Russian president says he will sign adoption bill into law

Published on 28/12/2012 00:00

Russian president Vladimir Putin said yesterday that he will sign a controversial bill barring Americans from adopting
Russian children.

The law would block dozens of Russian children now in the process of being adopted by American families from leaving the country. Russia is the single biggest source of adopted children in the United States, with more than 60,000 Russian children being taken in by Americans over the past two decades.

Unicef estimates that there are about 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia, while only 18,000 Russians are now waiting to adopt a child. Russian officials say they want to encourage more Russians to adopt Russian orphans.