United States family that sent their adopted Russian son back to his home country by himself is under fire. The move prompted Russia’s foreign minister to freeze all future United States adoptions of Russian orphans. Russia says that the United States Adoption regulations have fallen short and unfortunately this has not been the first Russian-US adoption gone wrong.
Duration : 0:5:25
MOSCOW — Russia threatened to suspend all adoptions by U.S. families Friday after a 7-year-old boy adopted by a Tennessee woman 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 adoptive grandmother, Nancy Hansen of Shelbyville, Tenn.
“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 said in a telephone interview. “It got to be where you feared for your safety. It was terrible.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the actions by the grandmother “the last straw” in a string of U.S. adoptions gone wrong, including three in which Russian children in the United States died.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Dmitry Medvedev said the boy “fell into a very bad family.”
“It is a monstrous deed on the part of his adoptive parents. To take the kid and virtually throw him out with the airplane in the opposite direction and to say, ‘I’m sorry I could not cope with it, take everything back’ is not only immoral but also against the law,” Medvedev said.
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 Russian 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, almost 1,600 Russian children were adopted in the United States, and more than 60,000 Russian orphans have been successfully adopted overall, according to the National Council For Adoption, a U.S. adoption advocacy nonprofit group.
“We’re obviously very troubled by it,” U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington when asked about the boy’s case.
Asked if 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.”
“Child abandonment of any kind is reprehensible,” said Chuck Johnson, acting CEO of the National Council for Adoption. “The actions of this mother are especially troubling because an already vulnerable, innocent child has been further victimized.”
The boy arrived unaccompanied in Moscow on a United Airlines flight Thursday from Washington. Social workers sent him to a Moscow hospital for a health 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 due to severe psychological problems.
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 flight attendant 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.
“Russian Adoption Gone Wrong” “Mom Sends Adopted Son” “Back to Russia” “Russian Adoption” “Artyom Savelyev” “Russian Foreign Minister” “Sergey Lavrov” “adoptive grandmother” “Nancy Hansen” “P.J. Crowley” “ABC News” “George Stephanopoulos” “Dmitry Medvedev”
Russian Adoption Gone Wrong Mom Sends Adopted Son Back to Russia
Duration : 0:6:48
Russia’s foreign minister wants a freeze of all Adoptions to the United States today after a young boy was abandoned and was sent back to Russia. Russia says the United States will have to look at its adoption regulations in order for American families to adopt Russian children again. Chuck Johnson says that there is now an investigation into the family from Tennessee.
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Beginning with our first video from the Orel, Russia orphanage to return visit ten years later.
Duration : 0:7:36
In 2004 Denis came home from Russia to be part of his forever family.