British star would most likely be denied the right to adopt a 14-month old boy because of his age and sexuality.
Lev Eltonovich John. That is how a Ukrainian orphan might be known if famous British pop singer Elton John, born Reginald Dwight, were to legally adopt the 14-month-old boy. But alas, such an event became very unlikely after Ukrainian authorities declared John ineligible.
Images of John kissing and cuddling Lev, the boy who “has stolen my heart,” spread quickly all over the world after the singer’s performance on Sept. 12 at an orphanage for HIV-affected children. The star visited the eastern Donetsk Oblast city of Makiyivka. He came at the invitation of Olena Franchuk, whose Ukrainian Anti-AIDS Foundation works with Elton John’s AIDS Foundation. Franchuk is the daughter of ex-President Leonid Kuchma and the wife of Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk.
Two days later, on Sept. 14, Yuriy Pavlenko, Ukraine’s minister of family, youth and sports, put a stop to the idea of adoption. Pavlenko said that John isn’t eligible to adopt Lev for at least two reasons: He’s gay and he’s too old. John’s civil union in 2005 with male partner David Furnish, 46, doesn’t count because Ukraine only recognizes marriages between heterosexual couples. Moreover, John is 62 and Ukrainian law accepts an age gap of no more than 45 years between adoptive parent and child.
If those two strikes aren’t enough to end John’s dreams of fatherhood, Ukraine – as many other nations do – gives preference to Ukrainians over foreigners in adoptions of its children. Moreover, since Lev has a brother, authorities also prefer that siblings stay together in the same family. Yet another obstacle is that Lev’s mother, said to be an HIV-positive drug addict, has not relinquished her parental rights or put the boy up for adoption.
Nonetheless, John’s visit succeeded in drawing lots of favorable publicity to the needs of Ukraine’s AIDS-affected orphans, as well as to the nation’s rate of HIV infections, which is one of the fastest-growing in Europe.
But questions were also immediately raised about the sincerity and seriousness of John’s desire to adopt the boy. Authorities noted that John has not yet filed a formal adoption request.
Lyudmyla Batehyna, chief deputy doctor at the Makiyivka orphanage for HIV-affected children, could not be reached for comment, nor could other officials there.
But a Donetsk journalist who talked with Batehyna said the doctor got the impression that John was not serious about adopting the child. The same journalist also said Batehyna described an orphanage of 80 children entertained and enraptured with John’s musical performance for them. At the end of the songs, Lev cried and John cradled the toddler in his arms to comfort him.
That’s when one of the journalists in attendance reportedly asked whether the singer would like to adopt the boy.
“David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said ‘no’ because I am 62 and I think because of the traveling I do and the life I have, maybe it wouldn’t be fair for the child,” John is quoted as saying. “Having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him. I don’t know how we do that, but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David’s heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home. I’ve changed my mind today.”
However, authorities reported no follow-up through this week on John’s part.
“We have received no documents from Elton John for the adoption of any of our children as yet,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Victor Goncharov, head doctor of Makiyivka orphanage on Sept. 15. “In theory if he wanted to adopt one of our children, we would be happy, even though I doubt it would be possible.”
And it’s not possible, said Pavlenko, whose ministry oversees adoptions. “Foreign citizens who are single have no right to adopt children and the age difference between the adopter and the child cannot be more than 45 years,” Pavlenko told reporters on Sept. 14. “The law is the same for everybody: for a president, for a minister, for Elton John.”
Exceptions can be made, however, and adopting children has become popular among celebrities, including Madonna and Angelina Jolie. Some see only benefits to the children in such a trend. “I guess any child from a Ukrainian orphanage would feel better with him than where he or she is now,” said Anna Lelyuk, attorney at law at Family Law Group in Kyiv. “If Elton was serious about adopting this kid, his financial responsibility and power will allow him to get the better of the Ukrainian law.”
Although all information about Lev is considered confidential, the Donetsk journalist who spoke with Batehyna said the orphanage’s medical doctor confirmed media reports that the boy is not an orphan and his HIV status is not yet known. Media reports also say that Lev has no known father, but that his mother may reclaim him, so Lev is not on the legal adoption list.
If his birth parents don’t come through for Lev, ideally a married, heterosexual Ukrainian couple who meet all qualifications will come along. But happy endings don’t come often enough for Ukrainian orphans, especially those with special needs.
“Of course, the majority of people want to adopt a healthy child,” said Alla Lytovchenko, head of the children’s department at the Dnipropetrovsk City Council. “There is nothing for others, like HIV-positive or disabled children, other than living in orphanages.”
Today, authorities say there are 31,914 children in Ukrainian orphanages that can be adopted, but – since the start of 2009 – only some 2,000 kids have been. Out of this small group, 1,130 were taken by Ukrainians and 823 by foreign parents. The waiting list of adoptive parents is said to number 1,200, including 267 foreigners, according to the National Department on Adoption and Children’s Rights Defense.
As for HIV, “there are some 8,000 HIV-affected children in Ukraine. Out of them, 2,000 are HIV positive and some 500 [out of HIV positive] are orphans,” BBC News quoted Oksana Brezhovata, social worker at children’s department at the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, as saying.
The publicity that John garnered worldwide may have the positive effect of spurring more domestic adoptions of children with health problems, Pavlenko told journalists on Sept.14. Interested foreigners have had greater trouble adopting Ukrainian children. “There are too many children in every nation waiting for someone,” said American Eric Scholl, whose family has “not had much luck” in adopting a Ukrainian child. “Naturally, the state must look out for the interest of the child, in terms of ensuring that a prospective family will treat the child with love, care, [give them] food and education. Unfortunately, all governments in every nation (mine, included) move as slow as camels and are about as intelligent, when it comes to adoption.”
Ukraine put a moratorium on foreign adoptions from 1996 to 2000, following widespread concern over the high number of children being sought by foreigners. However, even then, bribes worked wonders. In 2000, the Kyiv Post reported that Lviv doctor Volodymyr Doroshchenko allegedly took $3,000 from a French couple in 1992 for altering documents so that a kid appeared to be adoption-eligible.
When the government lifted the ban, it coupled it with measures designed to prevent abuse and introduced a preference for Ukrainian parents. To be declared eligible for adoption by foreigners, children must go through a 14-month period during which they are only available for adoption by Ukrainian parents. All adoptions must be registered at the National Adoption Center and prospective parents must pass a mandatory court examination to determine their suitability as parents.
