***

Перевести на русский
***

This post is an update to an ongoing series of posts I have made about the death of Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison and the agency that placed him, European Adoption Consultants (EAC). EAC is one of the largest international adoption agencies in the world and the top agency in Russia and Guatemala.

Russian law requires officials be kept up to date by the placing agencies of the disposition of the children placed through them with regular updates for the first three years. In the aftermath of Dmitry’s death, the Russian Federation Ministry of Education and Science opened an investigation into EAC for their apparent failure to report his death immediately.

Dmitry is the the second Russian child EAC had placed who died apparently as a result of actions by their adopters. Logan Higgenbotham was killed by her adoptive mother in 1988. You can read my previous posts about Dmitry and EAC by clicking here (read from bottom to top, as entries are in reverse chronological order.)

***

Yesterday EAC added the following announcement to their webpage:

August 6th, 2008

EAC is proud to announce that we have received confirmation from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation that our accreditation will remain intact and valid. Our staff is honored to be allowed to assist you in completing your forever family.

Their text box about Dmitry and the situation has also changed since it was originally posted, it now reads:

To our EAC Families and Friends

It is with deep regret that we acknowledge the unfortunate loss of one of our own. Chase (Dmitry) Harrison, adopted from Russia 03/2008. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family in this time of sorrow.

Originally, it had read:

To our EAC Families and Friends

It is with deep regret that we acknowledge the unfortunate loss of one of our own. Chase (Dmitry) Harrison, adopted from Russia 03/2008, died on July 8th. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family in this time of sorrow.

We are currently assessing the situation and continuing to work with the Russian Federation on this matter.

As additional information becomes available we will keep you apprised.

I commented upon the original content in my blog post, Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison and European Adoption Consultants, late week update saying at the time:

I find this a rather stunning statement in light of the circumstances.

It makes no mention of how Dmitry died, nor that his death apparently occurred as a result of actions taken by his foster father, Miles H. Harrison, (I’m still looking for confirmation, but it appears the adoption itself was still been in process.) His foster father is currently facing charges of manslaughter for his role in Dmitry’s death.

The EAC statement makes it appear Dmitry simply up and died, when it’s relatively clear (we are still awaiting final autopsy results), that Dmitry died as a result of the actions of a man who had apparently gone through EAC’s approval process to adopt him. This is not merely a case of Dmitry being one of EAC’s “own”, Miles Harrison was also apparently one of EAC’s own.

The statement also says nothing about, nor even acknowledges that there may be an investigation into EAC for having apparently broken Russian law requiring Russian authorities be notified of Dmitry’s death in a timely fashion. (News of his death reached Russian authorities days after the fact. The officials at the Russian Embassy learned via the media.)

Nor is there any mention of EAC’s current status in regard to whether or not they are still accredited to do Russian adoptions.

I have been unable to find any further confirmation of EAC’s claim that they will be maintaining their accreditation through news sources, any statement from the Ministry of Education and Science, or any source other than the agency’s own webpage announcement.

The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation’s english version website sheds no light on the matter.

To date I have no sources stating the Ministry’s investigation into EAC has concluded.

So for what it’s worth, we have EAC’s say so, nothing else.

Finally, I also want to point readers towards Bastardette, as she blogged this before I had the chance, see her piece, Moo! European Adoption Consultants stays in Russia.

***

Перевести на русский

***

New readers will want to first look over my earlier writings about Dmitry to familiarize themselves with the background details of the story. (The linked tag will provide my posts in reverse chronological order, begin at the bottom, read up towards the top.)

***

I’ve been doing some digging online looking for any further readings about the investigation into Dmitry’s death. I stumbled across this older July 19th Interfax piece, Russian Education, Science Ministry to Look into Death of Boy Adopted to U.S.. There are a few details I hadn’t seen in the American media contained in it:

MOSCOW. July 19 (Interfax) – The Russian Education and Science Ministry is determined to thoroughly look into all circumstances surrounding the death of 1.5-year-old Dima Yakovlev, a Russian boy recently adopted by a U.S. family, Education and Science Minister Dmitry Fursenko told Interfax.

Fursenko called the incident “extraordinary.”

The article goes on to lay out the significance of the incident:

“This is the first time that a tragedy has happened with a child adopted through an organization accredited in Russia,” Fursenko said. All other deaths of Russian children adopted by U.S. families were related “to so-called independent adoption,” he said.

I am wondering how Dmitry can be considered the first, in light of Logan Higgenbotham, who was also adopted through the same agency Dmitry was, European Adoption Consultants (EAC). I wrote briefly about Logan here:

…European Adoption Consultants had previous placed another Russian child, Logan Higgenbotham (in Vermont back in 1998), who had been killed by her adoptive mother, Laura Higgenbotham. (She pled no contest to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and received a 1 year prison sentence after having intentionally slammed 3 year old Logan’s head into a wall.)

You can read more about Logan and Dmitry/Chase in Bastardette’s online “Memoriam to Russian Adoptees Murdered by their Forever Families,”

NIKTO NE ZABYT — NICHTO NE ZABYTO

(Nobody is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.)

Returning to the original article, apparently Minister Fursenko has been receiving questions about whether or not the existing structure of the Russian adoption process would be altered in the wake of the investigation:

Fursenko said it was “too early to talk” about any measures the ministry could take in the wake of the incident.

I have not found any articles as of yet directly addressing the cause of death, but the Interfax article includes the following:

It was reported earlier that Dima Yakovlev, who was adopted by the Harrison family in March 2008, died of hyperthermia after spending several hours in a locked car, where his adoptive father had left him while he was at work.

Finally, Bastardette has also found a new source of information on the case from Russia, uploaded news video segments, see her introduction in her blog post here:

RUSSIAN NEWS VIDEOS ON KOLYA EMELYATSEV AND DMITRY YAKOLEV/CHASE HARRISON

As a final note, I continue to search for any updated information about the status of European Adoption Consultants’ current accreditation status. To the best of my knowledge they remain under investigation over their failure to immediately report Dmitry’s death to Russian authorities. (Under Russian law, adoption agencies must keep the the Russian Education and Science Ministry informed on the well-being of adoptees placed through them.)

***

Перевести на русский

***

(For new readers, please see my earlier two pieces; *Updated* The death of Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison and the Russian announcement; 2 agencies accreditations pulled & a 3rd under investigation and Dmitry (Dima) Yakolev/Chase Harrison and the 3 agencies; new details emerge to get up to speed.)

***

Update- This is one of a series of posts about Dmitry’s death. Please follow my Dmitry Yakolev tag to read more.

***

Thanks to the ongoing research on Dmitry’s case over at Pound Pup Legacy, by way of this small article, Adoption agencies shut after Russian child dies in U.S., (from back on the 12th,) we finally find an image of Dmitry:

The image appears to have been first published in this article, Russia bans three adoption agencies following baby’s death in the U.S. on the 11th.

By way of news articles update, the Baltimore Examiner, published this piece yesterday, U.S.-Russian tensions rise over infant’s death, about how Dmitry’s death has fanned the flames of the already tense U.S./Russian ongoing adoption situation:

But Chase’s death has spread concern among Russian officials that Americans aren’t regulating and keeping tabs on the parents who adopt children from Russia.

The article then goes on to repeat the claim that European Adoption Consultants has been banned.

The earlier Moscow times article, originally published on the 15th, says EAC has not been banned, but are being investigated by the Russian Education and Science Ministry.

The actual current status of EAC continues to be unclear in light of conflicting news reports and no statement (that I’ve come across anyway) mentioning the current status from EAC, the U.S. State Department, nor Russian Authorities.

To date the one statement I’ve come across, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, deals only with the investigation into Dmitry’s death, not the banning of Cradle of Hope Adoption Center and Family and Children’s Agency, nor of an investigation into EAC.

I will continue to try to find a clarification of the Russian position on EAC.

The article goes on to state:

Russian officials claim the adoption agency didn’t alert the government within the legally required time of Chase’s death.

As a result, Russian officials said, European Adoption Consultants Inc. and two other unnamed companies have been banned from Russia.

A spokesman for EAC declined to comment Tuesday, saying that the company is still trying to figure out what action the Russians have taken.

and

Calls to the U.S. State Department were not returned.

The United States and Russia already have a dicey past over adoption. In 2006 a Manassas woman was convicted of beating her Russian-born adopted daughter to death.

By way of blog updates, Bastardette brings us Damage Control: Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison which points readers across European Adoption Consultants current brief front webpage statement about Dmitry’s death:

To our EAC Families and Friends

It is with deep regret that we acknowledge the unfortunate loss of one of our own. Chase (Dmitry) Harrison, adopted from Russia 03/2008, died on July 8th. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family in this time of sorrow.

We are currently assessing the situation and continuing to work with the Russian Federation on this matter.

As additional information becomes available we will keep you apprised.

I find this a rather stunning statement in light of the circumstances.

It makes no mention of how Dmitry died, nor that his death apparently occurred as a result of actions taken by his foster father, Miles H. Harrison, (I’m still looking for confirmation, but it appears the adoption itself was still been in process.) His foster father is currently facing charges of manslaughter for his role in Dmitry’s death.

The EAC statement makes it appear Dmitry simply up and died, when it’s relatively clear (we are still awaiting final autopsy results), that Dmitry died as a result of the actions of a man who had apparently gone through EAC’s approval process to adopt him. This is not merely a case of Dmitry being one of EAC’s “own”, Miles Harrison was also apparently one of EAC’s own.

The statement also says nothing about, nor even acknowledges that there may be an investigation into EAC for having apparently broken Russian law requiring Russian authorities be notified of Dmitry’s death in a timely fashion. (News of his death reached Russian authorities days after the fact. The officials at the Russian Embassy learned via the media.)

Nor is there any mention of EAC’s current status in regard to whether or not they are still accredited to do Russian adoptions.

Bastardette, in her comment thread on the same piece also points readers at a 2008 “Business Spotlight” profile piece of Margaret Cole’s European Adoption Consultants in the Bay Village Ohio Community Advocate entitled Uniting Orphaned Children with Loving Parents:

European Adoption Consultants, Inc. is presently one of the largest international adoption agencies in the world, and the top agency in Russia and Guatemala.

As I pointed out earlier, Dmitry is not the only Russian adoptee European Adoption Consultants has placed who has died due to the actions of their American adopters.

Logan Higgenbotham had also been placed by EAC and killed by her adoptive mother, Laura Higgenbotham in Vermont in 1988. (She pled no contest to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and received a 1 year prison sentence after having intentionally slammed 3 year old Logan’s head into a wall.)

Marley’s/Bastardette’s “Memoriam to Russian Adoptees Murdered by their Forever Families,” NIKTO NE ZABYT — NICHTO NE ZABYTO, (Nobody is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.) contains further information about Dmitry and Logan.

***

Перевести на русский

***

This is one of a series of posts about Dmitry’s death. Please follow my Dmitry Yakolev tag to read more.

***

If readers have not read my previous article, now renamed “*Updated* The death of Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison and the Russian announcement; 2 agencies accredations pulled, & a 3rd under investigation” (including the important update at the bottom) you will want to begin there.

The post below is a round up of new details that are emerging. The quick summary:

* the names of the other two agencies (the two who have been banned,) the third, European Adoption Consultants are currently under investigation,

* Dmitry was relinquished immediately after being born, by his Mother who had herself been raised in an orphanage,

* apparently a Russian couple considered taking him in at one point as well,

* Dmitry’s adoptive father, Miles Harrison apparently suffered a heart attack and was thereafter transferred to a private mental hospital,

* apparently the Harrisons “signed a statement prohibiting child abuse” in the course of the adoption,

* and the ‘bombshell’, apparently the Russian authorities found out about Dmity’s death several days after the fact. The Russian Embassy learned of the death from the media. (Under Russian law, Russian authorities were required to be notified by the agency who placed him, European Adoption Consultants.)

—

As I updated to the bottom of my previous post, the English language Moscow Times put out a story yesterday that contradicted the original claim (made in sources such as RPCNews, Gazetta, and the State-run RIA-Novosti) that there were three agencies banned.

We now learn that two agencies, the Cradle of Hope Adoption Center and Family and Children’s Agency have been banned (had their accreditations withdrawn) due to violations of Russian law and that a third, European Adoption Consultants, the agency involved in Dmitry Yakolev’s (Chase Harrison’s) placement is currently under investigation.

The Education and Science Ministry said it had withdrawn the accreditation of the two agencies — the Cradle of Hope Adoption Center and Family and Children’s Agency — after inspections found that they had violated the law.

The ministry supplied a list of the purported violations, which primarily focused on failures to keep the ministry informed about the well-being of adopted children.

“For the first three years, they should inform the Russian education ministry about the situation regularly,” ministry spokesman Andrei Nedrov said.

He said the ministry was considering toughening the conditions for agencies seeking to reapply for licenses after being barred.

Officials at the two U.S. agencies declined comment. The agencies were among 33 licensed to operate in Russia.

State-run RIA-Novosti and other media outlets have linked the ban to the death of Dmitry Yakolev, a 21-month-old boy who died last Tuesday after his adoptive father left him in a hot car in Virginia. But Vladimir Kabanov, head of the education ministry’s adoption department, denied any connection. “They were banned because of numerous violations uncovered during the checks. This has nothing to do with Dima Yakolev’s death,” Kabanov said.

(Note: When I blogged about Dmitry’s death originally the names of the two agencies were not available yet, so naming the two is a new development.)

He adopted the boy through the European Adoption Consultants, not one of the banned agencies, Kabanov said. His ministry is now carrying out a check of the European Adoption Consultants, he said.

The agency’s executive director, Margaret Cole, declined to comment on the case Monday.

The death could raise fears about a clampdown on international adoptions. Russia tightened controls over adoptions a few years ago after several children died at the hands of U.S. parents.

Boris Altshuler, head of The Right of the Child group, said 14 Russian children have been killed by their adoptive parents in the United States over the past 15 years, compared with 12 in Russia.

Adoption agencies must be held accountable for their work, said Moscow ombudsman Alexei Golovan. “If they fail to meet their responsibilities, they should be barred from operating in Russia,” he said, adding that he would like to see more Russian parents adopt children.

Other articles have also come out in the past 24 hours filing out a few more details.

This piece, His foster parents wanted to give Dima the world. But he died instead… speaks a bit to Dmitry’s (Dima’s) origins:

An American family adopted the two-year-old Dima Yakolev last March from the Pskovsk Regional Orphanage. The boy died when his father stopped by his office and left him in a parked car all day long.

And a scant few details about his Mother and the child’s health:

Dima had made a long journey from Russia’s Pechor Pskovsk region to the U.S. His new family lived in Herndon, Virginia outside Washington DC. First, it seemed that fate had dealt the boy a second chance. His biological mother had put him up for adoption immediately after his birth — even though she too was raised in an orphanage. Dima was moved straight from the labor ward to the Pskovsk Regional Orphanage for children with a damaged central nervous system.

“We received Dima in 2006 straight from the labor ward,” said Natalya Vishnevskaya, the head doctor at the orphanage. “His 18-year-old mother signed a refusal of the child and disappeared. It’s unclear where she is now. She is a mentally disabled, lonely young girl who was also raised in an orphanage.”

Dima’s parents could have been Russian, but the potential foster parents reconsidered due to problems with his health. The boy had a cardiac murmur. However, the condition isn’t severe. Doctors report the medical condition can be found in one of two babies during a detailed health check.

“The doctors discovered a heart murmur,” Vishnevskaya said. “And although the boy was sweet, it was likely this diagnose together with his background that frightened the Russian couple.

We also learn more about the disposition of his adoptive Father, Miles H. Harrison:

When the vehicle was opened, Dima was no longer breathing. His father tried to resuscitate the child and someone called the police. After the tragedy, Carol requested that no one interfere with their personal life and restricted herself to: “We’re mourning.”

Michael ended up in the hospital. He fell into shock and had a heart attack. He was transferred to a private mental hospital. He is charged with manslaughter and faces up to 10 years in prison.

Apparently Dima’s earlier health issues had passed by the time the Harrisons came to Russia for him:

“The boy was friendly, calm and good-natured. And he wasn’t capricious at all. He was almost completely healthy when he was adopted.”

Then there’s the ‘bombshell’ an important detail I hadn’t seen elsewhere:

Interestingly, the boy died Tuesday — one week ago. But news of the tragedy reached Russia only several days later. Employees of the Russian Embassy in the U.S. only learned what had happened from the papers.

If this is true then it should come as no surprise that European Adoption Consultants have come under investigation. Under Russian law, Russian authorities are to be given word about the disposition of Russian adopted children from the agencies that placed them, not the media. As I blogged earlier, by Friday, July 11th, the Washington Post was certainly reporting Russian Embassy involvement in the case.

(The final paragraph appears to have a translation problem “accuse” appears to have been intended to be “excuse”.)

Commentary from Officials

“We find no accuse for the actions of the foster father,” said Valentina Chernova, head of adoption at the State Department for Social Development in the Pskovsk Region, and Nadejda Kulgavova, regional operator of the Parentless Children’s Database. “He lost consciousness only after seeing the child. This means he was functioning well enough to have remembered the child up until that point. We received character sketches from people close to the couple. They were all positive. One wrote: ‘I’m lucky to have two wonderful friends who I would unconditionally trust with my own child.’ The foster parents also signed a statement prohibiting child abuse. The pair have adopted nephews from Guatemala. The agency hasn’t lost its license yet as far as we know. It has already worked 10 years or so with the region. There were never any problems. We’re working with them now on one adoption case. But it’s probable it will be postponed.”

Finally, in this third article, from RIA Novosti, Russia calls for full probe into death of adopted baby in U.S. calls are made for a thorough investigation:

Russia hopes U.S. authorities will conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding last week’s death of a baby adopted from a Russian orphanage, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

and

The ministry said in a statement: “We hope that American law enforcement authorities and the court will exhaustively look into all the causes and circumstances surrounding this tragedy and take a just decision. We also hope that the relevant U.S. social services will draw the necessary conclusions from this.”

The article repeats the now apparently false claim that European Adoption Consultants has already been banned:

After the incident, Russian authorities banned European Adoption Consultants Inc., the agency responsible for placing the child with the Harrisons, for failing to immediately report the death. Two other agencies also had their Russian licenses revoked.

The Russian Foreign Ministry statement went further:

The Russian Foreign Ministry said: “We have repeatedly called on the American side to sign a special bilateral adoption agreement. Such an international legal document would allow us more effectively to control the fate of Russian children taken out of the country by foster parents. We will ensure that this issue is included in the agenda of Russian-American dialogue.”

As I said in my original blog piece about the case, there is a history here, and Dmitry’s death is unfortunately only the latest of a number of Russian adoptees who have died through the actions of their American adopters.

Again, I urge readers to explore Marley/Bastardette’s “Memoriam to Russian Adoptees Murdered by their Forever Families,””

NIKTO NE ZABYT — NICHTO NE ZABYTO

(Nobody is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.)

***

Перевести на русский

***

This piece has been retitled. The text below remains as was originally posted July 14th, 08, however the update below, posted on the 15th contradicts some of the information I had available to me on the 14th. Please read down through.

This is one of a series of posts about Dmitry’s death. Please follow my Dmitry Yakolev tag to read more.

***

(I am somewhat ‘late’ blogging this, but particularly as there has been so little print media about Dmitry’s death, I thought it was important to be as thorough as I could be in blogging the story.)

21 month old Russian adoptee Dmitry Yakolev, renamed Chase Harrison by his adopters, died a miserable death in Herndon, Virginia last week. His adoptive father “forgot” about him; after failing to drop Dmitry off at daycare, he drove on to work, parked, and went in to the building, leaving Dmitry in the back seat in his child safety seat. Many hours later, around 5pm, a coworker noticed something through the SUV’s tinted windows and alerted the office receptionist. Despite attempts at CPR on the unresponsive child, he could not be resuscitated.

(Among the many questions this raises, I am not the only one puzzled that the day-care center apparently did not call either parent to determine Dmity’s whereabouts when he failed to arrive.)

Temperatures on Tuesday (July 8th) in the area reached 91 degrees. Inside the SUV, where the windows had been left rolled up, temperatures may have ranged from 131-172 degrees (according to estimates by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.) Dmitry, still strapped in, apparently slowly roasted to death over the course of hours. It is unclear exactly how many hours he was alone in the vehicle. An autopsy was scheduled for late last week to make a final determination on cause of death.

It is recommended that placing a stuffed animal or similar in the passenger seat alongside a driver, or to place a purse or briefcase in the back seat when adults have a child in the back seat may help them focus on remembering the child and their wellbeing. Children left in vehicles in summer are certainly a far broader problem than confined to those who adopt, there have been multiple instances just in Virginia in the last week.

However, the extent to which focus, time, and effort, have gone into adopting a child, as well as this having been mere months after Dmitry came to America also raises questions. If an adoptive couple has waited for and worked so hard to finally get a child, should that make any difference in how much they are aware of and focused on said child after he ‘comes home’? Should children newly brought to the country, or adopted be somehow less at risk of being forgotten under circumstances such as these? Clearly, not in Dmitry’s case.

According to this Fairfax Times article, Dmitry’s adoptive father, Miles H. Harrison, (49, of Purcellville, Virginia), has been charged with manslaughter but not served, as of last Thursday as he had apparently ‘collapsed in shock’ after realizing he had left the child. The maximum sentence he could receive on the charge would be ten years.

This (Friday July 11, ‘08) Washington Post article, Father Whose Son Died in Hot Car is Hospitalized, has a few more details:

Harrison, 49, was taken to Reston Hospital Center after Chase was discovered, then to the Herndon police station to be interviewed by detectives. Harrison collapsed again at the station, and was returned to the Reston facility before being transported to an undisclosed private hospital, said Herndon Police Lt. Jeff P. Coulter. Coulter said police are to be called when Harrison is ready to leave the hospital.

“If he needs some short-term treatment to get stabilized, I would not interfere with that. I can certainly understand that might be in order given what’s occurred here,” Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said. “There’s no rush. If he needs treatment he should get it, and then he will face what he has to face.”

Harrison’s wife, Carol, was questioned by detectives at the Herndon police station about an hour after Chase was found, Coulter said. She was interviewed about background information and “what went on during the day,” he said, adding that the investigation will seek to answer what happened “leading up to that day, what all has taken place in these people’s lives.”

Dmitry was the Harrison’s only child.

Further down in the Washington Post article, Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh explained the reasoning behind the manslaughter charge thusly:

Morrogh said the decision to charge Harrison with manslaughter followed an impartial look at the facts. Murder was out because there was no intent, he said. While states have a hodgepodge of practices on whether or not to charge in such cases, doing so seems appropriate here, he said.

“From where I sit, I have to enforce the law, and the law places certain requirements on people when it comes to many things, especially with children,” Morrogh said. “It’s just such an emotional thing, and rightly so. As a parent myself, I can’t imagine. It’s just a tragedy all the way around.”

The Harrisons were still in the state mandated six month supervision period required for international adoptions after Dmitry came from Russia three months ago.

Unfortunately, his death is only the latest of a number of Russian children who have died due to the actions of their American adopters, something those of us living in the broader DC metropolitan area may have some awareness of considering the recent sentencing of Samuel and Donna Merryman for the death of their Russian born adopted son Dennis Uritsky this past April (see my blog post about such here.)

There has been an ongoing history that forms the context into which Dmitry’s death has fallen internationally as well, Russian adoptions have come to the brink, in the aftermath, stricter rules had already been placed on agencies working in Russia. Frustrations with the number of Russian children who have died post adoption were already running high.

The Russian reaction to Dmitry’s death has been swift.

The Friday Washington Post article detailed the Russian Embassy involvement:

Yevgeniy V. Khorishko, press officer for the Russian Embassy, said consulate officials are “trying to figure out the details of this accident.”

“We are in contact with U.S. officials in this case,” Khorishko said. Russian officials are also working to determine whether the boy still had Russian citizenship, he said.

Also on Friday this RIA Novosti article hit, Russia bans 3 adoption agencies following baby’s death in U.S., which I’ll quote several paragraphs from:

Three international adoption agencies, including one that failed to inform Russia of the death of a baby in the U.S. this week, have been banned from operating in Russia, the country’s adoption authorities said on Friday.

and

The Russian Education and Science Ministry’s adoption commission said in a statement: “The agencies to be banned from working on the territory of the Russian Federation include a representative office that violated the requirements of Russian law on swiftly informing us of the death of an adopted child.”

and

The incident had been expected to prompt new calls in Russia for tighter controls on adoptions following several other scandals, notably the killing of a two-year-old girl from Siberia by her adoptive mother in the United States. The woman, Peggy Sue Hilt, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in May 2006 for beating the child to death.

Around 120,000 Russian children were adopted both in Russia and abroad in 2007, a 6.4% increase on 2006, according to the Science and Education Ministry.

(The child Peggy Sue Hilt murdered, mentioned above, was two and a half year old Nina Hilt/Viktoria Bazhenova.)

To date, I have only found the single article mentioning three agencies were essentially booted out last Friday, and unfortunately, the article fails to give the names of any of the three. (I will continue to search for more details.) While such usually would be ‘bigger news’ here in the States at least, there’s been scant mention. Other than on a blog here and there, it’s gotten very little public attention.

In short, under Russian law, when an adopted child dies, the agency is required to notify Russian authorities. One of the three agencies that have since been banned failed to live up to its obligations as part of doing adoptions in Russia. As for the other two, Russia halting their in country operations may or may not have been in any way related to this latest incident.

As the reasons are unknown at this time, I will focus upon the agency that failed to notify Russian authorities of Dmitry’s death. The article quoted above leads to another set of questions. As the agency appears not to have given notice at all (”one that failed to inform Russia of the death”) were they attempting to keep Dmitry’s death from his country of birth, possibly in an attempt to protect their own accreditation to do business there?

Russian authorities appear to have done what they could, kicking the agency out, but then, Russian law requires an agency inform them if a child dies. Not every country has such a requirement.

Other than losing the ability to do business in Russia will there be any other consequences to the agency that failed to report?

Further, what of other countries the agencies do business in? Will they in any way be informed that the agencies lost their Russian accreditation, in one case for failing to comply with Russian law by reporting and adopted child’s death?

So who then, are the three agencies (including the one that failed to notify?) Well, by way of at least one of those three, over on Bastardette’s comment thread here, Niels of Pound Pup Legacy pointed readers at this page, by way of citation in a comment that contained in part, the following:

The adoption agency involved in the placement of Chase Harrison (Dmitry Yakovlev) was European Adoption Consultants, Inc.

Which would be European Adoption Consultants, 12608 Alameda Drive, Strongville, Ohio 44149.

Be sure to see their Russian program here, which flatly states “The referral process for infant boys is quick right now”, their Russian program news page, and their FAQ under the question “Q: Is EAC licensed to do adoptions in Russia?” The “Returning Home to the USA – Russia – Word Document” off this page lays out some of the follow up visits etc expected after a Russian adoptee has ben brought to the States. Finally, this link, view the letter, will take you to a confirmation letter to EAC informing them of their Russian Accreditation (English version is on page 2.)

Their basic intake application forms, both online (click the “apply online” link on this page) and printable, ask questions such as the religious affiliation of prospective adopters and essay questions such as “Briefly explain how you intend to raise your child with religious/moral values”or “Please describe the child that will complete your “forever family”.”

Further down in the same comment thread E. Case pointed out that European Adoption Consultants had previous placed another Russian child, Logan Higgenbotham (in Vermont back in 1998), who had been killed by her adoptive mother, Laura Higgenbotham. (She pled no contest to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and received a 1 year prison sentence after having intentionally slammed 3 year old Logan’s head into a wall.)

Marley/Bastardette has blogged twice about Dmitry’s death;

Another Russian Adoptee Dies: Chase Harrison

and

Russian Updates

She has also created and maintains an online “Memoriam to Russian Adoptees Murdered by their Forever Families,”"

NIKTO NE ZABYT — NICHTO NE ZABYTO

(Nobody is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.)

Each of the dead or murdered Russian adoptees I’ve mentioned in my blog post (Dmitry Takolev/Chase Harrison, Dennis Uritsky/Dennis Merryman, Logan Higgenbotham, and Viktoria Bazhenova/Nina Hilt) are also memorialized on her site with details about each child and their deaths; photographs whenever possible, some links to media coverage, and importantly, where known, those who did the children’s homestudies and the agencies responsible for the placements are also named.

In Dmitry’s/Chase’s case, in addition to the more general profile, she has a few important details listed:

Chase was adopted from the Pechora City Children’s Home, Psov area; in the US 3 months. Home Study: Adoption Connections, Falls Church, Virginia. Social Worker: Christine Hessinger. Adoption Agency: European Adoption Consultants, Strongsville, Ohio.

I’ll end by quoting a few sentences from a comment Bastardette made on her own blog here:

Dima’s adoption was not yet finalized. He was a Russian citizen who died of neglect (accidental or not) at the hands of a person who was deemed “responsible” enough to adopt someone else’s child by the Russian and US governments and a prominent …adoption agency.

*********************

UPDATE

*********************

July 15th, 08

See Bastardette’s blog entry from 9:51 last night:

ANOTHER RUSSIAN UPDATE: DIMA YAKOLEV/CHASE HARRISON

I’ll quote the crucial bits:

The English language Moscow Times reported four hours ago that European Adoption Consultants, contrary to earlier news reports in RPC News and Gazetta, has not been banned from operating in the Russian Federation.

and

The agency, however, is under investigation over its failure to immediately report the death last week of Dmitry Yakolev (adopted name Chase Harrison) in Virginia. The Moscow Times also said that the accreditation of two other agencies, The Cradle of Hope Adoption Center and Family and Children’s Agency has been withdrawn over failure to keep the Russian Education and Science Ministry informed on the well-being of adoptees placed by them as required by Russian law. Vladimir Kabanov, head of the ministry’s adoption department denied that the agencies were connected to the Yakolev/Harrison case, saying they are guilty of separate violations.

I’d strongly advise reading her entire piece.