A few years ago, I was driven across a single-lane bridge from China across the Tumen River into North Korea. It was a cold day despite the bright sunshine as a few friends and I were ushered into a powder-blue building where soldiers directed us to metal detectors.
My newest granddaughter came home from the Crimea just months ago – and clearly in the nick of time. Had Crimea been controlled by Russia at the time of her adoption, this beautiful girl would have remained an orphan. You see last year, Mr. Putin suddenly and callously cancelled all international adoptions of Russian children. Bullies have little shame. The policy is a travesty that should outrage all compassionate people.
It reads like a bad TV movie of the week. Parents posting ads on the Internet trying to find someone willing to take their adopted child. Pedophiles and mentally ill individuals answering these ads, then being given these children at the first meeting in a parking lot. Tragically these stories aren't fiction. Written by a Reuters investigative reporter and aired by NBC, they are all too true.