Samantra, I love you!: The curious case of international adoption casesContext:
By late 1980 IVF (in vitro fertilization) was spreading in some of the advanced Mundus countries. The Samantran Orthodox adopts the official position to that is a capital sin and that IVF be banned in all its forms and for any reason.
Late 1990s: the highest secular court in the land rules that a Petrograd based clinic can perform IVF for a Samantran married infertile couple who had been trying to have children for more than a decade. The Holy Synod, which acts as the highest court in the land, overrules the secular court and permanently bans the practice.
Late 2000s: The Holy Synod rules that any Samantran who has performed IVF aboard is subject to prosecution for breaking the law against IVF. First criminal charges are filled.
Late 2010s: The Holy Synod withdraws the license of a Samantran bank and annuls its incorporation for having systematically ignored evidence that showed some of its clients used its services to transfer money aboard to pay for IVF.
Ivolgin and Arina are the two presenters of the "Samantra, I love you" Friday evening show
“Few things are nobler in life than giving children the opportunity to have parents and couples the chance to become parents. For the tens of thousands of Samantran married couples that cannot have children only one option remains: adoption. Adoption has been around for millennia and we can see examples in the Bible in the cases of Moses or Esther. And many choose to adopt from aboard. According to government statistics more than half of international adopts done by Samantran couples are with children born in Tamora.
Trinitas TV has talked to many couples who resorted to international adoption as a solution to become parents. Most couple we talked to have similar backgrounds and stories: they are in their mid to late thirties, well above average in yearly earnings, reside in the major cities of the holy kingdom and desired to have a baby child but could not for medical reasons.
Tania and Boris is one such couple. They both work for two of the largest 50 companies listed on the Petrograd Stock Exchange (
PSE); They reside in the affluent northern district in Petrograd and have adopted Maria from Tamora since she was a baby.
Tania and Boris during their wedding in 2015
“We always wanted kids any we tried for years. We did everything we could, we tried every treatment and every prayer, went to all monasteries we knew, we tried everything. We eventually learned to accept that we had no chance to have them” says Tania.
“And then we adopted Maria since she was just a couple of days old.”
Maria during the Divine Liturgy
And Maria, who is now 10 years old, was very lucky. She performs excellent at one of the top schools in country, she takes regular swimming and equitation courses, has private tutors, was baptized in the Church and attends the Divine Liturgy with her parents every Sunday. In fact Maria has already won several distinctions at school for her excellent knowledge of our language and history. For all intents and purposes Maria is as Samantran as anyone who was born in our lands.
And yet there is a certain taboo about cases like that of Maria’s. There is a certain topic that her parents do not under any circumstances talk to the press. And that is her adoption procedure. For any questions we have we are immediately requested to talk to their family lawyer.
Typical Samantran lawyer with typical answers
“The adoption has been done in full accordance with international laws and Samantra’s legislation respecting the highest standards in the field” is the answer we always get from lawyers before we are stonewalled and are replied that the interest of the child is paramount and that privacy laws forbid them from providing more information.
What we observed in the weeks we have talked with many couples such as Tania and Boris is that all adopted children from Tamora have some things in common: they are all newly born babies, in perfect health and there is always a mention of Elysium, a Heyran city state bordering Tamora. The Heyran republic is famous for its opaque legislation so any attempt at getting information from them was futile.
In the next episode we will be speaking with a person that has made more than 20 formal complaints to the authorities asking them to investigate such adoptions for serious breach of national law. And in fact has even advocated for the extreme position of banning all international adoptions until an investigation is done in such cases. Why would a God fearing Christian attempt to rob children like Maria of their chance for such a bright future? What options does she offer to couples like Tania and Boris? And could she have a point?
That is what we will explore in our next episode of “Samantra, I love you!“. Until then we wish you a pleasant evening and God bless!”