Hi °C | Lo °C AFTER a nerve-wracking month in Moscow, fearing their adoption bids might be foiled by a diplomatic spat, two US families are now able to take their adopted Russian children home.
Jeana Bonner (29), Rebecca Preece (34) and their husbands had spent around a year trying to adopt two Russian orphans, both with special needs, only for their applications to be stalled at the final stages when Russia banned Americans adopting in December. The ban was part of Russia's retaliation for US sanctions on suspected human rights abusers.
Even when courts ruled in January that the adoptions could go ahead, the families had to wait for a month and feared the process could hit further obstacles.
However, the final decree was issued and the adoptive parents have now collected their new children and will take them home this week.
"In every mother there's a mama-bear, you're protective of your children," Ms Preece said as her four-year-old adopted son Gabriel Artur romped around their hotel room in Moscow.
Moscow said its ban was justified by the deaths of 19 Russian-born children adopted by US parents in the past decade.
Irish Independent
