A Day in Polina's Life

The following link is a video of a day in the life of Polina. Radio Free Europe asked me to put together photos and videos of one day in her life. In an effort to keep it as pure as possible, I did this project the very next day.

Radio Free Europe Link 

I am thankful for them doing this. With the recent death of another Russian born child adopted into America, I think it is important for the Russian people to see what the lives of most children adopted in America is like. There is always going to be an exception - to everything, no matter where you go. However, most of the people around the world who adopt children love and care for them on a daily basis as I hope this video shows me doing with Polina. The cases of the now 20 children who have died after being adopted by American parents from Russian are all tragedies. I don't know the details of every case. What I do know are the details of many families I am friends with in person and through social media who love their children very much just like we do Polina. They take them to therapies, to parks, to church and to play dates with friends. We fight for the rights of our children here in America so that they can have the best life with the most possibilities - the very reason we brought them here. I hope that when Russians think of American families that adopt children, they realize that 99.97% of the 60,000 children adopted into American homes are healthy and doing well. 

I'm very saddened by the case of Max Shatto. I trust that the justice system will find the truth in the case and that Max's younger brother, also adopted from Russia, is in the safe care of those who are not under investigation in this suspicious case. I can not blame the Russian officials for wanting to follow this case and be involved - we would want the same as Americans. I don't know if Max Shatto was abused and I pray that he was not. I do not know the details of that case and leave it to our justice system to find the truth.

Child abuse is not unique to one country and has many different forms. If we are all honest with each other, we will admit that children all over the world are abused daily. Some of those are in American families, rather by birth or adoption. Some of those are in orphanages in other countries. Some of them are living on the streets in all different countries of the world, including the USA. World leaders need not to point fingers at each other, or say that one of us is better than the others. We need to love and care for ALL children and stop ignoring the fact that this does, in fact, happen in our own back yards. Children are a gift from God and are to be valued. It is my prayer that world leaders will put the welfare of children above all else and work together to find solutions to this epidemic. Please join me in that prayer!