Thursday, January 20, 2011

Artyom Update: Tennessee Mom Holds Up His New Adoption

According to the Moscow Times:
A U.S. mother who sent her adopted son back to Russia unaccompanied on a plane last April is holding up the boy's re-adoption by refusing to give up her parental rights, children's ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Tuesday.

Torry Hansen, 33, told a Tennessee court that she only put Artyom Savelyev, now 8, on a plane because "he asked to see his [biological] mother and she let him go," Astakhov wrote on Twitter.

Hansen sent the boy with a note saying he was psychologically unfit and asking that the adoption be cancelled.

But Astakhov called Hansen's court testimony "cynic slyness" that aimed to avoid making child support payments.

Savelyev cannot be re-adopted by another family until Hansen gives up her parental rights.

13 comments:

Jenna said...

Unbelievable!

Sunday Koffron Taylor said...

I would say it is unbelievable, but then again I know my parents. Didn’t want us, didn’t want anybody else to take us, didn’t want to pay for our care, didn’t want to be seen as jerks, so they lied manipulated the system and blamed their kids and to this day claim they did the best they could and are the real victims.

The world is full of selfish, self centered egomaniacal people who should chose not to have children in the first place. I am just saddened that this woman and others like her who “disrupt” adoptions or seek “re-home” adopted children (like these http://www.chask.org/waitingchildren.htm) were aloud to adopt in the first place.

Anonymous said...

What Sunday said.

Didn't she say she "no longer wished to parent this child" in the note?

Anonymous said...

This story leaves out the fact that Russia has a very straightforward system of termination of parental rights (can be done immediately, unlike in the US court system), and I am sure they wouldn't hesitate to TPR so that the child could be adopted again.

Tina said...

Anonmous
Russia can terminate the parental rights of their citizens. They do not perminate parental rights for parents that are not citizens. I know this bcause of a specific case where a child was abandoned in Russia by Kazekstani parents and until the government of Kazekstan agreed to the termination of thier rights the child was not adoptable.

This woman is so unfit it is beyond belief.

Robin said...

If Ms. Hansen is still the boy's mother, isn't she legally responsible to financially support him? I would think she would no longer want this obligation.

Anonymous said...

So, the TN mom who sent Artyom back to Russia saying she no longer wished to parent him is now holding up his adoption by a new (and let's hope better) family?! This is so selfish it's bizarre. I hope the Russian courts step in and terminate her rights because I think the way he was "returned" to Russia is complete proof of her lack of fitness to parent.

Courtney

everythingismeowsome said...

I am speechless. I don't even know what to type.....

Real Daughter said...

This is nothing more than her defense attorney speaking.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Hansen is hoping to avoid paying child support *because* she is the boy's mother--undoubtedly a strategy cooked up by her defence lawyer. This is an exercise in manipulation, not logic.

"Ms. Hansen is trying to prove that she did not reject Artyom. 'He wanted to go back to mummy and she let him go,' her lawyer says," Astakhov wrote on his Twitter account."

Hansen "is trying to avoid paying child support," Astakhov said.

Pavel Astakhov is Russia's children's ombudsman.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/18/Russia-to-seek-adoption-payment-annulment/UPI-83841295374657/#ixzz1BjX91eqf

Reena said...

Has anyone done a psych eval on this woman? She sounds more and more like a certifiable nut case the more I hear about her.

If she is still legally the boy's parent and someone else is taking care of him-- she is finanacially responsible for that bill-- IMO.

If she does not want that responsibility then she needs to sign off her parental rights.

The rest of it-- she is likely tired of being ostracized as an evil uncaring person and is now trying to cook up some other story to make herself look more human.

Anonymous said...

There is a special place in hell for this mother. Where is the social worker and adoption agency in all this? Why was this allowed to get this far? This poor child has serious emotional damage from this. This is unbelievable that this can happen. My heart breaks for this child and what
"the system" and this mother continues to put him through. Surely there is a better way than this.

Mother said...

There should be psych evaluations done on ALL people who adopt. Best interests of the child isn't that what it's about the child and his well being?

Not about someone who can buy a child.