Adopted Russian Boy Returned To Sender

Russian media is on fire today with the story of the American women, Torry-Ann Hansen who sent her adopted 7yr old boy on a one-way trip back to Moscow. Her letter claimed he was ‘damaged goods’ and the orphanage cheated her. As he was a Russian citizen, she was returning him to the country.

Cue Russian outrage about their second-class treatment by Americans. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov has threatened a ‘freeze on American adoptions’ in response. This case being the ‘last straw’ after several other recent adoptions resulted in deaths of the Russian children.

In 2006, Peggy Sue Hilt of Manassas, Virginia, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of fatally beating a 2-year-old girl adopted from Siberia months earlier.

In 2008, Kimberly Emelyantsev of Tooele, Utah, was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to killing a Russian infant in her care.

And in March of this year, prosecutors in Pennsylvania met with a Russian diplomats to discuss how to handle the case of a couple accused of killing their 7-year-old adopted Russian son at their home near the town of Dillsburg.

A 21-month-old baby adopted from Russia three months ago died in the U.S. state of Virginia on Tuesday after being left by his foster father for several hours in the back of a car, in searing heat.

These cases are terrible but lets step back and get a little perspective. Russian officials say 1′600 children are adopted from Russia every year into the U.S. You have to assume the majority of these are successful, with children finding new loving homes.

However the adoption process in Russia obviously needs to be tightened up. American parents come to Russia because the U.S. process is so long and difficult. There are good reasons for that..

Reports say the mother of this child only spent 4 days in Russia, obviously not enough time to understand the child and the culture.

Perhaps money changed hands here to expedite the process? Corruption is common in Russia and I’m not familiar with the adoption laws. Malawi requires that potential adopters live in the country for 18-24 months prior to adoption approval. That maybe excessive but even a natural birth puts parents out of action for 4-6 months.

Time in Russia would help break down the stereotypes on both sides. Russians tend to believe the US is the land of milk and honey. Americans often think life in Russia is poverty and despair. Neither position is true.

One thing has surprised me though. The media not linking this incident to the story of the Dutch diplomat who tried to return his adopted 7yr old Korean daughter. The similarities are striking.

We all have a natural revulsion to parents who shirk the greatest of responsibilities, parenthood. Children, adopted or not, aren’t accessories. They are a lifetime commitment and can’t be returned if they prove to be challenging or fail to fit in with your lifestyle.

We want to believe parental love is unbreakable and unconditional. For most parents, American or Russian, that’s true. John Beyrle, the US ambassador to Moscow, said he was “deeply shocked by the news” and “very angry that any family would act so callously toward a child that they had legally adopted”. Hopefully the U.S. authorities will do something to reprimand the ‘mother’ in this case. That would go a long way towards calming the situation in Russia.

Update April 10th 00:30: The Russian government has suspended the license of the agency involved in this adoption and frozen U.S. adoptions until a ‘treaty is in place’.

Russians were furious that Miles Harrison was acquitted after letting his adopted Russian child, Dmitry (right) “roast alive” in the back of his SUV for 9hrs while he was at work.

“How can we prosecute a person who abused the rights of a Russian child abroad? If there was an adoption treaty in place, we would have legal means to protect Russian children abroad,” said Pavel Astakhov, the children rights commissioner.

However any agreed treaty would be limited. America has always maintained a non-extradition policy for their citizens, so we’re unlikely to see this ‘return to sender’ mother pulled before a Russian court anytime soon.

I’d recommend following the NobodyisForgotten Blog for updates on this story.