"Return of adopted child angers Russia; Boy sent from US, with note, on 1-way flight" by Nataliya Vasilyeva and Kristin M. Hall, Associated Press | April 10, 2010
MOSCOW — Russia threatened to suspend all adoptions by US families yesterday after a 7-year-old boy adopted by a woman from Tennessee was sent alone on a one-way flight back to Moscow with a note saying he was violent and had severe psychological problems.
The boy, Artyom Savelyev, was put on a plane by his adopted grandmother, Nancy Hansen of Shelbyville. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the actions by the grandmother “the last straw’’ in a string of US adoptions gone wrong, including three in which Russian children had died in the United States....
The cases have prompted outrage in Russia, where foreign adoption failures are reported prominently. Russian main TV networks ran extensive reports on the latest incident in their main evening news shows. The education ministry immediately suspended the license of the group involved in the adoption — the World Association for Children and Parents, a Renton, Wash.-based agency — for the duration of an investigation.
In Tennessee, authorities were investigating the adoptive mother, Torry Hansen, 33.
Any possible freeze could affect hundreds of American families. Last year, nearly 1,600 Russian children were adopted in the United States.
“We’re obviously very troubled by it,’’ State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington when asked about the boy’s case. He told reporters that the United States and Russia share a responsibility for the child’s safety and Washington will work closely with Moscow to make sure adoptions are legal and appropriately monitored.
Asked whether he thought a suspension by Russia was warranted, Crowley said, “If Russia does suspend cooperation on the adoption, that is its right. These are Russian citizens.’’
The boy arrived unaccompanied in Moscow on a United Airlines flight on Thursday from Washington. Social workers sent him to a Moscow hospital for a medical checkup and criticized his adoptive mother for abandoning him. The Kremlin children’s rights office said the boy was carrying a letter from his adoptive mother saying she was returning him because of his severe psychological problems.
“This child is mentally unstable. He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues,’’ the letter said. “I was lied to and misled by the Russian Orphanage workers and director regarding his mental stability and other issues.... Nancy Hansen, the grandmother, told the Associated Press that she and the boy flew to Washington and she put the child on the plane with the note from her daughter. She vehemently rejected assertions of child abandonment by Russian authorities, saying he was watched over by a United Airlines stewardess and the family paid a man $200 to pick the boy up at the Moscow airport and take him to the Russian Education and Science Ministry.
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All I can say is since I learned of the existence of sex-slave syndicates and kiddie porn rings I have a general distrust of adoptions and such things.
The world is darker than you think, and when the MSM puts a smiley face on something.... whew, stink.
"US families confused over Russia adoptions; After incident, doubts on freeze" by David Crary, Associated Press | April 16, 2010
NEW YORK — A freeze of adoptions from Russia.
“You’ve got to expect the unexpected,’’ said Christie Zukor, who along with her husband, Ken, adopted four siblings from Russia in 2007 and has a pending application to adopt their 15-year-old half sister. They are among an estimated 3,000 US families in various stages of adopting children from Russia.
You now, I was wondering about that kind of a connection.
Word spread quickly through that community yesterday that a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko, said adoptions by Americans had been suspended pending US-Russian negotiations on an adoption treaty.
That's strange. They can get this treaty done, but not one for the kids?
Russia has stepped up demands for such a treaty after last week’s incident in which a Tennessee woman sent her 7-year-old adopted son back to Russia on a plane by himself with a note saying he was violent and severely mentally ill. Within hours after Nesterenko’s briefing, the reported suspension was cast into doubt. Russia’s Education Ministry, which oversees international adoptions, said it had no knowledge of a freeze. So did a spokeswoman for the Kremlin’s children’s rights ombudsman.
In Washington, the State Department at one point said there was no suspension, then said it was seeking clarification from Russian officials. “Right now, to be honest, we’ve received conflicting information,’’ department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. The State Department is sending a high-level delegation to Moscow next week to discuss the controversy and a possible adoption agreement.
That must be the first time in the history of government -- and it shows you they are lying all the time; otherwise, he would not have said it.
For the Zukors, who live in Havre de Grace, Md., a suspension could dash their hopes of traveling to a Russian orphanage within the next two months to bring home 15-year-old Marina, the half sister of the three girls and one boy they adopted in 2007....
Yes, a very elite neighborhood.
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Hey, maybe it is all on the up-and-up. I would really like to believe something is in this world.
"Russia offers little clarity on US adoptions; Delegation flying to Moscow for talks next week" by Nataliya Vasilyeva, Associated Press | April 17, 2010
MOSCOW — Russian and US officials gave birthday gifts yesterday to the 8-year-old boy who was returned to Russia by his adoptive American mother, as Russia sent conflicting signals about whether all adoptions to the United States were now suspended....
A US delegation is flying to Moscow for talks Monday and Tuesday to address Russian concerns and seek an accord that would allow the placement of Russian children to go ahead, said David Siefkin, press attache at the US Embassy in Moscow....
Seriously, what is the carbon footprint on that?
The boy’s case caused public outrage and bolstered opponents of foreign adoptions, who in past years have pointed to a few highly publicized cases of abuse and killings of Russian children adopted by US families. But while international adoptions have been vilified in the Russian press, Russian adoption agencies stress the role they have played in encouraging Russians to consider adoption.
“Thanks to Americans as well as Italians and Spaniards, Russians have increasingly become more interested in adopting,’’ said Lyudmila Kochergina, director of the Moscow office of adoption agency Children’s Hope International.
That's because they are losing population and it is of great concern to them.
A new adoption agreement might provide additional guarantees of Russian children’s safety overseas, she said, but adoptions already are heavily regulated and each case is decided by a Russian court, she said. More than 1,800 Russian children were adopted in the United States last year, according to the Russian Education Ministry.
And how many were sent back?
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