Joint Statement of U.S. And Russian Delegations on Inter-Country Adoption

July 26, 2010

On July 21-23 in Moscow, U.S. and Russian experts led by Mary Ellen Hickey, the Managing Director for Overseas Citizen Services at the U.S. Department of State and Alina Levitskaya, the Director of Department of Upbringing and Socialization of Children at the Ministry of Education and Science, held a new round of talks on intercountry adoption.  Our goal for these meetings was to complete a draft text that fully functions within our respective legal frameworks.

Experts reviewed, discussed, and decided on a draft agreement to submit to our respective interagencies for comment.

Negotiators were guided by the priorities expressed in the June 24 joint statement of Presidents Obama and Medvedev committing everything in their power to ensure reliable protections for the rights, safety, and well-being of adopted children.

The fact that we met so soon after the last round of negotiations and achieved significant progress, demonstrates our commitment to finalize for signature an agreement that ensures the welfare of children in intercountry adoptions, said Mary Ellen Hickey and Alina Levitskaya.