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One Christian Organization is Making a Difference for Children Often Forgotten

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Since 2012, Russia has banned U.S citizens from adopting orphans from Russia.

The ban was considered a Russian retaliation for the Magnitsky Act, a law signed by President Obama in December of 2012 that froze some international financial assets of specific Russian officials and prevented them from coming into the US.

Earlier this month, President trump told the New York Times that he and President Putin of Russia discussed the issue at the recent G-20 summit.

And it's one of serious concern. Don Horwitz works as the executive director for Christians Care International (CCI). His organization is dedicated to aiding underprivileged Jewish people and orphans in the former Soviet Union.

For 20 years, he’s worked in Russia and Ukraine with children in orphanages. He says the children have been “severely affected” by the ban.

For many of the children, the situation is dire.

“The orphanages range from acceptable to horrific conditions,” he told CBN News. “The further you get away from the major cities, the worse the orphanages are for the children.”

“Try to imagine a group of thirty children with one caretaker,” he continued. “And that caretaker is their parent basically… It’s nearly impossible to provide the care that those children need.”

To make matters worse, Horwitz says a lot of families in the former USSR and Ukraine won’t take them in because many orphans – “who’ve done nothing wrong in their life… nothing wrong at all” - once had parents who struggled with drug alcohol addiction.

“There’s a stigma attached to these children… (and) Russian families and Ukranian families don’t want to adopt them because they think they’re damaged goods,” he said. “It’s the furthest thing from the truth.”

“When you look at in-country adoptions, the outlook is pretty bleak,” he added.

According to Horwitz, many turn to a life of drugs, crime, homelessness and prostitution when they get older, and that only 10 percent have a “meaningful life.”

“We’re definitely praying, because the ban needs to be lifted, because the children are being caught in the middle of a horrific political situation,” said Horwitz.

He doesn’t think it’s likely the ban will be lifted - but he says Christians can still help.

“Christians need to stand up and wrap our loving arms around these children and give them the support that they need,” Horwitz said. “It’s the only hope that these children have.”

Fortunately, CCI has been also able to make a difference.

According to Horwitz, they have cared for 1,700 children who have been, “severely abused and neglected, and abandoned,” and have been able to help rehabilitate them. 

But he says they still need as much help as they can get, and that they’re, “overwhelmed with the amount of children that are out there that need our services.”

Horwitz has also adopted three girls from the former Soviet Union. He says they were all, “severely abused and neglected.”

He said they are all married, with careers now, and “hate(s) to think of what would have happened,” if they hadn’t been adopted.

“There’s no borders when it comes to children,” Horwitz said. “A child in need is a child in need whether they live in the U.S., whether they live in Russia.”  

“These children are the future of the world,” he also said. “It doesn’t matter if they live across the seas, it doesn’t matter if they live in the U.S. We are one big world that affect each other, so we must stand up for these children.”

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