There have long been troubling rumors about American families who adopt children from Russia, says Natasha Shaginian-Needham, who co-founded the Happy Families International Center with her husband, Daniel Needham. According to her, tragic myths circulate that American families adopt helpless children from foreign countries, take them back to the United States, kill them, and then use their body parts for transplants. In reality, she says, adoption by American families is a savior for many poverty-stricken children and gives them a second chance at life. Terrible rumors such as those hurt the process, she says, and their chances for a better future.

In 1992, Shaginian-Needham was first introduced to the adoption process while doing research for her Ph.D. in psychiatry and volunteering in various orphanages throughout Russia. She was touched by the critical situations of many of the poor children and decided to form the Happy Families International agency with her husband, who was from New York. They designed the agency to place children from poorer Eastern European countries with American families. However, the couple decided the agency would specialize in older children, mainly between the ages of 8 and 12.

"Millions of agencies make money adopting babies," said Andrea Rogerson, a volunteer for Happy Families here in Los Gatos. "No one helps older children like Natasha's agency."

One of the ways Happy Families works is by bringing 12 orphans between the ages of 8 and 12 to this area each year and seeking out families to "host" a child for two weeks. After the family spends the time with the child, the family's members can decide if they want to adopt.

Andrea Rogerson and her husband are British nationals who have been here in the Los Gatos area for a few years on a work visa. One afternoon a few years ago, Rogerson took her children to a Le Boulanger in town, and she saw a flier asking for local families to host a Russian child in their home for two weeks.

Soon, young Ilia, an 8-year-old boy, arrived to spend time with the Rogersons. They fell in love with him. However, when they tried to adopt him, the government vetoed their application, because they were only in the country on a work visa. So, Rogerson launched a campaign to find Ilia a good home. Her fight took her two long years of desperate phone calls and writing articles and letters, but eventually a nice family in Boston took him in. Rogerson recently returned from a visit to Boston to see Ilia.

"He's doing so well," she said happily. Now, Rogerson volunteers full time for the agency, seeking out local families who will host children with the help of friends in Los Gatos. One such friend, she said, is Elena Mosco, who was recently featured in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times for helping put on the "Kids Help Bob" bake sale for local barber Robert Siirila, who is suffering from liver disease.

"Some of these young girls would be prostitutes, selling their bodies on the streets, if not for these American families," said Rogerson, referring to young Russian-born girls who are now doing well with their adopted parents.

Shaginian-Needham decided to talk to filmmakers in Russia to see about making a documentary that would dispel ugly myths about adoption and show the world what a difference American families who take in these children really make. She knew Igor Bek, who had won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in the 1980s with his documentary Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears, and director Leonid Fishel. They wholeheartedly agreed to do the project.

The first half of their film was made 10 years ago, when orphaned children were first starting to be brought over from Russia to be adopted by Bay Area families. On July 8, many of these families were reunited with Shaginian-Needham and Rogerson for the first time since they had adopted their children. The film crew met up with several families, many of whom had taken part in the first installment of the documentary 10 years ago and some who had adopted their children more recently, at the Los Gatos Athletic Club on Main Street. Children had a fun time swimming in the pool, and emotional reunions were caught on camera.

With tears in her eyes, Rogerson welcomed a family with whom she had placed two children years ago.

"I saw them when they first came over from Russia, struggling," she said of the two children, who were now smiling and playing with other kids in the pool. "Now their lives are so different."

According to Shaginian-Needham, the film should be complete by December and will most likely be shown on Russian television and, they hope, in a film festival in New York City called "Audrey Hepburn: Hollywood for Children."

Shaginian-Needham was recently named an "Angel" in the "Angels in Adoption" campaign by members of Congress, which selects individuals in the United States who have demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of children through adoption. She took part in the awards ceremony on Sept. 30, 2003, in Washington, D.C.

For more information on Happy Families International, visit www.happyfam ilies.org.