Grosse Pointe family's Russian adoption put on hold with new ban

GROSSE POINTE, Mich. (WXYZ) - Russia's ban on U.S. adoptions is not a far-away issue for some families around metro Detroit. Ginny Juep talked to 7 Action News about the girl she is trying to adopt right now.

Juep's daughter Caroline was adopted from Kazakhstan when she was a toddler. For the past ten month's Ginny has been in the process of adopting another daughter - this one from Russia.

Today's news that U.S. residents can no longer adopt Russian children halts those plans.

"We were going to name her Clare Faith," said Ginny. "Clare Faith Juep."

"Personally I had to put a fake smile on all through the holidays because I knew, we’ve already named this little girl that we don’t even have yet," she said.

It appears the new law is politically motivated - retaliation for an act passed by Congress which imposed sanctions on some Russian officials.