Susan Luttner's Russian tragedy

When the Lutheran pastor went to Russian in 1994 and adopted two beautiful girls from an orphanage she was a happy mother. Three years later her heart and her house had been broken.

In 1995 Pastor Susan Luttner of Pittsburgh had taken issue with Ti Tepper’s national crusade to warn adoptive parents of the perils of adopting from Russian orphanages. Luttner said her two adopted Russian girls were doing fine in 1995. But in 1997 she called me and said they had wrecked her home and pretty much destroyed her life. She wanted me to do a follow-up story on her ordeal so others would know the perils of adopting children from foreign orphanages in Russia and Eastern Europe. The great photographer John Beale captured the tragic scene at Luttner’s house.

Susan Luttner’s broken dreams and home

Letters to the editor

Susan Luttner’s story generated letters from adoptive parents who took great issue with my article and insisted her experience was not typical. Pastor Luttner also wrote a letter.