--- title: One Family's Struggle with a Russian Adoption | TIME description: The Russo family of Long Island struggled with their adoptive daughter, Alyona, as she coped with anger and alienation. But the family has turned the tide canonical: https://time.com/video/GnoTe4H6/ og:title: One Family's Struggle with a Russian Adoption og:description: The Russo family of Long Island struggled with their adoptive daughter, Alyona, as she coped with anger and alienation. But the family has turned the tide og:url: https://time.com/video/GnoTe4H6/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GnoTe4H6/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: One Family's Struggle with a Russian Adoption twitter:description: The Russo family of Long Island struggled with their adoptive daughter, Alyona, as she coped with anger and alienation. But the family has turned the tide twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GnoTe4H6/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # One Family's Struggle with a Russian Adoption > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: One Family's Struggle with a Russian Adoption [Watch (HLS stream): One Family's Struggle with a Russian Adoption](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GnoTe4H6.m3u8) (7:01)  _Published 2010-06-18. The Russo family of Long Island struggled with their adoptive daughter, Alyona, as she coped with anger and alienation. But the family has turned the tide_ --- Jul 27, 2023 2:17 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Russian Cat Adopts Abandoned Baby Squirrel Monkey](/video/QLtnM83b/) ### Russian Cat Adopts Abandoned Baby Squirrel Monkey [Taking Care: An Intimate Look At One Family's Life With Parkinsons](/video/tQQDED2R/) ### Taking Care: An Intimate Look At One Family's Life With Parkinsons [Bubba Watson on getting emotional, his adopted son and his struggles in 2013](/video/LB9tMKbV/) ### Bubba Watson on getting emotional, his adopted son and his struggles in 2013 --- ## Transcript >> My name is Ali Russo and I am 17 years old. My father-- I never met him. When I was five years old, I was taken away from my mother because she was a drug addict and alcoholic. She could not support me and-- >> Ali, an adopted child is speaking of her birth home in Siberia, Russia. The mother severe neglect that the authorities to take five- year- old Ali away. They placed her in an orphanage with her older sister Marcia, two among the 750, 000 in Russian Institutions. And then one day, as she turned 13, Ali was amazed to find herself adopted and starting a new life in the green suburbs of Long Island, New York with the Russo family and their birth daughter Brittany. >> When we adopted Ali, I think we were so caught up in giving her a new life. It was like a fairytale when we came home it was like a horror story and I was prepared to send Ali back to Russia. >> By that point, Ali's destructive outbursts were turning their lives upside down. They had tried everything they could but Ali remained distant and defiant. Though most international adoptions end well, they also have their risks. Recently, when a Tennessee mother sent her seven- year- old adopted son back to his native Russia alone, Russian adoptions grabbed international attention. In a note, the mother explained, she feared for her family's safety. In Ali Russo's case, adoption was a dreamed come true. >> Since I was a little, I always felt like I always had this dream of this family. I always would see like this profound out, live with. When I came here, I didn't feel that. I felt anger, that's all I felt. I was very depressed. I felt numb. >> Ali at 13 arrived speaking no English. >> I was angry a lot because I could not say things. I couldn't understand. >> And as with many older adoptees, that only added to her anxiety and fears. As this often the case, outside the family and in school Ali had friends did well and seemed basically fine. It was mostly at home that her inner demons would emerge. >> Fights with the last 3 hours at the time and the scream-- >> She would [ unk ] scream, walk out for hours not come home. And it really was tearing our family apart. >> When I was in the orphanage, I have to protect myself. There were fights or you'd have to lie. >> There wasn't a truth. Everything seemed to be lies and lies. >> Yes, I did, I lie a lot. >> Ali, in the beginning used to leave knives under our chairs. Knives were missing and I moved the chairs and there they are. I mean, fear-- I slept with one eye open on my younger daughter's bedroom for at least a year. >> And one day, me and my Mom got into a fight and I got so angry that I did take a knife out. I wasn't planning on doing anything with it but-- >> I mean, I never, ever would imagine. >> I didn't have fear of her. I thought she was afraid of us and that hurts. >> Yeah, it could be that also. >> You know, that really hurts. >> From many long months, the Russo's didn't know if Ali's inner troubles were in too deep to ever change. >> I didn't know what to do. I just-- sorry. >> It took a lot more than love to reach Ali. They mastered family support from others who'd adopted, sought out mental therapy and adoption specialist. Finally, two years in, the Russo's began to see changes. But then, Ali took a sharp turn for the worst. >> And I was sent to a mental hospital to South Oaks 'cause my mind was not healthy at that time. I was there for about three weeks, which is last year. >> We had to take it out of our hands because we couldn't do anything to take the pain away from her. >> 'Cause my Dad cried, that's what hit me. My Dad was crying in the car and-- >> I started to cry in the car and I said to my wife, I can't believe we have to do this and-- but we were told we have to. >> The therapist felt that she was a threat to us and a threat to the family and a threat to herself. >> And it broke my heart 'cause I knew that she was a good kid. There was a lot of good in her heart but I didn't know where the rest of it was coming from the anger, the lying-- >> But that we didn't realize that was gonna be the turning point. >> The first two years I was very angry. I push people away because I was so afraid of getting close to people. I couldn't trust because so many people left me in my life. After I left the hospital, I just felt that I need to get out of the shell and be able to let my heart out and talk to them, be able to open myself more. >> And she started to feel better about herself and she started to have a conscience of what was right and wrong and we started to see improvement. >> Hi, Mom. >> Americans have adopted 58, 000 children from the former Soviet Union. The vast majority of them grow and adjust without major behavioral issues. And yet, with the Russo's experience is not uncommon. Children from these orphanages often carry deep emotional scars like many adoptees, Ali, overcame her past. >> I was able to accept that my parents are always gonna be there for me, that they love me. They wouldn't leave me. I realize that they wouldn't leave me and now I do trust them with all my heart. Yeah. >> Hey, baby. How'd you doing? Were you nervous? >> Both Ali and her parents believed their church community played a role in helping Ali find her way. >> And now I'm part of [ unk ] to a dance group, which is [ unk ] and I love it. >> Now Ali is absolutely a wonderful adolescent. Everybody loves her. >> She is turning into a beautiful woman and-- >> Yeah. >> If he gonna do this and really see and sorry if you're gonna be, you know, strong enough. >> Be prepared. It is not gonna be easy but the rewards are gonna come. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"One Family's Struggle with a Russian Adoption","description":"The Russo family of Long Island struggled with their adoptive daughter, Alyona, as she coped with anger and alienation. 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