Newsweek Article about Adoptive Children Visiting their Birth Family in Russia

Adoption Friends:

In the July 10th, 2006 issue of Newsweek magazine, there is a great article in the “My Turn” section (page 24) about Russian Adoption. The author of the article, Meredith Resnick, is an adoptive mom who adopted two older girls from St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Resnick shares her story of what it was like for herself and her daughters to return to Russia to visit with her children’s birth family.

Ms. Resnick shares her fears of returning to Russia. She honestly admits that initially she was not looking forward to meeting her daughter’s birth family. She mentioned that after the girl’s came home to the United States, that they got some “sad phone calls pleading for money and anxious letters begging them to visit.”

In response to her daughter’s begging her, she did agree to return to Russia with them for a visit. After much diligence, the girls did visit their Grandma. She describes in detail the condition of the apartment building where the Grandma lived and how emotional and life changing the visit was. Also, she shares how emotional it was for her to meet her daughter’s Grandma. The Grandma “whispered Spasibo”, which is thank you in Russian. Although they did not speak the same language, the communication was still evident.

Ms. Resnick now unselfishly understands that this visit to her daughter’s homeland was needed for her daughter’s to “bridge the gap between past and present.” This is a great article to read if you ever possibly foresee returning to your adopted child’s homeland. You can read the article on-line by going to MSNBC/Newsweek website at: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13528589/

Robin Bartko