The American Spectator

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p> HELP AMERICAN ORPHANS br> Re: Eleanor Stables's From Russia With Love : /p>

Eleanor Stables paints a very grim picture. The accuracy of the piece does not warrant rebuttal but some of the characterization might.

The first "The orphanage is surrounded by smokestacks, heavy, dark forests and, a few hundred yards away, a graveyard. The nearby city of Kazan hosts a statue of Vladimir Lenin." One has to understand the nature of a typical Russian city. People live in large apartment blocks. A city the size of Santa Barbara would be wholly contained in a one square mile area if in Russia. Everyone is in proximity to everything else. As to the dark forest comment, it is the Volga basin all heavily forested. Yes Kazan still has a statute of Lenin, or did in 2003 when I last visited, but then hundreds of cities across the country do. What's the point?

One might also acquire a perception that Russian parents are just dumping children which is not so. Russians typically spoil their kids rotten to the extent that they can just like here. Alcohol abuse is a rampant issue, and highly male centered in that country. But that is not the sole reason that Russian males die so early. Work conditions in many heavy industries are dire, lacking an OSHA-like organization. Access to modern medical treatments and an unwillingness to take preventive measures on the part of the individual also contribute heavily to the early death statistics.

My second observation is that we here in the U.S. have rebranded our efforts. It is no longer orphanages but foster care. In my own state of Texas, 47,400 confirmed child abuse cases are reported by Child Protective Services in 2003. The same organization has adoption rates in the low 2200/year (2001-2261; 2002-2248; 2003-2450). If only 10% of the abuse cases result in placement of the child in foster care that's roughly 5000 children, nearly double the adoption rate. Running some numbers, there are somewhere around 1m to 1.5m children in foster care in any given year nationwide.

Foster parents, God bless them, are under extreme pressure as there are not enough of them for the number of children that need placement. There are Boys Ranches and Girlstowns in many states in the U.S. That the state places a child in a foster home or Boys Ranch does not remove the fact that one is orphaned. That such arrangements result in better care for the child, I have no doubt. That relief organizations are making head way in Russia is commendable.

p>That the Russian system has many faults there is no doubt. But we should not be casting stones by how I read this piece, what with child pornography, pedophiles in and out of churches, and considerable child abuse occurring. We need to be sure the left hand is protecting our own children while our right hand is offering hope to others around the world. br> -- John McGinnis br> Arlington, Texas

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