US-Russia Bilateral Adoption Agreement To Take Effect November 1

The U.S. government has announced that the Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children will enter into force on November 1, 2012, following an exchange of diplomatic notes between the U.S. and Russian governments.

In the United States, international adoptions are handled jointly by the US Department of State and the US Citizenship and Immigration Service, which work "to promote safe, ethical, and transparent adoption processest for prospective adoptive parents, birth families, and children involved in intercountry adoptions."

The U.S. and Russian governments began negotiating the Agreement to strengthen procedural safeguards in the adoption process between the United States and Russia in April 2010.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed the Agreement on July 13, 2011 in Washington, D.C. The Russian Duma approved the Agreement on July 10, 2012 and the Russian Federation Council approved the Agreement on July 18, 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Agreement into law on July 28, 2012.

(cgb)