ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the tragedy of Russian children. Russia is suffering an unprecedented economic and demographic crisis. According to Russia's 1992 First Report to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child, the population of the Russian Federation was 148.7 million people. The infant mortality rate in 1992 was 17.8 per 1,000 live births, according to the government figures presented to the UN, primarily the result of the social and economic crisis. The first international adoption of a Russian child took place in 1991 through the participation of the 'Lenin Children's Fund' and the personal intervention of Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the then President of the USSR. According to the United States State Department, 'the adoptions of the children from the Russian Federation by American citizens have steadily increased over 1996. Orphans from nearly every region of Russia are available for adoption by Russian or foreign parents'.
