In 2024, foreign adoptions from Russia completely stopped: for the first time in at least 15 years, not a single child was adopted by foreign citizens, according to data from the Ministry of Education.
Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, warned last summer that the “international situation” and “changes in bilateral relations with Western countries” would lead to a total cessation of foreign adoptions of Russian children. Since 2023, all offices of foreign NGOs involved in adoption have been closed in Russia.
For 30 years, from 1993 to 2023, more than 100,000 Russian children were adopted by foreign families. In recent years, however, the Russian government has introduced an increasing number of restrictions on international adoption, systematically making it more difficult for foreigners to adopt Russian children.
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In 2012, Russia banned Americans from adopting Russian children. This law was passed in response to the U.S. Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on Russian officials involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in pre-trial detention, as well as in the embezzlement of billions of rubles from the Russian budget.
American citizens had accounted for about one-quarter of all foreign adoptions — between 600 and 1,400 children per year. After the law took effect, many Russian children lost their chance to find a family, particularly children with disabilities. Foreigners, and especially Americans, were the primary adopters of disabled children: before the so-called “Scoundrels’ Law” (Dima Yakovlev Law) was passed, nearly half of all Russian children with disabilities adopted internationally (42% as of 2012) were placed with American families.
In 2013, Russian authorities banned same-sex couples from adopting Russian children, claiming the decision was meant to “protect the mental health and consciousness [of children] from the imposition of non-traditional sexual behavior” and to shield them from “emotional suffering and stress.” In 2014, the ban was extended to single adoptive parents from countries where same-sex marriage is legal. By November 2024, when international adoptions had already effectively ceased, Russian authorities imposed yet another restriction: they banned citizens of countries that allow gender transition from adopting Russian children.
Fewer children find families
With the complete halt of international adoptions, domestic adoption in Russia continues to hit record lows. The proportion of orphans who find a family is shrinking annually. To assess this, we use the indicator measuring “the number of children placed in families per 100 children identified as in need of parental care over the year.” The only positive trend is that the total number of children in need of family placement is decreasing every year.
In the first years after the Dima Yakovlev Law took effect, adoption statistics improved — but only due to the expansion of financial incentives for adoptive families. The Russian government increased payments to guardians in an attempt to offset the decline in international adoptions. However, this strategy soon lost effectiveness, and since 2016, the percentage of children placed in families has continued to decline.
In 2024, out of every 100 children who entered orphanages over the year, only 76 found a family. This is the lowest figure in at least 12 years (excluding 2021, when COVID-related disruptions also resulted in only 76 out of 100 children being placed in families).
Secondary orphanhood
Over the past decade, foster parents, guardians, and adoptive families have increasingly been returning children to orphanages. In 2013–2014, an average of 9 out of every 100 children taken into families were later sent back. By 2024, that number had nearly doubled, reaching 16 rejections per 100 placements.
The number of Russian families willing to adopt, foster, or take children under guardianship is declining.
In 2024, 72% of these returns were initiated by the parents themselves, rather than by child welfare authorities or other external factors.
Being separated from new parents, removed from a place that had become home, and returned to a state institution can cause trauma comparable to the loss of biological parents, IVazhnyye Istorii reported.
Another negative trend that continued this year is the decline in the number of Russian families willing to adopt, foster, or take children under guardianship. In 2024, only 40,000 new families were added to the official database of potential adoptive parents — the lowest number since at least 2010 (excluding 2020, when adoption processes were temporarily halted as child welfare agencies adapted to remote work).
For comparison, a decade ago, the number of families registering to adopt exceeded 60,000.
