Republican member of the US House of Representatives Christopher Smith introduced a resolution calling on the Ukrainian government to resume the adoption of Ukrainian children by US citizens in December, 2023. The ban was introduced in February, 2022 after the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine.
Calls for the cancellation of the ban reappeared in the US information space. The official website of the US Congress published the following statement at the end of November:
“H.Res.915 – Urging the Government of Ukraine to review and modify its decision to suspend adoption by foreign nationals with a view to resuming such adoptions, particularly in cases where the mutual concerns of the Governments of Ukraine and of the United States can be substantially addressed.”
The document says:
“The House of Representatives — (1) urges the Government of Ukraine to review and modify its decision to suspend adoptions and preadoptive placements of Ukrainian children by United States citizens, and to actually and in good faith resume such adoptions in cases where the mutual concerns of the Government of the United States and of Ukraine to protect and ensure the best interests of the child can be substantially addressed..”
The ban on the adoption of Ukrainian children by foreigners was introduced due to the martial law in Ukraine. According to the law, during this period children cannot be adopted by foreigners and Ukrainian citizens who live abroad or on territories seized by Russian forces.
Since April 2023, Polish, British and Russian human rights activists have been demanding a UN investigation into the numerous disappearances of Ukrainian children. They are refused on the grounds that “the fact of the disappearances has not been established.”
The mass media earlier wrote about the involvement of Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the trafficking of Ukrainian children. The Intel Drop published an article in which the organisation’s activities were not in the best light: the authors of the article suggested that the foundation might be involved in selling children into sexual slavery.
