Has anyone see this story. (Edited printout below)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100410/ap_on_re_us/us_russia_adopted_boyWhile the growing fears of this family are understandable, it seems the adoptive mother was not willing to put much effort into caring for this child, sending him back like a broken toy after a total of 6 months.
Alot of time & effort goes into an overseas adoption. Much more apparently, than they were willing to put into this boy. It was a cruel and cowardly way out of a major responsibility.
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SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Torry Hansen was so eager to become a mother that she adopted an older child from a foreign country...
Torry's mother, Nancy, said the 7yr-old's violent episodes ... terrified them into a shocking solution: The boy they renamed Justin was put on a plane by himself and sent back to Russia.
Now, outraged officials in that country are calling for a halt to adoptions by Americans, and authorities are investigating the family. However, Nancy Hansen told The AP that the motives of her daughter — a 33-year-old, unmarried nurse — were sincere.
"The intent of my daughter was to have a family and the intent of my whole family was to love that child," she said Friday.
The family was told the boy, whose Russian name is Artyom Savelyev, was healthy in Sept when he was brought ... to his new home ... seemed happy, but the behavioral problems began soon after, Hansen said.
"The Russian orphanage officials completely lied to her because they wanted to get rid of him," she said.
Hansen chronicled a list of problems: hitting, screaming, spitting at his mother & threatening to kill family members. Hansen said his eruptions were often sparked when he was denied something he wanted, like toys or video games....Hansen said she thought that with their love, they could help him. "I was wrong," she said.
Adoption experts say many families are blinded by their desire to adopt and don't always understand what the orphans have sometimes endured — especially older children who may have been neglected or abandoned."They're not prepared to appreciate, psychologically, the kinds of conditions these kids have been exposed to and the effect it has had on them," said J. LaBarbera, a clinical psychologist...
Hansen said her daughter sought advice from psychologists but never had her adoptive son meet with one....
In Feb, Hansen said, the family could take no more. The boy flew into a rage, snatched a 3-pound statue and tried to attack his aunt with it. Hansen said he was apparently upset after his aunt asked him to correct math problems on his school work.
Hansen bought the plane ticket, and the family arranged to pay a man in Russia $200 to take him from the airport and drop him off at the Russian education ministry. He arrived alone Thurs on a United Airlines flight...
With him was a note that read, in part: "After giving my best to this child, I am sorry to say that for the safety of my family, friends, and myself, I no longer wish to parent this child."
The family, meanwhile, has rejected the Kremlin's sharp criticism and any notion that the boy was simply abandoned....
...Experts and adoptive parents have reacted with similar shock, though they stress that the vast majority of adopted children are raised in happy, loving homes.
"That incidents like the one today can cause children to remain in orphanages rather than be adopted by loving families is the real tragedy," said Sue Gainor, who adopted a child from Russia in 2001 and is the nat'l chairperson of Families for Russian and Ukranian Adoption...
There was no response to a knock at Hansen's door, and a phone listing couldn't be found for her. Her mother also declined to put AP in touch with her, and the family has since retained an attorney...
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AP writers N. Vasilyeva in Moscow, T. Loller & C. Talbott in Nashville, J. Freed in Minneapolis, G. Tibbits in Seattle, & F. Klug & R. Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
