Ten-year-old Anna Curry says she's grateful for her mom, dad and brother. She became part of her Andover family as a toddler after spending her first three years in a Russian orphanage.
"Orphans in Russia are not first class citizens, I'll say that," David Curry says.
He and his wife, Tami, adopted Anna in 2005.
Today, there are some 700,000 orphans in Russia. Over the past 20 years, Americans have adopted more than 60,000 of them. But now, Russia has banned adoptions to the U.S. American officials say it's in retaliation for the U.S. keeping out Russians accused of violating human rights.
The Curry's quiet Andover neighborhood is half a world away from that Russian orphanage where Anna says she might still be today had there not been an American family willing to take her into their home.
"I like to draw, and I like to do gymnastics," Anna says.
She's an all-American girl now, and her mom and dad say they couldn't be prouder.
"She is a blessing," Tami Curry says. "We're thankful to have her."
The Currys hope the Russians will at least let the 1,500 American families now in the middle of the adoption process see it through. They say Russian adoptions are costly and take several months and multiple visits.
"In most instances, they've met the child, and the child has met them." David Curry says. "To be in the midst of that process and have a law like this be passed--where it just cuts things off--it's really sad."
Meanwhile, Anna says she thinks about all the Russian children who won't get the opportunity she had to become part of a loving American family.
