DMITRY YAKOLEV/CHASE HARRISON: A FEW WEEKEND UPDATES

NOTE: I want to thank the hundreds of Russian-language readers who are reading Bastardette and Nikto Ne Zabyt regarding Dima. . Thank you very much for your friendship and support and caring about adopted Russia's adopted children in the US.

******

MORE RUSSIAN REACTION
I still can find no official statement regarding the Harrison verdict on the Russian Embassy or the Foreign Ministry pages.

A press release from the Ministry of Education and Science is now on the ministry's English-language page:

Excerpt:
The justificatory verdict casts doubt on effectiveness and reliability of the protection of adopted children's rights system in the USA and will result in toughening the requirements to Russian children's adoption by USA citizens. We must be sure that our children's rights are entirely protected in this country; and if a tragic incident happens, even because of an action by accident, severe punishment will be inevitable", - stressed A. Levitskaya.

WUVR: Voice of Russia Broadcasting (English)
December 18, 2008 (English)
US Adoption System in Need of Review

Excerpt:
The Virginia Court’s decision went virtually unnoticed in the US media, but it was give high prominence in Russia’s media which overwhelmingly deplored the court’s ruling... This horrible case prompts obvious questions. How could a grow-up person believed to be in his right mind could be so careless as to leave an infant in mortal danger even for a minute? And if the man isn’t in his right mind, how was it possible for his family to adopt a child in the first place?

Russia Today (English)
December 18, 2008
Moscow outraged over adopted Russian boy manslaughter

Excerpt:
Russian Foreign Ministry says it's outraged by the decision to clear Miles Harrison, who left the baby in a car during blazing summer heat.

Due to spacing problems, I am posting the English-language video news report that goes with this article at the bottom of this entry.

MORE AMERICAN RESPONSE
Over at the Washington Post there's a civilized discussion about Marc Fisher's column Why Was Father of Who Killed Son in Car Acquitted? AND a survey on the verdict. As I write this, only 51% disagree with Judge Ney and the acquittal.

Excerpt:
As much as the father has suffered, and as much as he proved in court that he truly did love and adore that boy, Judge Terrence Ney's decision unjustly fails to hold Harrison accountable for his negligence. Just because someone who does wrong feels terribly about his misdeed does not absolve the justice system of its responsibility to hold all of us to a standard of decent behavior... and

It's hard for me to see how anyone, parent or not, could conclude that leaving a child unattended for a full day in a steamy hot car--essentially forgetting about the existence of the life that you have been entrusted with protecting and cherishing--could be chalked up to accident.

One Response:
Outrageous, but not surprising. Take this scenario and change the economic circumstances of the parents to poor or working class. Or change the social characteristics to or black. There would have been a different decision. Judges don't like to punish people who they perceive as good, except for one 'mistake.' The law is interpreted favorably for the 'right' kind of people. The 'wrong' kind of people know this, which explains their low opinion of and trust in the justice system.

IT'S ABOUT ADOPTION
Finally, Baby Love Child has written a tremendously important blog on why the Harrison case IS about adoption: Dmitry's Death and Miles Harrison's Acquittal, Part II, The American Reaction. . Part 3 just went up, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

She has quoted part of it in her comment posted on my previous blog, but I want to put an excerpt here:

...the American audience fails to understand the important responsibilities an adoptive couple take on when they sign on to adopting a child. Perhaps the primary difference between a child in an adoptive situation and children born to their parents is that adoptive families are on some level (allegedly at least) vetted. They have agreed to take on the task of raising a child that is not biologically their own. They have had to prove that they will make “fit” parents to the child that will eventually come to be placed with them. When they sign the adoption papers, they have intentionally taken on the responsibility for that child. Add in the international adoption component, in the case of Russian adoptees, they retain their Russian citizenship, and what you have is essentially, an American couple that has jumped through enough hoops as to agree to take on not only raising a child who is not their own flesh and blood, but is additionally a citizen of another country. This carries with it many responsibilities, above and beyond what biological parents face. Be that reporting obligations back to the country of origin, or obligations to be attentive, and to provide safety and security. Adoptive parents sign their names to promises pertaining to the ongoing disposition and welfare of the child they are adopting.

******

It is clear that Moscow isn't happy and intends to take a hard line on this judicial miscarriage. The Russian government and the media are watching and reporting on the case carefully including the apparent non-interest outside the Beltway. (Obviously, if the Harrisons had lived somewhere else and weren't Washington Somebodies, WDC wouldn't be paying much attention either. (ex: The recent Emelyantsev case in Utah). I expect to see repercussions from this American folly that go way beyond adoption. US officials have used international adoption in the past as leverage to push other countries around, but this time, they might just get a kick in the pants back.

By the way, there has been no comment from European Adoption Consultants, who handled the adoptions of Chase and Logan Higginbotham (scroll down) and who ended up dead when her forever mother cracked her skull open on a bedroom wall.l But they sure have been reading what I have to say about them.

ADDENDA: December 20, 6:30 PM: I no sooner posted this entry when a story from WJLA-TV came through, Adoptive Parents Worry After Loudon Man is Acquitted in Son's Death. It should be titled Adoption Industry and Adoptive Parents Worry... The usual ME ME ME with absolutely no comprehension of what went down at Fairfax Courthouse or a care for Dima. The article has a link to the video, which has much more impact than the written story.


Russia Today Video:

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS WANT TO TOUGHEN ADOPTION RULES FOR US AFTER MILES HARRISON ACQUITTED IN DEATH OF DMITRY YAKOLEV

NOTE: For a complete listing of my entries on the Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison case go to "labels" in the right sidebar and click on "Dmitry Yakolev" or "Chase Harrison." The same articles are archived in both. Also, for international readers, at the top of this page is a link to the Reverso translator.

I have seen no direct online confirmation from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, but according to reports from the English language editions of RIA Novistii and Interfax, the Russian government may toughen its adoption rules for the US in the wake of the acquittal of Miles Harrison. Harrison was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter yesterday in the death of Dmitry Yakolev, whom Harrison and his wife Carol were adopting. Last July, Dima died of heat-related injuries after being left strapped in his car seat for 9 hours in Harrison's SUV while Harrison worked. Harrison claimed he "forgot"to drop the boy off at daycare and "didn't know" he was in the car. How Harrison, "didn't know" Dima was in the SUV when he put him in the vehicle to take him to daycare is tricky legal semantics left for another discussion.

From RIA Novistii:

"We are outraged by the court ruling and believe it to be totally unjust and unacceptable," Alina Levitskaya (right) was quoted by the Education and Science Ministry as saying. "It questions the reliability of the U.S. system of protection of adopted children's rights, and will lead to tougher requirements for U.S. nationals in Russia."

Levitskaya said the ministry would demand that authorities in the United States step up monitoring of children adopted from Russia. She said the education ministry and the Russian Embassy in the United States would seek a guilty verdict for Harrison.

I have no idea what Levitskaya means in the last sentence. Harrison cannot be retried on charges of involuntary manslaughter. Lawyers reading this can clarify, but I believe that other charges, which should have been filed initially as lesser included charges with the involuntary manslaughter charge, could be filed now. For reasons I'll discuss in a later entry, I don't believe that will happen.

The Ministry of Education and Science so far remains silent on what these toughened requirements might be except for increased post-placement monitoring of Russian children and their adoptive families.

Toughening of any kind, post-placement or otherwise, will take place in a maelstrom of ugly protest, finangling, and pressure from adoption agency trade organizations such as the National Council for Adoption, the Joint Council, adoption lawyers and Quad A, adopters, potential adoptive parents (paps) , and the State Department. On the other side we'll get the same from Russian nationalists, child welfare advocates, various Russian ministries, and the Russian public at large who are seriously stirred up at the Harrison verdict. Change won't happen next week, but I can already hear the cry: "The Russians are holding my child hostage!"

In 2007, the US and Russia agreed to tougher post-placement requirements that mandate periodic checks on children placed in the US.

According to the US State Department:

AFTER ADOPTION

What does Russia require of the adoptive parents after the adoption?

Adopted Russian children must be registered with the Government of Russia either by registering with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) before they leave the country or by working with their adoption agency to register their adopted children with the G.O.R. when they return to the U.S. If registering prior to departing Russia. U.S. citizen families should do this after an adopted child has received an immigrant visa to the United States.

Russia requires periodic post-adoption placement reports on the welfare of the adopted orphan in his or her American family. The initial post-placement report is due six months after the court decision went into effect. The second report is due six months after the first report but no later than 12 months after the court decision. The third report is due at 24 months and the fourth at 36 months.

We strongly urge you to comply with the wish of Russia and complete all post-adoption requirements in a timely manner. Your adoption agency may be able to help you with this process. Your cooperation will contribute to that country’s history of positive experiences with American parents.

Clearly, there are no teeth in this requirement. The Russian government won't and can't re-take custody of children whose adopters refuse to comply with the rules--even when those rules are written into individual valid adoption contracts. US and state governments have no interest or legal right to disrupt adoptions over post-placement non-compliance.

The onus of compliance falls , then, on adoption agencies to squeeze their non-compliant clients to act in "the best interest of the child" which really means the best interest of the agencies and the best interests of the agencies' meal tickets, adopters and paps, who will be cut out if enough of XYZ Agency's clients tell the Russians to bugger off. The chances of an agency filing a civil claim over contractual non-compliance is nil. Of course, if the non-compliant have another bun in the agency oven, the agency can turn around and use its tried and true methods of threats and blackmail to go compliant. (see Beware BBAS for a rundown on those practices.)

Also important to know is that Russian follow-up procedures and records are in great disarray, so in the end not much of anybody actually knows what's going on.

John Towriss, Adoption Today Washington Bureau Chief, describes the non-compliance problem in his June/July 2007 Adoption Today article, American Attitudes Exposed.[pdf]

Adoption Today spoke with several groups in the adoption community from national umbrella organizations to adoption agencies to adoptive parents. While Americans can be so compassionate in adopting children, once they are home many speak of a change of attitude that reflect the American sense of freedom and individual rights. Several in the field suggested to Adoption Today that new laws in Russia have as much to do with the problem of post-placement reports as anything else.

One described it as "The arrogant American attitude that no government agency is going to tell me how to raise my children." Another put it even more bluntly, "Yes there will be no government agency that will come and take your child away for not filing a post-placement report, but you will be responsible for causing many other children to lose their chance of being adopted."

Yet another said, "It's almost a cavalier attitude, that I'm an American and no foreign country is going to tell me what to do.

Some time ago I heard rumblings that the Russian government was considering upping post-placement investigations until the child is 18. I like this idea and believe that Russia and other countries should mandate continuous post-placement in US placements. You can imagine the uproar on the US side if American children were being placed and killed in Russia. As long as the US adoption industry plays, it oughtta pay. But that will be a tough plane to fly.

While expanded post-placement investigations are a good idea, the Russian government first needs to take a closer look at US agencies working in their own country. The US State Department posts a list of all Hague accredited agencies on its Intercountry Adoption page, but the Russian Federation itself approves US agencies on that list to work within its borders. Some of the Hague accredited agencies on the State Department list are quite horrifying to those of us in the trenches. Also noteworthy, unlike most other Hague signatories whose rules and regulations are about ethical practice, "child's best interest," and identity rights, US regs [pdf] (go to Vol 71, No. 31, and type in "Hague") are mostly about who cuts up the fat accreditation money pie, how agencies can cover their ass, and Homeland Security confiscation of international adoptee records and identity. "Best interest" recommendations to reg writers by numerous agencies, organizations (including Bastard Nation) and individuals were ignored.

I'd like to see The Ministry of Education and Science and any other Russian ministry involved in adoption as well as US investigatory agencies re-investigate immediately, the money-grubbing Margaret Cole and her European Adoption Consultants, the agency that placed Dima with the Harrisons for, according to Carol Harrison, a whopping $70-$80,000. See my entries here (the most important), here and here for other EAC comments. EAC got off the hook after the Dima's death, but there's no reason it should stay off. (Note to Levitskaya: check greasy palms).

(For more on EAC click on "European Adoption Consultants" in the "labels' sidebar to the right.)

EAC also placed Logan Higanbotham (scroll down) who ended up dead when her forever mother Laura Hitganbotham "accidently" cracked open the baby's skull on a bedroom wall. Higanbotham did 1 year on involuntary manslaughter charges. She divorced, remarried, and now has a biological daughter. Another adopted Russian daughter continues to live with her.

The Yakolev/Harrison case is tragic. I want to make it clear that I do not put Dima's death in the same category as the cases of Russian adoptees who have been molested, tortured, and murdered by their forever families. Yet Dima, who died in part, because of the wacky American consumer lifestyle, deserves justice, which has not been served him. Privileged workaholic exburanites do not always good parents make, even with their open checkbooks. ( see No Justice for Dmitry for the justice discussion.)

I am pessimistic about dismantling much of the current adoption machine. Unfortunately, the right to someone else's child has become part of the American psyche. The first step in getting a modicum of justice for the adopted of any age and their families--especially those who have been egregiously harmed-- is to acknowledge that adoption practice in the US is driven by money, greed, and the commodification of children for profit. Certainly there are children in need of adoptive homes, but at what price to them and the rest of us? Only when and if that question wheedles its way into the American psyche might things begin to change.

MOO! EUROPEAN ADOPTION CONSULTANTS STAYS IN RUSSIA

To no one's surprise, European Adoption Consultants beat the rap. Last night, EAC announced on its webpage :

EAC is proud to announce that we have received confirmation from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation that our accreditation will remain in tact and valid. Our staff is honored to be allowed to assist you in completing your forever family.

Honored? Don't they mean "relieved"?

When you invest as much time and money in the post-Soviet nomenclatura as EAC has, can there be any other outcome? In other words, the Ministry ka-chinged. The cows graze contentedly.

Let the good times roll!

BTW, does anyone know the provinace of "forever family?" I've heard it comes from dog rescue.

KAK DELA? WHAT'S UP WITH EUROPEAN ADOPTIION CONSULTANTS?

First the press says they're out of Russia; then it says they're in. AdoptionLand wants to know what's going on, but EAC isn't talking.

As of 10:00 pm tonight, EAC hasn't posted a word on its webpage about the investigation that the Russian Ministry of Education and Science is running it through over the agency's alleged failure to inform timely, officials of the death of Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison as required by Russian law. All we find is a gratuitous we-feel-your-pain-cover-your ass note on Dima's death at the top of its webpage which ends with:

We are currently assessing the situation and continuing to work with the Russian Federation in this matter.

Shouldn't that read: the Russian Federation is currently assessing us?

SILENCE IS GOLDEN...AND SO IS THE EGG
As far as the public face of EAC is concerned, everything is snug as a bug in Strongsville,

According to the EAC- friendly blogger at Russian Adoption Journey, who finds herself a tad frustrated at the agency's lack of communication, EAC isn't sharing much information with anxious paps who ask.

From "Mixed Media Message,"July 21, 2008 (emphasis mine):
Despite internet articles and blogs to the contrary, our adoption agency told me this afternoon that by all indications, they will keep their license. A formal ruling is expected Thursday. Apparently, three agencies have been banned from further Russian adoptions, but have no relevance to this case whatsoever.

Then, "No Word Yet," July 24, 2008 (emphasis mine)
So far, we've received no word from our agency, EAC, regarding the outcome of their hearing today. However, I did find this article online which sounds promising.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1010/42/368946.htm

Rather than sit here and speculate though, I'm just going to wait and call them tomorrow. I'm a little frustrated though that they haven't updated their website or sent out an e-mail as promised! At the very least, I feel like they should put "no decision yet" or something to keep people from going crazy due to our lack of information!

And finally, "Still on Hold" July 26 (emphasis mine):
I called the agency Friday. Although there was a meeting scheduled, one of the main Russian decision-makers is out of town on vacation, pushing any possibility of news at least two more weeks into the future. EAC did say however, that they are still receiving referrals from Russia!?!

Of course, it is! Why should a little matter of a government investigation stop high-end bottom feeders such as EAC from busine$$ as usual? What, after all, are a couple of death-by-adoptions in the global redi$tribution of children into Forever Homes and pap and adopter dollars into the EAC family purse? It's not like agencies tell anybody what they do anyway.

See, it's kind of a cult. They break you down and then build you up buttercup baby. You get a second mortgage on your house and sell your old clothes on Ebay. Your church raises $1400 for your adoption fund. Your mother-in-law loans you another $10,000 that she knows she'll never see again. You turn it all over to the agency, and it gives you baybee-saving God-endorsed entitlement to Sasha, Dasha, Pasha or Masha even if you've never seen their picture and don't know the difference between styl and stol.

GIVE ME MY CHILD LEST I DIE
The agency owns your soul and "your" agency-created child, and it can do anything with them it wants. And it will.

Welcome to the silence!

At least we now have a vague timetable of when events may play out. In 10 days or so we could know if EAC is in or out (barring the possibility that some other official will decide to take off to Latvia on a fishing trip or a week in the village). Will EAC tell us or will we have to learn it off a blog?

Read Beware BBAS: An Experiment in Literary Investigation by Dan and Elizabeth Case to see just how bad it gets.

EUROPEAN ADOPTION CONSULTANTS: LIVING LARGE OFF THE MISERY OF OTHERS

Curious minds wonder. Just how much does European Adoption Consultants, the placing agency of two Russian children who ended up dead at the hands of their Forever Families,* rake in each year? Since I'm not an accountant, I'm not going to pretend to interpret their IRS 990s, available on Guidestar (free registration required). There's a lot more than these figures: salaries, expenses, inventory. Perhaps somebody else can elaborate. In the meantime, here's a sample:

GROSS
2004: $7,568,621
2005: $8,197,469 (adjusted to $8,257,994 on 2006 990 form)
2006: $ 7,809,150
TOTAL: $23,565,240 (adjusted to $23,635,765)

NET ASSETS AND DEFERRED BALANCES
2004: $890,593
2005: $1,044,505
2006: $890,141
TOTAL: $2,835,229


EAC Director Margaret Cole-Hughes' salary:
2004: $194,000 + $70,000 in benefits and deferred compensation
2005: $194,000
2006: $194,000
TOTAL: $582,000+70,000

I guess the day of the kindly but poor social worker played by Beulah Bondi has gone the way of...well...Beulah Bondi.

EAC is a Hague Accredited by the Council for Accreditation, It is a member of The Joint Council on International Children's Services and the National Council for Adoption.


*Logan Higginbotham, November 25, 1998
Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison, July 8, 2008

DMITRY YAKOLEV'S/CHASE HARRISON'S DEATH AND THE LINQUISTIC OBJECTIFICATION OF ADOPTEES

Blogger Baby Love Child, using the tragic death of Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison as a focus, has written an excellent piece on the objectification and com modification of adoptees. The essay begins with a review of what I have posted about the case here and on The Daily Bastardette. She then moves into her analysis of linguistic objectification, depersonalization and co-option of adoptees, and finally the silencing of adoptees' voice within the American adoption system.

With her permission I am reposting it here.

*********

I've been neck deep in Vietnam and Guatemala adoption related research, and thus have gotten behind on much of the coverage I'd been working on. This past week has quite possibly been one of the worst weeks I've tracked. Hopefully over the next week I'll begin to catch up, with luck,
I hope to be getting some of the details from over the past week up in various posts.

That being said, Bastardette has been picking up some of the slack. She's been tracking many of the details relating to Dmity Yakolev, and the aftermath of his death.

Allow me to point out three of her recent posts:

SPUNNING INTO CONTROL: MILES HARRISON HIRES HIGH PROFILE DEFENSE ATTORNEY PETER D. GREENSPUN

From this past Monday, July 21rst, '08. In which she writes about the defense attorney hired to take on the Harrison case.

MILES HARRISON INDICTED IN DEATH OF SON CHASE HARRISON/DMITRY YAKOLEV

From Wednesday the 23rd, In which she writes about the Monday indictment by a Fairfax Country (Virginia) grand jury on the manslaughter charge. Bastardette points her readers toward this Washington Post article, Father Indicted in Toddler’s Death in Hot SUV, also
from Wednesday which includes the following:

Harrison waited in the audience with his family until his
case was called. Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Ian M. Rodway
asked Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Marcus D. Williams to set a $10,000
bond for Harrison.

and

Williams set bond at $5,000, and Harrison was handcuffed
and taken out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies. Harrison did not
speak during the brief arraignment. Greenspun declined to comment afterward.

Harrison posted the bond and was released yesterday afternoon, Fairfax
jail officials said.

Quoting Bastardette's posting:

One new piece of information was revealed in court
documents: Harrison arrived at Project Solutions Group at about 6:45 AM
which means that Chase/Dmitry was left in the hot sealed- up SUV for
approximately nine hours. Temperature inside the Yukon could have
reached as high as 180 degrees.

According to, Leesburg Today, Harrison's next court appearance is scheduled for August
27.

Finally, we come to Bastardette's Third posting,

CHASE HARRISON/DMITRY YAKOLEV BURIED–EAC PROFITS

From today, Thursday the 24th. In which Bastardette points readers towards this July 22nd Fairfax Times article, Purcellville toddler remembered

Note that paragraph three reads:

Born Oct. 1, 2006, in Russia, Chase was the son of Carol and
Miles Harrison.

It is not until paragraph seven that readers learn Chase/Dmitry was adopted (or in the process of being adopted? We're still unclear whether the adoption was finalized or not at the time of Dmitry's death.)

It remains unclear whether his biological mother and father have been notified of his death or not.

The article continues:

"It's not what we gave him but what he gave us," said a
family friend, who eulogized the smiley toddler with blond
hair.

Once again, we see that myth of 'adoption as purely an act of altruism' raising its proverbial skirts just a bit to give us a glance of what lies beneath, child desire, and what adopting a child can mean for those both family and friends affected by such.

Perhaps had more thought gone into what they could give Dmitry, instead of what he 'gave others', he might still be alive today.

It is not an adoptive toddler's responsibility to "give" to those surrounding their adoption. It is the responsibility of those adopting (and the community they welcome around them) to "give" to the adoptive child. That is what they legally signed on for when they entered the process of trying to become adoptive parents, they agreed to provide for a child. Be that a home, food, relationships free from abuse, or simply attention- attention enough to not be left to bake in car for almost nine hours.

But those who view children as 'there for the adults' are part of the problem in all this, not a part of the solution. It is precisely these attitudes that lie at the heart of some of the adoption paradigm, that we as one time children were supposed to 'be there for' the adults, or that our presence was supposed to somehow 'complete' them, etc. This becomes adoption as something no longer focused on the needs of a child, but instead on the needs, psychological or otherwise of the adults.

And all too often, that's the dirty little secret that hides beneath the 'adoption as altruism' paradigm's skirts.

I am not speaking specifically of the Harrisons in this, but rather the broader underlying cultural assumptions that many seem to walk around with, that treat adopted children as accessories, as the latest 'in' thing, or even as a way of 'completing' their adopters.

Or as Miles Harrison's letter read at the service described Dmitry:

Chase would "always be our perfect gift."

Children are not gifts. Not things. Not objects, be that a "gift" from a family of origin in Russia, nor "gift of god". Adoptees are people. And depersonalizing and depersonifying language such as "gift" is part of the underlying attitude that leads to things such as children being left in cars. After all, if you forget to drop off the dry cleaning (an inanimate object) on the way to work, it's no biggee. You leave a "gift" in the backseat, even in the summer heat, and it's no biggee.

But you leave Dmitry, a child in the backseat, in the summer heat, and suddenly everthing's different. Because now we're talking about Dmitry, a dead child. and that's larger than I have words for. It's massive. (Oh, and an international incident.)

Dmitry was a person, and in his memory, the very least that could be done to honour his memory would be a careful reevaluation of the linguistic mess that makes such mistakes(?) easier to commit.

Those modes of thinking about adoptees are disasters waiting to happen. Adoption needs to be about the adoptees themselves, and their lifelong needs.

Which is why I find the final element to Bastardette's blog entry so chilling. The Harrisons want contributions to go to 'project sunshine c/o European Adoption Consultants', (EAC) which is to say, the agency that placed Dmitry with the Harrisons.

From an adoptive couple's perspective, I suppose it makes some degree of sense, 'give donations to the agency we got our (now deceased) child from'.

But from an adoptee perspective, Dmitry would likely still be alive in Russia had it not been for EAC and the adoption and Mr Harrison being given Dmitry that morning. 'Give donations to the very agency that was part of the chain of events that led to his death'?

Seriously?

But where is that adoptee perspective ever expressed? Where would anyone ever even see it?

I'm not claiming to be a voice OF Dmitry in these matters, I'm just an advocate FOR Dmitry and kids like him. I'm an adoptee, and I find the prospect revolting. Genuinely sickening.

If the Harrisons went through an EAC screening process as part of the adoptive process, then EAC is the agency that deemed them 'fit' to have Dmitry. No matter what happened the day Dmitry died, mistake or otherwise, that particular day Miles Harrison did not have Dmitry's best interests at heart, or on his mind. Call it an almost nine hour long 'momentary lapse' if you must, but Dmitry was simply not foremost on Miles Harrison's mind that day, and Dmitry was his responsibility.

EAC placed Dmitry with the Harrisons. They are to some degree part of that process that led us here.

EAC should not be monetarily rewarded for placing a child who died as a result of his (potential?) adopter's actions.

Doubly so when this is the second child EAC has placed that has died as a result of the actions of those that adopted them. (See Logan Higginbotham.)

CHASE HARRISON/DMITRY YAKOLEV BURIED--EAC PROFITS

Services for Chase Harrison/Dmitry Yakolev were held last Wednesday (July 16) at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville. The Tuesday edition of Leesburg Today published a full account, "Purcellville Toddler Remembered."

Miles Harrison remained hospitalized, but a letter from him to Chase was read at the service:

“I want you to know how much I love you and how much I will always love you,” Miles Harrison wrote, saying Chase would “always be our perfect gift.”

He wrote of how he and Chase would sing together and how he would put Chase on his shoulders and march along to the Ohio State marching band...

Chase was buried in Ebenezer Cemetery in Round Hill.

So far, so good. I really don't have much more to say about this incredibly sad event...

Except...

Memorial donations may be sent to Project Sunshine, c/o European Adoption Consultants Inc., 12608 Alameda Drive, Strongsville, OH 44149.

Excuse me while I get sick.

There now, I'm back

Just when I thought the adoption industry couldn't get any lower...

Chase/Dima is the second EAC Russian child to die at the hands of Forever Families. In November 1998, Logan Higginbotham died of massive head injuries. Her adoptive mother Laura claimed the toddler accidentally hit her head on the floor of an upstairs bedroom, but three years later medical experts concluded that her head had been intentionally slammed into a wall. Laura Higginbothman spent one year (yes, one year!) in prison. I wonder if EAC made money off her her death, too.

I want to make it clear that I do not put this case in the same category of those children who have been murdered, and even tortured, by their adopters. But I simply cannot get over the the cheek, the audacity--I don't know what to call it--of shilling on the grave of this child. Perhaps some readers can come up with better words than I can.

Obviously, the Harrisons made this decision, but who whispered in their ear?

Has EAC no shame?

DAMAGE CONTROL: DMITRY YAKOLEV/CHASE HARRISON

European Adoption Consultants is attempting some damage control on it's website. Mouring Dmitry, they say they are "currently asssessing the situation and continuing to work with the Russian Federation on this matter."

No doubt!

WHEN DID THE RUSSIANS KNOW? ANOTHER UPDATE ON DMITRY YAKOLEV/CHASE HARRISON

New information on Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison was published in the Russian press today.

The English language online edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda fills in some details of Dima's history prior to his transport to the US--and in a few short words tells us something about the care of women and children in post Soviet Russia (something I could write more on, but won't at this time). It also contradicts somewhat an earlier report in the Russian language Gazetta that authorities had been unable to place Dima domestically due to a "series of serious diseases." Moreover (not mentioned in the article), the placing agency, European Adoption Consultants is a major Adoption Russian Style money generator, and if the orphanage director had the chance to pick up a hefty "donation" from the Harrisons, its Russian customers would be shown the door.

According to Komsomolskaya Pravda:

Dima had made a long journey from Russia's Pechor Pskovsk region to the U.S. His new family lived in Herndon, Virginia outside Washington DC. First, it seemed that fate had dealt the boy a second chance. His biological mother had put him up for adoption immediately after his birth — even though she too was raised in an orphanage. Dima was moved straight from the labor ward to the Pskovsk Regional Orphanage for children with a damaged central nervous system.

"We received Dima in 2006 straight from the labor ward," said Natalya Vishnevskaya, the head doctor at the orphanage. "His 18-year-old mother signed a refusal of the child and disappeared. It's unclear where she is now. She is a mentally disabled, lonely young girl who was also raised in an orphanage."

RIA Novistii reports comments from the Russian Foreign Ministry:

We hope that American law enforcement authorities and the court will exhaustively look into all the causes and circumstances surrounding this tragedy and take a just decision. We also hope that the relevant U.S. social services will draw the necessary conclusions from this.

Baby Love Child has excellent commentary of the Yakolev/Harrison case including thoughts on these two articles. Since I don't want to be repetitious, I recommend you check out her last two blogs.

That said, I want to bring up a subject that she did, too: the allegation from Russian authorities that they learned of Dima's death several days after it happened, and then only from reading about it in then in the newspaper. This, of course, ties in to reports, which imo, are mistaken, that the accreditation of European Adoption Consultants has been lifted due to failure to report Dima's death immediately to the Ministry of Education and Science as required by Russian law. There simply would not have been enough time to investigate and remove EAC, who has been in Russia for years and undoubtedly has friend$ in high place$, between the time officials learned of the death and when news reports of its so-called expulsion were published. This does not mean that EAC isi not on the way out (which we'd all like to see), but that it hasn't happened yet.

According to Kosmoslovkia Prvada:

Interestingly, the boy died Tuesday — one week ago. But news of the tragedy reached Russia only several days later. Employees of the Russian Embassy in the U.S. only learned what had happened from the papers.

For what it's worth, here's the news reporting timeline I have. This timeline is based on online news accounts only, and I have no idea when the Ministry or Embassy actually heard the news. I can very well imagine, though, that Embassy and Consular officials got the news from the July 10 WaPo, like most of us did, though Fox 5 and the Fairfax News had done a report on the 9th.

Death: July 8,2008
Fox 5 - July 9, 2008
Fairfax News - July 9, 2008
Washington Post- July 10, 2008
Washington Post - July 11, 2008
Novistii - July 11, 2008

Not until the July 11 WaPo were any Russian comments on the case published, so it appears nobody knew about Dima's death until the 10th:

Yevgeniy V. Khorishko, press officer for the Russian Embassy, said consulate officials are "trying to figure out the details of this accident."

We are in contact with U.S. officials in this case," Khorishko said. Russian officials are also working to determine whether the boy still had Russian citizenship, he said.

That same day, the state-run RIA Novistii reported the death--the first Russian news report I've found online, but with no Ministry comments. The Russian language RCP News, also on July 11, reported the death and said that EAC and two other agencies had been kicked out, but did not source the claim. Same for the July 12 Russian language Gazetta except it sourced the Ministry via ITAR-TASS. I have been unable to find a story on the case on the English language ITAR-TASS site, though it may on the Russian language site which I can't search. The first solidly sourced comments that I've found came in Monday's English language Moscow Times--nearly a week after Dima died. (The sourcing is one of the reasons I believe EAC is only under investigation right now, not expelled).

From the Moscow Times:

Two U.S. adoption agencies have been barred from operating in Russia, but authorities denied Monday that the decision was linked to the recent death of an adopted baby in the United States.

The Education and Science Ministry said it had withdrawn the accreditation of the two agencies -- the Cradle of Hope Adoption Center and Family and Children's Agency -- after inspections found that they had violated the law.

The ministry supplied a list of the purported violations, which primarily focused on failures to keep the ministry informed about the well-being of adopted children.

"For the first three years, they should inform the Russian education ministry about the situation regularly," ministry spokesman Andrei Nedrov said.

He said the ministry was considering toughening the conditions for agencies seeking to reapply for licenses after being barred.

On July 15, a full week after Dima's death, the Russian Foreign Ministry released an official statement (click on "News in English" to get to news site) which reads in part:

And even if in this case, as distinct from several previous, no deliberately cruel treatment of an adopted child is claimed to have been involved, but criminal neglect leading to a tragic outcome, the fact remains – a small citizen of Russia has died. We will duly track the entire course of the investigation and seek to ensure that it is fully objective.

We expect that American law enforcement bodies and the court will thoroughly look into all the causes and circumstances of the tragedy and adopt a just decision. We also hope that the appropriate US social services will draw the necessary conclusions from it.

We have repeatedly called on the American side to conclude a special bilateral agreement on adoptions. Such an international legal document will ensure more effective control over the fate of Russian children taken by adoptive parents to the US. We will persistently keep this issue on the agenda of Russian-American dialogue.

Clearly this is not going to go away. And the fact that it took so long for Russian officials to be informed of Dima's death does not sit well with the already tense situation regarding Russian-US adoption. European Adoption Consultants, of course, has made no statement. Would we expect less? NCFA and JCICS must be buzzing.


ADDENDA: July 16, 8:00 AM: Here's an interesting tidbit from today's Examiner.com:

A spokesman for EAC declined to comment Tuesday, saying that the company is still trying to figure out what action the Russians have taken.

Reasonably, it would be assumed that if EAC doesn''t know what the Russian government has done, then it has not been expelled. Or are they stonewalling their customers? Or are the Russians just playing tit for tat?

ANOTHER RUSSIAN UPDATE: DIMA YAKOLEV/CHASE HARRISON

The English language Moscow Times reported four hours ago that European Adoption Consultants, contrary to earlier news reports in RPC News and Gazetta, has not been banned from operating in the Russian Federation. (see Forever Family--Forever Dead memorial blog below.) The agency, however, is under investigation over its failure to immediately report the death last week of Dmitry Yakolev (adopted name Chase Harrison) in Virginia. The Moscow Times also said that the accreditation of two other agencies, The Cradle of Hope Adoption Center and Family and Children's Agency has been withdrawn over failure to keep the Russian Education and Science Ministry informed on the well-being of adoptees placed by them as required by Russian law. Vladimir Kabanov, head of the ministry's adoption department denied that the agencies were connected to the Yakolev/Harrison case, saying they are guilty of separate violations.

EAC director Margaret Cole refused to comment as did officials from the other agencies.

Having spent a lot of time in Russia myself, I was curious at the speed in which the ministry had reportedly booted EAC. Usually the apparatchiki grinds as slow as a babushka picks through the rynok. It's hearening to know that the ministry is on top of the Yakolev/Harrision case. Hopefully confusion about the case will clear soon.

July 15, 2008 ADDENDA: According to Examiner.com, as of Monday, Miles Harrison is still in the hospital.