12 September 2013 | 15:12

Kazakhstan authorities comment Reuters discovery of re-homing networks involving children from Kazakhstan

The Chief of the Committee on Children Protection of Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science Raisa Sher. Photo courtesy of azattyq.org

Kazakhstan authorities promise to investigate the cases of "private re-homing" of adopted children from Kazakhstan in the United States, Chairwoman of the Committee for Protection of Children at the Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science Raisa Sher told Tengrinews.kz. According to Raisa Sher, the Committee has made an inquiry with the Consular Service Department of Kazakhstan Foreign Affairs Ministry and the U.S. Embassy. A U.S. State Department representative will arrive in Kazakhstan on September 23 to deal with adoption issues, she added."We will ask the questions during the meeting. We have not received any official report on the cases so far. And it is hard to say how credible the information (about the re-homing network) is. But we are following the situation and we will ask the U.S. State Department representative for the information that they have," she said.Earlier, Tengrinews.kz reported that Reuters discovered a 'private re-homing' network trading and exchanging adopted children in online communities in the United States. Adoptive parents posted ads to find new homes for the children they had adopted from countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and China, but no longer wanted. In most cases the reasons why they wanted to get rid of the children were related to various health or behavioral disorders. The Reuters investigation has attracted attention of the American authorities. There were several scandals that involved foreign adoption of Kazakhstan-born kids. The last known case was about two Kazakhstan-born orphan kids adopted from Kazakhstan that testified against their adoptive parents this summer. According to the victims, the parents sexually abused them. The jury trial froun the American couple guilty on over a dozen of the accusations.By Assemgul Kassenova

Kazakhstan authorities promise to investigate the cases of "private re-homing" of adopted children from Kazakhstan in the United States, Chairwoman of the Committee for Protection of Children at the Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science Raisa Sher told Tengrinews.kz. According to Raisa Sher, the Committee has made an inquiry with the Consular Service Department of Kazakhstan Foreign Affairs Ministry and the U.S. Embassy. A U.S. State Department representative will arrive in Kazakhstan on September 23 to deal with adoption issues, she added."We will ask the questions during the meeting. We have not received any official report on the cases so far. And it is hard to say how credible the information (about the re-homing network) is. But we are following the situation and we will ask the U.S. State Department representative for the information that they have," she said.Earlier, Tengrinews.kz reported that Reuters discovered a 'private re-homing' network trading and exchanging adopted children in online communities in the United States. Adoptive parents posted ads to find new homes for the children they had adopted from countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and China, but no longer wanted. In most cases the reasons why they wanted to get rid of the children were related to various health or behavioral disorders. The Reuters investigation has attracted attention of the American authorities. There were several scandals that involved foreign adoption of Kazakhstan-born kids. The last known case was about two Kazakhstan-born orphan kids adopted from Kazakhstan that testified against their adoptive parents this summer. According to the victims, the parents sexually abused them. The jury trial froun the American couple guilty on over a dozen of the accusations.By Assemgul Kassenova