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These days, the daily flight from Moscow to New York City carries a few American families with Russian children--some cross-eyed or hare lipped, and all with pasty complexions and brand-new. ill-fitting American clothing.
Russian law allows foreign nationals to adopt Russian orphans. But there is a catch: only children with birth defects and incurable medical conditions may be adopted. Adopting Olya is the story of one such adoption.
Four-year-old Olya has lived in a Children's Home (370K AVI file) in Chelyabinsk all her life. She has been diagnosed with a vague "developmental disability." When we meet her, she shows us a little photo album (767K AVI file): "This is Daddy Sam, this is Mom, this is my sister 'Abecca, this is my kitty."
Olya knows her future American family only from these photos. Sam and Meredith know her only from a videotape. At 3 o'clock in the morning, they arrive in Chelyabinsk. There is a lot of paperwork to be done and a medical examination to be passed. Two middlemen, former Soviet bureaucrats, will be smoothing the way with the city administration.
A few hours after their plane lands, Sam and Meredith are at the orphanage with gifts for Olya, two Californians in a backwoods Russian orphanage. Soon, every child in the room is playing with balloons and soap bubbles. Holding a new teddy bear, Olya retreats to the familiarity of the children she has always lived with. This is not going to be easy.
The next day, Sam and Meredith are issued a new birth certificate. Their interpreter, Lena, tells them that the original must be destroyed. Russian society is still not comfortable with adoption.
Emotions run high when Sam and Meridith are finally ready to take Olya. Olya's favorite caregiver, whom she calls "Gramma," (586K AVI file) bursts into tears as Sam carries the crying Olya away. The other children, Olya's playmates and companions, watch through the window and wave as she is driven away.
A year later, we see Olya in her new home in California, where she celebrates her first Independence Day. Instead of the shy, timid child we saw in the orphanage, Olya is now an all-American rambunctuous five-year-old (1,870K AVI file) , telling the family dog, "Stay, doggie!" and marching in her town's 4th of July parade, an American flag painted on her cheek.
Does she have a developmental disability? Her mom thinks not: "Most of the time these kids are given labels just to get them out of the country." Olya's dad agrees: "She was just a shy, quiet child. And I thought, Gee, we'd love to have a quiet child. So we got another one that loves to talk!"
The documentary was filmed in full color in Betacam SP and produced with English subtitles or voiceover translation, where necessary. It will be broadcast this year by three television stations around the world. For information, contact the producers:
Slawomir Gr�nberg and Slava Paperno
Log In Enterprises
4 La Rue Road, Spencer, NY 14883
Phone: 607-589-4771 Fax: 607-589-6151
Internet: slava.paperno@cornell.edu
This documentary text, pictures and video clips were reprinted with permission from the authors. This work is copywriten and can not be duplicated without their express permission.
