Italy-Belarus, after eight years of negotiations, the adoption program was resumed:Hundreds of situations are known when Italian families invited children from Belarus to stay with them, but the Belarusian state forbade them. The crisis in Belarusian-Italian relations came in 2006 after one girl, the “Chernobyl child”, who was visiting an Italian family, was not sent home in time.
After many years of “stagnation,” the program on temporary adoption by Italians of children from Belarus: This was announced on February 26 by Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini. The issue, which touched many families, was referred to the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, together with the request of the adoptive parents, with whom the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was constantly in touch.
“The lifting of the ban imposed by the Belarusian embassy,” Federica Mogherini explained, “is the result of months of negotiations between Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Dassù and her Belarusian counterpart Elena Kupchina.”
Events originating in 2006
Hundreds of Italian homes await children from Belarus. Many families and associations have been trying for years to complete all the documents necessary for the successful completion of the adoption process. The crisis in relations between Italy and Belarus regarding the adoption of children came in 2006. The reason was the case of a Belarusian girl who was visiting an Italian couple in Cogoleto: at the end of their wellness stay, the couple did not want to return the girl to their homeland and tried to leave her forever.
By the way, the practice of resting the "children of Chernobyl" in Italy and other European countries in order to cleanse the body of the consequences of the disaster has been in place for many years.
Missing for 20 days
Spouses from Kogoleto (Genoa), Chiara Bornachin and Alessandro Giusti (Chiara Bornacin e Alessandro Giusti), for 20 days hid the 10-year-old Belarusian girl Vika, who they trust for several years in a row for summer vacations.
This case led to a ban on children's recreational activities in the country (hereinafter abolished) and lengthy litigation.
As a result, in subsequent years, only a few Italian families were allowed to “adopt” Belarusian children for the summer, and then only those who already had similar experience: 34 children in 2006, 12 in 2007, 4 in 2008. In 2009, Belarus again announced its readiness to cooperate with Italy in the field of "adoption", and after numerous meetings and mutual visits, the system was resumed. Already in 2010, Italian families temporarily “adopted” 350 Belarusian children, and in 2011 - 99. Nevertheless, this figure is less than 5% of the total number of international adoptions.
