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Agreement could help adoptions for the 'Kyrgyz 65'

By Lily Jamali, Special to CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Kyrgyzstan has undergone a violent revolution, which has created upheaval in the adoption process
  • Some U.S. families are watching and waiting on developments that happen in the country
  • The U.S. government is currently negotiating an agreement with Kyrgyz officials that could expedite adoptions for the Kyrgyz 65

BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (CNN) -- Although the volatile politics of Kyrgyzstan rarely garner headlines in the U.S., more than five dozen American families are keeping close tabs on developments here. Each wants to adopt a young orphan from this small republic in Central Asia. For three years now, they've watched from places like Atlanta, Georgia, and Stockton, California, as Kyrgyzstan has undergone a violent revolution, a deadly outbreak of ethnic conflict, and a rocky transition to democracy.

Suzanne Boutilier has waited since the summer of 2008 to adopt Diana, a 3-year old special-needs orphan living at the Bishkek Baby House in Kyrgyzstan's capital. When Boutilier first started the process, she thought the adoption would take a matter of weeks. She and other members of the "Kyrgyz 65" -- as the prospective adoptive parents now call themselves -- are still waiting.

They experienced a glimmer of hope last month. That's when they learned that Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva had approved changes to the nation's family code, ending a moratorium on international adoptions. But Boutilier doesn't expect to board a plane to Kyrgyzstan anytime soon. While the nation's Ministry of Social Welfare is busy drafting a new regulatory framework for adoptions, Boutilier remains in a holding pattern.

"I have been there three times and had to leave without my child every time," says Boutilier of Diana, whom she's gotten to know in two-week spurts over the years. Each time, Boutilier says she spent most of the long journey home in tears.

"I don't know that I can leave without her again. It's so incredibly painful for me, and -- I imagine -- for her."

Boutilier last visited Kyrgyzstan in February 2010, as part of a delegation of American families urging officials here to help them.

Two months later, protesters successfully toppled the regime of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who fled the country. Then, last June, the interim government found itself scrambling to deal with violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbek populations in the southern city of Osh. The conflict left hundreds dead and still consumes much of this nation's political dialogue a year later.

Proponents of adoptions say the combination of turmoil and bureaucracy here have had fatal consequences. Since 2008, two children matched to American parents have died of diseases that Parliament member Shirin Aitmatova says could have been diagnosed and treated in the United States. Aitmatova visited a Bishkek orphanage last year, after frustrated prospective parents got in touch with her.

"I saw that these babies just lie in little cots like vegetables," Aitmatova said. "They don't get enough physical attention. I'd rather they had any parents - American or from any country - rather than rotting away."

Kyrgyzstan implemented the freeze so the government could revise its adoption regulations, after allegations of corruption and illegal processing, according to the U.S. State Department. American officials have encouraged Kyrgyzstan to join the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention, a treaty established in 1993 to standardize the adoption process and encourage cooperation between countries of origin and receiving countries. But Kyrgyzstan has yet to sign on.

Sukenbaeva Kanatbekovna, an aide to Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Social Welfare, says the government froze intercountry adoptions so it would have time to reform its system without creating a backlog of cases. Reform goals include the accreditation of agencies involved in adoptions here and the establishment of a database to track adopted children. Kanatbekovna says Kyrgyz authorities needed time to relocate some previously adopted children, whose information the government had lost. The database is now complete. Kanatbekovna expects that finalizing the new framework will take another two months.

Estimates like these are a familiar refrain for the American parents-in-waiting. Many express concern that the longer they wait, the more severe the long-term physical and psychological damage to the children will be. Only those children passed up for adoption by Kyrgyz parents are eligible for placement with families outside of Kyrgyzstan. As a result, many of the children matched to international families suffer from disabilities.

The U.S. government is currently negotiating an agreement with Kyrgyz officials that could expedite adoptions for the Kyrgyz 65. U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Pamela Spratlen, who began her post in Bishkek last month, says the subject was on the agenda at bilateral meetings last week in Washington.

"We urged that the adoptions move forward as quickly as possible. Foreign Minister [Ruslan] Kazakbaev agreed to address the issue expeditiously," Spratlen said. "We also discussed the new Family Code that is currently with the Ministry of Social Welfare and we hope it will move forward quickly through ministerial review and the parliamentary process."

In Vienna, Virginia, Pamela Allen still thinks of Bermet, who turned 3 years old earlier this month. Bermet spent her birthday at a Bishkek orphanage. Allen ended up adopting another child named Emerson from Kansas eighteen months ago, but she still holds out hope that Bermet will join them one day. Emerson knows Bermet from her photos, which are posted all over their home.

"Each time she passes a picture of her big sister who is still in the orphanage, she stops, points, and babbles. Sometimes she even tries to kiss the picture," says Allen.

"I only hope that soon, very soon, her big sister will no longer have to wait to join her family."