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Russian orphan finds home in California
by Robb Fulcher
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Yulia (front center) and Sofia Melograno (right) join other friends at a Los Angeles Sparks WNBA game at the Staples Center. |
A Hermosa family has helped Yulia, a 10-year-old orphan from Russia, find a permanent home in Southern California.
Yulia stayed with Laurel Melograno’s family while officials sought a permanent home for the girl, and near the end of her U.S. stay a family in the San Bernardino area agreed to adopt her.
"Laurel did a wonderful job as an advocate and helped the girl find a family," said Liz Zeigler of Kidsave International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to pairing the most likely adoptees from Russian orphanages with U.S. families.
Yulia was one of about 315 kids plucked from Russian orphanages this summer for hopeful adoption in the U.S. All but about 20 have found adoptive homes, said Zeigler, head of Kidsave’s Los Angeles operations.
Kidsave officials will continue to seek adoptive parents for any orphans who must return to Russia without them. In the past, Zeigler said, Kidsave has successfully secured adoption for kids who are no longer in the U.S.
The organization puts together special summer camps for the children who come over from Russia, and officials try to downplay the potential for adoption in order to spare false hopes. Between the organization’s formation in 1999 and last year, 470 kids had participated in the program and all but 17 had found adoptive homes.
The Melogranos served as temporary hosts to Yulia, and sold $1,000 worth of raffle tickets to pay the transportation costs from Russia for the girl and an adult escort.
Last week Yulia left the U.S. for Russia while her new family completes the necessary paperwork and prepares to travel overseas to complete the adoption and bring the girl back.
"The family hosted a boy last year, and it just wasn’t a fit with their family," Zeigler said. "Once they met Yulia it just clicked."
Yulia’s skimpy records show that she was abandoned by her mother in 1999, and at some point her father lost his parental rights.
More than 600,000 kids live in Russian orphanages, according to Kidsave. Of the 15,000 orphans who were graduated out of the institutions in 1993, one in three came to live on the streets, one in five committed a crime and 1,500 killed themselves in the first year.
Kidsave can be reached at www.kidsave.org or by calling (310) 559-7995. ER