A couple in New York State has asked a local judge to void their adoption of two Russian children with mental health problems.
The children were adopted in 2008. The couple, from Long Island, said adoption agencies they used had claimed the children were “healthy and socially well-adjusted” siblings.
According to the couple, the children began to exhibit serious mental health problems soon after the adoption. These included numerous threats to kill the parents.
The couple also learned the children were, in fact, not related and had previously been victims of sexual abuse. They are currently being taken care of in state mental health facilities.
The case, Matter of Adoption of Child A and Child C, will be heard by Judge Edward McCarty III, who is based in Long Island’s Nassau County. He took the unusual step of announcing that the courtroom will be open during the hearing, although he has requested that the media refrain from revealing the identity of the children and parents.
The judge said that he had taken this step because 18 Russian children who were adopted by American families have died violently in the last 20 years. Most of them had not been in the United States longer than six months.
If the judge grants the couple’s request to void the adoption, the children, who are now 12 and 14 years old, will become wards of the state.
Photo by Jet Lowe via Wikipedia
