million inhabitants. Russia is very urban. Two-thirds of its population reside in cities. Every fourth Russian is retired. The average age of Russian is 30 years old. Average family size is three persons. The average life expectancy is a bit lower than in other developed countries, but the gap is narrow each year.
• The official language of Russia is Russian and the country’s main religion is Russian Orthodoxy.
• There are 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries, 62 cinemas and 80 club establishments of culture in St Petersburg.
• St Petersburg plays host to as many as 100 cultural and art festivals every year, including 50 international ones.
• Ladoga Lake of Russia claims the distinction of being the largest lake in Europe. It spreads over 18 400 sq km and is around 51 m deep.
• Russia is rich in natural resources, especially oil, natural gas and timber.
• The administrative divisions in Russia include 21 autonomous republics, 49 oblasts or provinces, six territories (kray), 10 autonomous regions (okrug) and one autonomous oblast.
• As per the 1993 constitution, Russia has a democratic and federal government system, which stands divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches.
• In terms of population, Russia is the ninth largest country in the world.
• Russia is the only State with 12 seas on its territory.
• There are 100 reserves and 35 national parks in Russia.

Statistics for Russia

Adoption Facts about Russia

Children available for adoption in Russia 

Age:  8 months - 16 years. To be eligible for international adoption, children must be registered first on the local databank for one month, the regional databank for one month, and the federal databank for six months before the child can be released for intercountry adoption.  Therefore, the total amount of time before a child is released for international adoption is usually eight months.

Race: Caucasian, Asian, and Mediterranean

Gender: More boys available than girls

Siblings: Available (for both parents, not single)

Parent Qualifications: Couples and singles may adopt from Russia. There are no age or family size requirements, however, many individual agencies have their own criteria.

Health Issue: Comprehensive medical and developmental information provided, tested for HIV, hepatitis and syphilis.

Travel: Two trips are required for adoption from Russia. The first trip is to meet your new child and accept the referral. Only one parent may travel for this meeting, but it is preferred that both parents in a couple travel. The second trip requires both parents to travel and appear before a judge to complete the adoption.

Timeline: From the time your dossier is completed until referral varies. If a waiting child is chosen, the timeline vastly speeds up. For special needs pre-identified children, the wait is also often shorter. For a healthy infant, the time from dossier to referral is approximately 6-8 months at the time of this writing. Girl infants often have a longer referral time. Travel after referral may be from 1-4 months.

Home Study Providers

In February, 2009, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science released a list of about 160 home study providers in the U.S. who have not followed through with their commitment to produce post placement reports. For those working with a home study agency on this list, a pending adoption could be affected even if you are working with a Placement Agency with a Russian permit. It is possible the homestudy will not be accepted by the region, or by the judge at court time. This means that another homestudy agency may need to be located immediately to transfer or re-do the homestudy. This list is available on the PEAR website at http://pear-now.blogspot.com/.

Additional Information

Russia is not a Hague Convention country. The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption is an international agreement between participating countries on best adoption procedures.

After adopting in Russian court, there is a 10 day right of recission, similar to what we have in the US when you sign a contract. During this 10 days, you may reverse your decision. People refer to this as the '10 day waiting period.' Usually, people want the judge to waive the 10 day waiting period so they can return immediately to the US. Fewer and fewer regions are waiving the waiting period.

Post placement supervision and reports are required for three years.

Helpful Links

Karen's Adoption Links

Vladivostok news

Pre-Adoption Process & Paperwork

Russian Adoption Help

International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham

Russian Blogs

USCIS

Russian Adoption Information from MOE

Trans-Siberian Railway

Russian passport information

Adopting from Russia

Accredited Agencies

JCICS

Russian Adoption Blog List

http://pear-now.blogspot.com/