Russian Adoption Ban Hits Close To Home For North Texas Family
FAIRVIEW (CBS 11 NEWS) - Alexander D'Jamoos spoke only a few words of English six years ago.
His arrival to North Texas in 2006 was a medical visit to amputate his legs, deformed by a congenital defect.
Today, he answers to the name Sasha when his parents call his name.
Those parents were a U.S. host family, volunteering to help D'Jamoos, while recovering from his surgery.
Within months, they adopted the now 21-year old Russian, and added him to their small family in Fairview.
"We didn't have the heart to send him back," father Mike D'Jamoos said from their family home.
The parents and Sasha recollected this story, while responding the news reports detailing the Russian governments ban of adoptions of Russian children by Americans.
From this day forward, no Russian children living in orphanages will have Americans as potential parents.
Sasha D'Jamoos, now a student at the University of Texas, said he still has friends in orphanages, and their opportunity for family life has been directly threatened.
"It's absurd. It violates a fundamental right for a child to have a family," he said.
Sasha's parents admit they had no dreams of adopting a child.
Their view of Sasha's medical care, and knowing he would return to a Russian orphanage as a teenager, altered their outlook.
"When you expose a flower to sunlight, and you see it bloom, how dare you cover it up again. How could you do that?" Michael D'Jamoos said.
Thousands of American families have adopted children from Russia for the past 20 years.
An estimated 700,000 Russian children live in orphanages. Sasha was one of them.
His mother said there is no reason why the Russian government should stop anyone willing to love a child. "Why are they doing this? It's unbearable."
Also Check Out:
