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Americans Banned from Adopting Russian Children

American Family Sends Adopted Child Back to Russia

Published: Monday, April 19, 2010

Updated: Monday, April 19, 2010 09:04


    Being adopted is hard, especially when you're from a different country.  However, there's always the promise that when you get off the plane, there is a loving family waiting for you.  But this was not the case for 7-year-old Justin Hansen, born Artyom Savelyev.  
    He came from Russia and was adopted by a family in Tennessee.  A few days ago, a man brought Hansen to the Russian Child Protection Agency in Moscow and took off without a word.  The boy didn't know anything, but he had a note from his adopted family telling the ministry that they didn't want him anymore.
    According to the National Council for Adoption, last year there were over 18,000 children adopted from foreign countries and brought to the United States.  About 2,300 of those were from Russia — the third largest source of child adoption for Americans.  

    In light of the incident with Hansen, and three Russian children who were killed after adoption, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced in an interview that the country has decided to put a hold on all adoptions to America — not wanting to risk the safety of any more of their children.
    In a CNN interview, Hansen's adoptive mother, Torry Hansen, said that the boy had been threatening to kill their family and she feared for their lives.  An incident where he allegedly set a small fire in the house sparked her to take action to remove him.  
    Torry Hansen found a lawyer online and followed his instructions to put the boy on a plane with a note. She arranged for a driver that she also hired online to pick him up in Moscow to take him to the agency.  When Justin Hansen was questioned by officials in Russia, he burst into tears and said that his adoptive mother pulled his hair and his grandmother yelled at him.

    Torry Hansen said that she wasn't even aware that there was a problem until she received a call from the Ambassador to Russia telling her that she'd started an international incident.  She didn't inform the agency in Russia, or the World Association for Children and Parents (WAfCaP) — the group that organized the adoption — that there were any issues with the boy. 
    Torry Hansen didn't send them any warning that her adoptive son was coming back.  The WAfCaP said that 1 percent of their adoptions don't work out, but they prefer to work with the parents and children to find a solution, even if the solution is a different family.

    Incidents like this are rare, but there have been enough incidents involving Russian children that the Russian government doesn't feel safe sending their children to American families.  There is no word on when the suspension on adoption will be lifted.  
    The ordeal with Justin Hansen is heartbreaking, but John Beyrle, the US Ambassador to Russia, assures that "tens of thousands of adopted Russian children... are living happily and lovingly with their American families." 
 


 

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2 comments

Margaret
Fri Apr 23 2010 01:52
In addition, it was not Torry Hansen but her mother who gave the interview and who put the boy on the plane. The driver didn't take off without a word; he spent with the boy several hours to make sure he was taken care of even though it was not his job. I agree, very poor fact checking.
Anonymous
Thu Apr 22 2010 22:31
The headline misstates the facts. Americans have not been "banned from adopting Russian children." There is no such agency as the "Russian Child Protection Agency in Moscow." The agency that is responsible for adoptions in Russia is the Ministry of Education and Science. Since Justin Hansen/Artyom Savelyev didn't come from Moscow, it's not possible for him sent "back" or "returned" to Moscow. Poor poor reporting and non-existent fact checking.






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