Posted on 04/09/2010 7:52:48 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
MOSCOW - Russia should freeze all child adoptions with U.S. families, the country's foreign minister urged Friday after an American woman allegedly put her 8-year-old adopted Russian son on a one-way flight back to his homeland.
Artyom Savelyev arrived in Moscow unaccompanied on a United Airlines flight Thursday from Washington, the Kremlin children's rights office said Friday.
The children's office said the boy, whose adoptive name is Justin Hansen, was carrying a letter from his adoptive mother, Torry Hansen of Shelbyville, Tennessee, saying she was returning him due to severe psychological problems.
this child is mentally unstable. He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues," the letter said, according to Russian officials, who sent what they said was a copy of the letter to The Associated Press. The authenticity of the letter could not be independently verified.
The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, said he was "deeply shocked by the news" and "very angry that any family would act so callously toward a child that they had legally adopted."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I didn’t know 8 yr olds could even FLY unattended.
I think there is a history in the adoption of Russian and Eastern European kids, since the 1980s-1990s, of their adopted parents not learning what all went on, or the truth of what all went on, in the child’s past - what happened to and with the natural parents, before the child was orphaned, and what happened after the child was orphaned and before adoption. There seems to be a “bad” childhood history, preceding their adoption, with many - suggesting unanswered questions about who winds up being orphaned and how.
Wow, that was extremely sad.
Fetal alcohol syndrome. Alcoholism is three times as prevalent in Russia as in the US.
My mother just flew to visit us. On one leg of her trip, she sat next to a four-year-old girl who was flying alone.
I think that Russian adoptions have been somewhat problematic. I have heard stories of double dealing by Russian immigration officials and orphanages. Given the high rate of alcoholism, the number of children with problems is more than other places such as China.
My wife and I adopted two beautiful girls from China. On our first adoption trip, one of the adoptive parents in our group had second thoughts about the adoption. The adopted child had a cleft pallet, a correctable condition. The mom did not want the child because of this condition. After completing the adoption agreement with the orphanage, the mom wanted to leave the child in China before returning. After hours of consultation, some members of our group convinced her to leave with the child. She probably would have been arrested by the Chinese if she abandoned the child. Her husband wanted the child so he was very upset. I believe that the child was readopted by another family after returning to the US.
The family of the Russian boy will have major legal problems. Undoubtedly the boy will be taken from the family if he is returned to the US. The family may face jail time over this incident.
The poor child. I can't imagine how confused, frightened and angry he must be. If he didn't have severe problems before, this may very well do the trick.
I flew alone when I was 8 years-old. That was....let’s see, around 1972. Did it many times thereafter, too.
Well...yeah...so did my son (1981)...but that was in the 1970-80’s....I thought rules had changed.
“The only mentally unstable peson in Nurse Cratched who adopted this child.
what a monster she is.”
No, she was desperate. She tried to get state agencies involved, had the kid in psychiatric care, the kid went after her with a knife and threatened to kill her, and kept the knife under his bed, if I remember correctly. I’m pretty close hear as to what was going on. So many Russian children are affected by fetal alcohol syndrome, due to their parents, especially their fathers, drinking vodka like soda pop. This kid is violent and unmanageable, and a gullible American woman, not knowing what she was getting, got a lemon that was most likely intentionally pawned off on her. There have been warnings to be extremely careful if adopting a Russian child because of them having so many mental and emotional problems, as well as physical impairments brought about by the alcohol syndrome. I feel extremely sorry for this woman who was at her wit’s end and thus was driven to this extreme measure for fear to her own life.
“The only mentally unstable peson in Nurse Cratched who adopted this child.
what a monster she is.”
No, she was desperate. She tried to get state agencies involved, had the kid in psychiatric care, the kid went after her with a knife and threatened to kill her, and kept the knife under his bed, if I remember correctly. I’m pretty close hear as to what was going on. So many Russian children are affected by fetal alcohol syndrome, due to their parents, especially their fathers, drinking vodka like soda pop. This kid is violent and unmanageable, and a gullible American woman, not knowing what she was getting, got a lemon that was most likely intentionally pawned off on her. There have been warnings to be extremely careful if adopting a Russian child because of them having so many mental and emotional problems, as well as physical impairments brought about by the alcohol syndrome. I feel extremely sorry for this woman who was at her wit’s end and thus was driven to this extreme measure for fear to her own life.
hear = here above. Typing too fast.
sw
The kids lucky she didn't poison him.
sw
I think most of us would have a problem living with a child who was attacking us with a knife. It’s easy to condemn the mother but I’m not sure we’d handle it any better.
“This woman should be in prison.”
It seems very doubtful that the woman has committed even a misdemeanor under the relevant statute Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-15-401 (2007). She took care that the child was safely delivered to the appropriate government authorities in Russia.
Her liabilities if any are moral and financial, not criminal.
I would imagine there is plenty of blame to go around. The adopting mother, for abandoning the child. The child’s Russian parents, probably, for abandoning him. (We don’t know that, but odds are.) The Russian authorities for probably lying about the child’s mental health and stability.
It does seem possible that this mother simply couldn’t handle it. In which case, which is better, returning him to the Russian adoption agencies that lied to her, or giving her to some adoption or welfare agency here?
No easy answers, I suspect. Very sad.
Oh man, this thread was humming along so beautifully, pointing out what a witch the adopted mother is, and then you had to chime in with the rest of the story.
Are you sure you don’t want the mods to delete your post? You are making some of the earlier posters look like witches.
“I think most of us would have a problem living with a child who was attacking us with a knife.”
Yes, nothing like having to sleep with one eye open every nite for fear of your life.
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