As a generation of Central Asian adoptees enter adulthood in the United States, their personal quests for identity sit side-by-side with discussions of decolonization.
“Really? From here? You are so lucky…” The market seller’s maternal instincts seemed to overtake all intentions of haggling as she dropped several souvenirs into my hands and looked at me with amazement and pride. A Kazakhstan-born orphan, adopted to German and American parents, back here in Kazakhstan? She said now she knows fate exists.
It’s a familiar story for many adoptees. Answering the question “Where are you from?” is complex, and can leave people so bewildered that they cannot hide their intrigue and shock. Central Asian adoptees live in the space between nations and, through their identities, serve as diplomats to family, friends, and colleagues, a living reminder of the reality that as distant as Central Asia is from the United States, these two worlds are closer than we think.
The U.S. Department of State has recorded 6,801 adoptions from the five Central Asian republics to the U.S. since 1999, with 94 percent coming from Kazakhstan and 88 percent of total adoptions occurring between the years 1999 to 2008. The marked decline in adoptions from Central Asia is in line with international trends as inter-country adoption becomes more expensive and pressure grows from international organizations and national governments. Inter-country adoption is no longer a preferred solution for orphaned children, with governments and communities shifting focus to addressing, domestically, the issues that lead to orphaned children, like poverty and limited resources for parents of children with disabilities.
In Central Asia, the conversation is no different. A few accredited U.S. adoption service providers still operate programs in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, but inter-country adoptions are lengthy and largely isolated to children with disabilities or severe medical issues, for whom adoption provides a pathway to family-based care.
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