Russia seems to not be happy with American adoptive parents, especially after the earlier acquittal of Miles Harrison. Harrison and his wife adopted an infant from Russia, but tragically Miles forgot the baby in his car for more than nine hours last July resulting in the child's death. Russian news media really went after the story of little Chase Harrison's death and raised questions not only on adoption polices, but of Americans' priorities. It's been reported that due to the latest tragic death of a Russian adoptee, Russia is talking about banning the adoption of Russian children by United State citizens.

The State Department is working with the Russian Federation and asking them to ratify the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption. The United States signed the treaty in December 2007, and implemented the polices in April 2008. Some requirements of Hague countries is that the adoptive parents have psychological testing before being approved for adoption as well as completing parenting classes.

The hope is that as more and more countries sign the treaty, more agencies will begin implementing the treaty's standards whether the country is a part of the Hague Convention or not.

SOURCE:
U.S. Urges Russia to Sign Adoption Treaty - The DC Examiner

Officers, search dogs and anthropologists spent Saturday searching around the Whitewater River for Adam Herrman. The six hour search did not produce any clues. The search may continue Tuesday the 13th of January. The Sheriff reports that they are still receiving tips from the public.

I've been having interesting conversations regarding this case. It's different, trying to explain to those who have not parented a child with extreme behaviors, how children with these issues can push a parent's buttons, not to mention show a different side of their personality to the outside world. NO! This is not an excuse to take a child's life or hurt a child in any way. I don't know if this is the case with Adam Herrman, perhaps he was just a target of unexplained abuse, much like Dave Pelzer with his birth mother. There are many children who have lost their lives at the hands of a parent who lost control.

Many are saying the fact that the adoptive parents continued to collect the adoption subsidy - is well, just over the top in so many ways.

What are your thoughts on this case?

SOURCE:
Search for boy could resume Tuesday - The Wichita Eagle

It seems like Kansas is a hotbed of scandal these past few days. I've been taking in the story as it unfolds and it's really, just a crazy, crazy case. According to reports an adoptive family, Doug and Valerie Herrman, were very active foster parents until they adopted Adam and his 2 younger siblings. This is where it gets unsettling. Someone tipped off authorities about a month ago that Adam Herrman had not been seen since he was 11 or 12 years old and that was 9 years ago.

It seems that the adoptive family told their close relatives that the child was placed back into state's custody due to his difficult behaviors. According to reports, everyone believed the adoptive parent's story and now biological relatives of the adoptive family are coming forward and sharing stories of past abuse they witnessed that occurred at the hands of the adoptive mother. Even the Herrman's biological son, Justin, is reporting acts of abuse that he witnessed in his family towards Adam.

Now the adoptive parents are telling authorities that Adam ran away in the summer of 1999. Their lawyer reports that they feel very guilty for not reporting him missing. They assumed he was homeless or living with biological family and "OK."

But the family has continued to claim Adam on their taxes and I believe they have continued to draw adoption subsidy, but I'm not clear on that last point. But it has been reported that Adam was mentioned on a bankruptcy petition and their divorce case.

The child may have had difficult behaviors and someone snapped and he got hurt. Perhaps he did run away. I personally think something a bit more on the dark side happened to him, but only because of the things I've seen and heard in other cases. But there are people who are freaking out about the adoption screening process and the checks on children following an adoption. Let's not make this a complete adoption issue. Let's not forget about the little girl in Florida who's mother neglected to report as "missing" and that was a biological child.

The sad truth is that bad things happen to children. Unfortunately it's just the world we live in.

Everyone wants to know - what happened to Adam Herrman? He was born June 8, 1987, in Wichita and would now be 21. His birth name was Irvin Groeninger III. The case has gone national as everyone is hoping to find him alive. There is a new age enhanced photo of what Adam may look like today. Please contact authorities if you believe you have seen this person or have a tip regarding the case. However, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy is treating this case as a death, but still holds out hope that he is still alive.

SOURCES:
Age-enhanced image of missing Butler County boy issued - The Wichita Eagle
Relatives say missing Butler County boy was abused - The Wichita Eagle
Long-missing boy is subject of search - KansasCity.com

Late November 2008, 20/20 aired a special entitled, From Russia With Love — Dealing With Difficult Adoptions. Mike and Tanya Mulligan shared their Russian adoption story. The Mulligans were very open with the difficult behaviors they deal with on a daily basis as they attempt to parent children with multiple diagnoses. They are even going forward with a lawsuit as they feel their adoption agency was less than honest regarding the needs of their children. I felt there was more to this story and was interested in finding answers to the questions that floated around the Web. So, when I received an email from Mike & Tanya Mulligan, I was extremely excited.

I spent 3 hours on the phone with the couple and 8 pages of notes later, have put together some of the highlights of my conversation with Mike and Tanya Mulligan. I hope it answers some questions. I know that the Mulligans had some things they wanted to clarify as well.

Mike, Tanya and Margarita are in back. Slater and Elena in front.

_{Image provided by Mike Mulligan.}