Family Ban
Valley Couple Fights To Bring Russian ‘Son’ Home
Posted: February 1, 2013
Fourteen-year-old Maxim Kargapoltsev’s Facebook page displays smiling photos of him with the couple he calls mom and dad. But Maxim is 10,000 miles away from his would-be parents, living in a Russian orphanage.
As time passes, he worries he will never have a regular home life in America with that couple, Mil and Dianna Wallen. And the Wallens are just as concerned.
A recent ban by the Russian parliament on adoptions of Russian children by Americans is more than just a piece of legislation. To them, it means their “son” may never come home.
Dianna Wallen began conducting mission work in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2001. The first time she saw conditions at Internat 13, an orphanage there, she knew she had to do something to help. The conditions were, to put it mildly, lacking.
“There were bathrooms broken, nonexistent heating in parts of the children’s living facilities and bedrooms that needed remodeling,” she said. “We noticed that the children needed new clothing, shoes and socks. Overall it was not a very nice place, especially for children.”
Since then, she has traveled to Chelyabinsk nearly every summer, bringing along her husband and two biological sons, and other church members.
The Wallens, who now run a mission group at Toms Brook Methodist Church, have given more than $20,000 for equipment, remodeling and supplies to Internat 13 over the years.
In 2008, they met a 10-year-old boy named Maxim.
“He was the cutest little boy I think I ever saw,” said Dianna Wallen. “He had a smile that would not stop and wanted the attention of everyone in our group.”
In 2011, the couple attended a graduation at Internat 13, a school as well as an orphanage. The children living there graduate when they turn 16.
Afterward, most young people go on to some form of vocational training school. But the Wallens worried after reading statistics showing high percentages of Russian orphans turning to drugs, prostitution and even suicide after leaving the orphanage.
“I had watched these children grow up, I loved them very much and was concerned that I may never have contact with them again,” Dianna Wallen said.
It was after that, in November 2011, the Wallens began the process of adopting Maxim. Since then, they’ve hit nothing but obstacles.
The Wallens went through a private adoption agency because no regional groups worked in that area of Russia.
“It’s been a very choppy process,” said Mil Wallen. “When we first started doing mission work, we were told, ‘You can’t adopt from this region.’ Later we found out that wasn’t true. We just have to do it on our own.”
After seeking help from the independent agency, the Wallens traveled to Russia in March with documents they had notarized and processed in Richmond.
“They were denied because they were not bound together properly. [In Russia], they actually sew together the documents with needle and thread,” Dianna Wallen said. “We came back and called Richmond and the lady told us they hadn’t done that in years.”
After the Wallens tracked down a copy of the law and discovered that stapling was OK, the documents were accepted. But an answer came back in September stating the law had changed since the Wallens began the process and they would need 69 hours of adoption education on top of the 11 they already had.
The couple completed the classes and resubmitted in December.
But, in November, an agreement was reached between Russia and the U.S. forbidding all adoptions from independent agencies. The Wallens’ application was denied despite several agencies in both countries telling them they would be grandfathered in since they started the adoption process before the agreement passed.
The Wallens were in the process of fighting that decision when the ban on all adoptions by Americans, independent and regional, went into effect on Jan. 1.
“We were devastated,” Dianna Wallen said.
Maxim’s story garnered national attention this month when his words were misconstrued, according to Mil Wallen, during an interview for a Russian Web-based magazine.
“They asked him, ‘If you could see [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, what would you ask him?’ He said, ‘I’d like to ask him to go to America,’” he said.
Wallen said it was later inaccurately reported by several media outlets that Maxim wrote a letter to Putin asking for reversal of the ban.
“That’s when everything broke loose over there,” Mil Wallen said.
Days after the story went public, a wealthy member of the Russian government came forward offering to be Maxim’s guardian.
The Wallens remain suspicious of the offer.
“We are unsure of what [guardian] means in Russia,” Mil Wallen said. “We are going [there] in March for Maxim’s birthday and we are going to meet with this man and see what he has in mind and whether he is just doing this for the publicity.”
The Wallens, who communicate with Maxim several times a day, are still hoping the adoption might go through. If not, Dianna Wallen said, they’ve looked into some options for Maxim to come to the U.S. once he is 18 to go to school or take part in a work-study program.
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com
As time passes, he worries he will never have a regular home life in America with that couple, Mil and Dianna Wallen. And the Wallens are just as concerned.
A recent ban by the Russian parliament on adoptions of Russian children by Americans is more than just a piece of legislation. To them, it means their “son” may never come home.
Dianna Wallen began conducting mission work in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2001. The first time she saw conditions at Internat 13, an orphanage there, she knew she had to do something to help. The conditions were, to put it mildly, lacking.
“There were bathrooms broken, nonexistent heating in parts of the children’s living facilities and bedrooms that needed remodeling,” she said. “We noticed that the children needed new clothing, shoes and socks. Overall it was not a very nice place, especially for children.”
Since then, she has traveled to Chelyabinsk nearly every summer, bringing along her husband and two biological sons, and other church members.
The Wallens, who now run a mission group at Toms Brook Methodist Church, have given more than $20,000 for equipment, remodeling and supplies to Internat 13 over the years.
In 2008, they met a 10-year-old boy named Maxim.
“He was the cutest little boy I think I ever saw,” said Dianna Wallen. “He had a smile that would not stop and wanted the attention of everyone in our group.”
In 2011, the couple attended a graduation at Internat 13, a school as well as an orphanage. The children living there graduate when they turn 16.
Afterward, most young people go on to some form of vocational training school. But the Wallens worried after reading statistics showing high percentages of Russian orphans turning to drugs, prostitution and even suicide after leaving the orphanage.
“I had watched these children grow up, I loved them very much and was concerned that I may never have contact with them again,” Dianna Wallen said.
It was after that, in November 2011, the Wallens began the process of adopting Maxim. Since then, they’ve hit nothing but obstacles.
The Wallens went through a private adoption agency because no regional groups worked in that area of Russia.
“It’s been a very choppy process,” said Mil Wallen. “When we first started doing mission work, we were told, ‘You can’t adopt from this region.’ Later we found out that wasn’t true. We just have to do it on our own.”
After seeking help from the independent agency, the Wallens traveled to Russia in March with documents they had notarized and processed in Richmond.
“They were denied because they were not bound together properly. [In Russia], they actually sew together the documents with needle and thread,” Dianna Wallen said. “We came back and called Richmond and the lady told us they hadn’t done that in years.”
After the Wallens tracked down a copy of the law and discovered that stapling was OK, the documents were accepted. But an answer came back in September stating the law had changed since the Wallens began the process and they would need 69 hours of adoption education on top of the 11 they already had.
The couple completed the classes and resubmitted in December.
But, in November, an agreement was reached between Russia and the U.S. forbidding all adoptions from independent agencies. The Wallens’ application was denied despite several agencies in both countries telling them they would be grandfathered in since they started the adoption process before the agreement passed.
The Wallens were in the process of fighting that decision when the ban on all adoptions by Americans, independent and regional, went into effect on Jan. 1.
“We were devastated,” Dianna Wallen said.
Maxim’s story garnered national attention this month when his words were misconstrued, according to Mil Wallen, during an interview for a Russian Web-based magazine.
“They asked him, ‘If you could see [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, what would you ask him?’ He said, ‘I’d like to ask him to go to America,’” he said.
Wallen said it was later inaccurately reported by several media outlets that Maxim wrote a letter to Putin asking for reversal of the ban.
“That’s when everything broke loose over there,” Mil Wallen said.
Days after the story went public, a wealthy member of the Russian government came forward offering to be Maxim’s guardian.
The Wallens remain suspicious of the offer.
“We are unsure of what [guardian] means in Russia,” Mil Wallen said. “We are going [there] in March for Maxim’s birthday and we are going to meet with this man and see what he has in mind and whether he is just doing this for the publicity.”
The Wallens, who communicate with Maxim several times a day, are still hoping the adoption might go through. If not, Dianna Wallen said, they’ve looked into some options for Maxim to come to the U.S. once he is 18 to go to school or take part in a work-study program.
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com