(April 9) -- Russia's foreign minister said the country should freeze adoptions with U.S. families after a 7-year-old Russian boy was shipped back to Moscow on a one-way flight by his adoptive mother in Tennessee.
"I no longer want to parent this child," read a note that his adoptive mother, Torry Ann Hansen, had given the blond boy for his United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Moscow, along with some cookies and a coloring pen in his backpack. "He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues/behaviors."
Artyom Savelyev, who was adopted last year from a Siberian orphanage, was met by an unidentified man, whom his adoptive grandmother told The Associated Press she had hired for $200. The man brought him to the Russian Science and Education Ministry building. Rossia 1 Television Channel / AP
Artyom Savelyev, 7, gets into a minivan in Moscow on Thursday. He had been put on a flight to Russia after his adopted American mother balked at keeping him.
Russian officials said the boy is now undergoing a routine check-up in a Moscow hospital and would be placed in another orphanage. The Daily Mail reported that he was the biological son of an alcoholic mother and was taken from her when he was 6 because of her drinking problem.
On Russian television, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the boy's return "the last straw" after a series of Russian orphans abused or mistreated by their adoptive American parents.
Russia has already become wary of U.S. adoptions after several highly publicized criminal cases. Peggy Sue Hilt of Manassas, Va., was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2006 after being convicted of fatally beating a 2-year-old girl she adopted from Siberia. In 2008, Kimberly Emelyantsev of Tooele, Utah, was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to killing a Russian infant in her care.
Lavrov said an agreement regarding new terms and conditions must be drawn up between the two countries before any more adoptions take place.
"We have taken the decision ... to suggest a freeze on any adoptions to American families until Russia and the USA sign an international agreement," Lavrov said.
John Beyrle, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, said he was "deeply shocked" and "very angry that any family would act so callously toward a child they had legally adopted."
The child, whose adoptive name was Justin, was carrying a letter from his adoptive mother, Hansen, reportedly a single, 34-year-old nurse who also has a biological son.
The letter -- addressed "to whom it may concern" at the Russian Ministry of Education in Moscow -- said: "After giving my best to this child, I am sorry to say that for the sake of my family, friends and myself, I no longer wish to parent this child.
"As he is a Russian national, I am returning him to your guardianship and would like the adoption disannulled," the letter said.
In the letter, Hansen accused officials at the Russian orphanage where the boy lived of not telling her the truth about him. "The child is mentally unstable," she said. "I was lied to and misled by the Russian orphanage workers and director regarding his mental stability and other issues. The orphanage employees were definitely aware of the major problems that this child has. Yet they chose to grossly misrepresent those problems, in order to get him out of their orphanage."
Russian social service officials told the Daily Mail that the boy was only a "little stubborn" and his only disability was that he has flat feet. They also reported that the child claimed his mother was "bad" and "didn't love him" and used to pull his hair.
"It's an unfortunate situation for both Russia and the U.S.," Zamir Gotta, a Moscow-based media consultant, told AOL News today.
"Every day you hear on the news in Russia about some very young mother leaving her baby in the garbage or something. There is a real need for adoptive families. At the same time, there is something that doesn't work right with the adoption system here. You can't just blame the U.S. There need to be more checks and balances put in place in Russia so adoptive parents get a clearer picture of the kind of child they are adopting."
Joyce Sterkel, director of the Ranch for Kids, a Montana facility that caters to troubled Russian adoptees, says she has taken in hundreds of Russian adoptees with severe fetal alcohol syndrome and attachment disorders. "Let's stop demonizing this mother," she said. "These kids are really sick, and there's no magic number you can call for cases like this."
A spokesperson of the Bedford County, Tenn., Sheriff's Department said that while no charges have been filed against Hansen, an investigation is under way and she has agreed to meet with law enforcement officials next week. http://www.aolnews.com/world/article...sia%2F19433604
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No one has a right to take someone else's child and claim them as their own and then shelf them if they don't fit into their status quo. 'tis better to financially support these orphans and leave them their own personal identity than take them in change who they are, and if such a child can't acquiesce as is usually the case with many children then shelf them or hand them over.. it is disgusting frankly!
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Michelle Ruiz Contributor
AOL News
(April 11) -- The 7-year-old Russian boy sent back to his homeland after his adoptive American mother deemed him "violent" and "psychopathic" is finding plenty of sympathy in his birth country, where officials who interviewed the boy said he is a "nice" child who does not display any signs of aggression.
The Kremlin's Children Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov told reporters that Artyom "Justin" Savelyev is traumatized after his adoptive mother, Torry Anne Hansen, 33, a nurse and single mother, sent him on a one-way flight from Washington to Moscow on Thursday, with only his Spider-Man backpack and a note saying, "The child is mentally unstable." The family paid a Russian man $200 to retrieve Artyom at the airport and bring him to the Russian Education and Science Ministry.
The incident has sparked mass debate and outrage, perhaps most fervently in Russia, where officials are urging a freeze on U.S. adoptions pending a new international agreement between the two countries.
Astakhov told ABC News that psychologists who met with Artyom determined he is a "nice," normal boy. In a televised address to reporters, Astakhov said the boy cried when asked about the six months he spent with Hansen in Shelbyville, Tenn., saying his adoptive mother used to tell him he was "bad" and pull his hair, while his adoptive grandmother, Nancy Hansen, often yelled at him. Published reports quoted Russian social services as saying Artyom was "a little stubborn" but that his only disability is his "flat feet."
Nancy Hansen tells a very different story about her family's time with the blond-haired boy they called Justin, whom her daughter, Torry, adopted from the Russian town of Partizansk in September. In January, Hansen said Artyom's behavioral problems began to show, as he kicked, hit and even threatened to kill family members.
"He drew a picture of our house burning down and he'll tell anybody that he's going to burn our house down with us in it," Hansen told The Associated Press. "It got to be where you feared for your safety. It was terrible."
Hansen said her family's breaking point came last month, when they allege Artyom snatched a 3-pound statue and tried to attack his aunt. Nancy Hansen accompanied him to Washington on Thursday, where he was sent back to Russia on a United Airlines flight to Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport
Witnesses aboard that 10-hour flight told ABC News that Artyom was "an average little boy who wanted to play." One passenger said he behaved like most 7-year-olds might.
"He was very anxious and very active," the person said. "He wanted to sing a Spider-Man song quite a bit. We sang with him in the back of the plane. We tried to keep him occupied. He was quite active -- running about, not disturbing anyone. He was very obedient. He sat when [asked.]"
The passenger added: "He drew some cartoon pictures of an airplane with passengers waving."
The boy described as "nice" by Russian officials and "psychopathic" by his adoptive family is now at the center of a heated conversation over international adoption that has reached the upper levels of government in both Russia and the U.S.
In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said sending Artyom back to Russia was a "monstrous deed on the part of his adoptive parents" and "not only immoral but against the law."
The Bedford County Sheriff's Department is investigating the matter, but has said in published reports that "there may be no crime" apart from Torry Hansen's poor judgment.
While a freeze on Russian adoptions may be imminent, Astakhov told reporters he hopes that the two countries can formulate a sound agreement on how to handle the delicate issue. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the department was "very troubled" by the boy's case and pledged to work with Moscow to ensure that international adoptions protect the safety of children and are appropriately monitored.
Tom DiFilipo, President of the Joint Council on International Children's Services, told CBS News today that while his organization is outraged over the situation, he hopes that Russia does not freeze adoptions to the U.S.
"We think it would be a real shame and not a service to children at all if international adoption was to be suspended over the misguided action of the parents in Tennessee," he said, citing "tens of thousands of successful international adoptions."
Nancy Hansen defended her daughter's decision to send Artyom back to Russia, saying she was deceived by the orphanage who turned over the boy.
"The Russian orphanage officials completely lied to her because they wanted to get rid of him," she told the AP.
I saw that and frankly didn't get it .. the woman had two beautiful children, why did she feel the need for another? some folks struggle forever and have no children at all.. it is as if folks can never be happy with what they have which is exactly what that sociopath told her in the movie.. 'you took your family for granted'
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