Duma Voting on Bill 364094-5 on Wednesday

Please pray as the Russian State Duma is scheduled to vote this Wednesday on Bill 364094-5, which threatens to require a bilateral adoption treaty between a prospective adoptive parent's home country and Russia. The bill is still pending; however, it is looking considerably less likely that this bill will survive the vote.

Over the last week, additional commentary was posted to the State Duma's document database, including an opinion from the Russian Government (the collection of ministries headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin). The Government's written opinion concludes that the bill threatens to do harm to the rights of Russian children awaiting adoption by delaying qualified adoptive parents from other countries while the treaties are being negotiated. Their resulting recommendation to the State Duma is to vote against the bill.

Also, it appears that the State Duma's own Committee for Family, Women, and Children's Matters has also issued a recommendation to vote against the bill.

While these are merely recommendations, and the final decision is up to the State Duma, the reality is that the State Duma is not likely to vote against the will of the Prime Minister. Because of that, I suspect that this bill will go down in defeat next week, and the way will remain clear for adoptions from Russia to many other countries.

(Source: http://blog.russianadoptionhelp.com/2010/10/what-difference-week-makes.html)