"I think my mom is an example"
Sasha Leonova, 31, lives in St. Petersburg, teaches English and, together with other activists, helps children adopted by American families return to Russia.
“I provide support not only in the preparation of the necessary documents, but also psychological, because I myself have gone through it,” she says.
Sasha got to the orphanage together with her older sister Zina.
The girls were taken from the family after neighbors complained to custody that the children were not fed, dressed and not healthy (at the age of five, Sasha weighed only 15 kg).
In addition to Zina, the girl had two more sisters (one of them was taken to the other in the family, and the second, Sasha's twin, died a month), one half-sister on her mother and half-brother on her father.
“People from the guardianship came to our house and said to say goodbye to my mother, because we are supposedly going on vacation.
Mom confirmed the version of the vacation, probably so that we are not afraid.
I was four years old then, and Zina was nine.
I vaguely remember the orphanage, only the feeling that you cannot be seen or heard, ”says Sasha.
Sasha does not remember the moment when he and her sister were told that foreigners wanted to adopt them, but Zina took the news hard: she hoped that her own mother would take them back.
But the girls were convinced that they would be better off in the new country.
Shortly after the sisters moved to the United States, their father died, and then their mother.
In 1995, the girls moved to Los Angeles with Jean and Clark Caster.
The family already had an adopted Russian son, and soon after the adoption of Sasha and Zina Kaster, they took two more children, also from Russia.
The casters lost two adult children of their own, but Jean, who was in her 50s at the time, said that “her mission as a mother was not over yet,” recalls Sasha Leonova.
The girls' relationship with foster parents was excellent, although, of course, in adolescence, difficult situations were not without, Sasha continues.
Jeanne learned Russian to better understand her children and communicate with them.
“Unfortunately, she was gone, but I still remember the life lessons she gave me, and I consider my mother an example.
My dad and I are also very close, ”says Leonova.
Sasha traveled, went in for sports and music, went to an acting class - in general, in her words, "led a wonderful life."
After school, the girl entered the University of California and at this time began to take an interest in her past.
In 2011, when Sasha turned 20, she took part in an exchange program between universities and returned to Russia for the first time.
"I feel like a person of two cultures"
“It was terrible,” says Sasha. - When I left the St. Petersburg airport, I almost fainted from the familiar smell. All childhood memories immediately returned to me. I naively imagined Russia from fairy tales, with a magic forest and Vasilisa the Wise. But these were illusions, as the following year at the university showed. I was completely lost, did not know where I belonged: I was not recognized in Russia, and I turned my back on my relatives in America. I got into bad company, started to lead an unhealthy, to put it mildly, lifestyle, lost a lot of weight. At some point, I was walking along the side of the road in heels and felt like some kind of dead Hollywood Barbie - artificial and fake. I think that then I was simply not ready to admit my former life and tried to escape from it. "
After returning to America, her parents and sister did not recognize the girl.
Sasha turned to a psychologist who helped her accept the past.
Moreover, she received a scholarship that allowed her to come to Russia for the second time - also for a year.
At first, the girl taught English at the university, and then for two months she was a counselor in a children's English-language camp near Tambov, where she met her future husband Mikhail.
She then returned to the United States again for two and a half years.
All this time, she maintained a long-distance relationship with Mikhail and dealt with documents for the final move.
In 2015, she returned to her homeland and got married.
Sasha and Mikhail have a daughter, and now the couple are expecting their second child.
© Photo from personal archive
“My stepbrother also lives in St. Petersburg.
When we first came to him with my husband, we immediately got in touch, we communicate very soulfully, there is no tension or shyness.
One of my nieces, as it turned out, plays the flute - and this is an amazing coincidence, because Jean played this instrument and taught me from the age of seven, so my mother somehow gave her niece a package with notes.
The half-sister now lives in Kostroma.
She remembers me as a little girl, talks about our family, answers my questions.
It's nice and calm to talk to her, ”explains Sasha Leonova.
Sasha's half-sister helps her search for information about where her twin sister is buried, who died when she was a month old: due to the statute of limitations, there are no more documents about this.
“It is very important for foster children to know about their relatives, and such moments simply destroy us,” Sasha is upset.
- How can you treat a small person as if it were rubbish?
I thought of my sister when I looked at my daughter and cried.
Until I find out where my sister's grave is, I will not find peace. "
Sasha says she was not disappointed when she moved to Russia: “I don’t miss my American life, but I don’t miss people very much.
But here I created my own life, this is important to me, and it is developing better than I imagined.
It's amazing to feel like a person of two cultures at once, they are different, but each is beautiful in its own way.
And this alignment suits me. "
"We spoke through an interpreter"
Nadezhda Baklin was born in Pereslavl-Zalessky.
Her parents drank and did not have permanent housing, so their four children periodically ended up in an orphanage (although the older sister was returned to the family to help with the newborn Nadia).
When the girl was eight years old, her mother became pregnant with her youngest son, and her friend asked to shelter Nadia.
“It was hard for an elderly mother's friend to sit with me, so they sent me to an orphanage, where I spent a year and a half,” 30-year-old Nadezhda now recalls.
“In the orphanage I felt fine, even fun.
I had friends, educators, food and clothes there.
This was the best option for me.
In 2000, when I was nine years old, I learned that my foster parents from America wanted to pick me up.
All I knew about this country was that there was McDonald's and Britney Spears, ”says the interlocutor of RT.
Nadia moved to a small town in Minnesota with the Joyce and David Bucklin family.
“I remember how glad I was that I would have my own room, with my toys, that all this was done only for me.
My adoptive parents are good people and adopted me with the best of intentions.
They sincerely and truly love me, although I am not their own child, ”says the girl.
By the way, her younger brother, who ended up in an orphanage at the age of four, was also adopted by an American family, he lived not far from Nadia and they sometimes saw each other.
A week after the move, Nadya had already gone to a new school: “There were kind children who tried to help me, to explain something, although I did not know the language then.
They just bombarded me with questions: everyone was wondering how I came from such a distant Russia. "
The girl learned the language quickly: "I don't even remember how I spoke in English."
But over time, I completely forgot Russian.
But at the age of 21 she decided to learn it again.
© Photo from personal archive
Nadia was prompted to this by one important event that happened three years earlier: the girl found her older sister and began to communicate with her on the Internet: “We talked through an interpreter and it was terrible.”
In 2009, Nadya went to Russia to meet her sister - and did not expect to see her own mother this time: “For me, the first meeting with her was a shock, but joyful.”
The girl began to study Russian at the Faculty of International Relations in Minneapolis.
There she transferred from the University of Kansas, where she studied to be a historian.
“Everyone told me that I would learn it quickly, because I am Russian, which means that the language is written down in my subcortex,” continues Nadezhda.
- I was sure of the same, so I did not put much emphasis on grammar.
But everything turned out to be much more complicated than I thought, so I realized that I needed to spend at least one semester in Russia.
In 2014, when I was 23 years old, I went to study in St. Petersburg. "
In Russia, Nadia had a difficult time: it was necessary to rebuild to a new language, culture, manners of communication with people.
“Then I knew for sure that I did not want to stay in this country, all the time I wanted to return home.
And I felt worse than the Americans who came with me to study: I was sure that I had to understand everything, and some setbacks were harder to experience, ”she says.
However, over time, the girl changed her mind to the exact opposite.
She came to Russia again in 2015 and worked for an English language company for a year.
And in 2021 she finally moved to her homeland.
Now Nadezhda lives in Moscow, works as a governess.
The girl says that her career is still a priority.
With my mother, normal relations developed, but not as close as with my older sister: “I have no resentment against my mother.
She talked to me a lot when I returned to Russia, talked about my childhood, bought gifts that, as she told me, she could not buy before. "
Nadya is pleased with her decision to move to Russia.
“I'm happy that I stayed here.
I felt like a Russian even before moving, my soul was always drawn to my homeland: I went to a group of national dances, to Russian shops, listen to our music and watch a show.
Combining two lives, two native families is difficult, but possible.
Of course, my foster parents were sad that I was leaving them, but they are not worried about me and are planning to come to visit. "
"I was afraid that they would be taken from my family"
Roman Romanov is now 29 years old.
He was born in the village of Kasib, Perm region.
Roman's father drank heavily and periodically beat his wife.
After one of these cases, she ended up in the hospital, and four-month-old Roma was taken to the baby's home.
When the boy was two years old, he was adopted by a family from the United States.
His new parents, scientists Marcia and David Woodland, saw Roma in the video and, without even meeting him, decided that they wanted to become his foster parents.
In the new family, the boy was called Robert.
Soon he had a younger sister.
Roma says that his adoptive parents raised him like their own son, and at the same time it seemed important to them that the boy remembered his roots: he was informed about adoption, bought books in Russian, read folk tales.
“I quickly adapted, and during the checks, I was most afraid that they would take me out of my family,” recalls Roman.
“Relations with foster parents were good, I love them very much, despite the fact that our outlook on life is different.”
After school, the young man moved to Colorado.
He speaks skeptically of his second homeland: "Everyone says that America is good, but it is not as good as it seems at first glance."
In 2019, when Roman was 27 years old, he wanted to find his biological parents.
Romanov contacted the administrators of the group of adopted children in the United States, sent his documents confirming the adoption, and the volunteers found his mother, Galina, who still lives in the village of Kasib.
“My foster parents were almost as excited as I was.
We immediately decided that we would all go to Russia together and get to know my biological mother, ”recalls Roman.
- First we flew to Moscow.
It was in the fall, and I remember how beautiful and cold it was there.
I was struck by the cleanliness of the streets, and completely shocked the Kremlin, the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed.
I felt at home and it was wonderful. "
© Photo from personal archive
Then Roma and his foster parents came to Kasib, where he finally met his mother and sisters: “Before the meeting, I was very worried, and when I saw my mother, I cried.” Back in the United States, Roman began collecting documents for a Russian passport. When everything was ready, he finally moved to Russia. “I want to be close to my family, with my mother and sisters who love me. I live on the other side of the ocean from my adoptive parents, but I'm happy with my life here, ”he says.
Now Roman lives in Dolgoprudny, teaches English in a private school and himself learns Russian, which he practically does not speak. In the summer, when he has free time from lessons, he plans to work as a builder. “My dream is to learn Russian and speak it fluently - it's so romantic,” says Romanov. “I am glad that I moved to Russia, for me it is a home, both physically and emotionally.”