Russian children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said on Thursday a lawsuit had been filed against him by an American woman who sent her adopted son back to Russia.This AP story adds there's a hearing next month: "Pavel Astakhov said Thursday he would like Hansen, who has sued him in a Moscow court, to testify at a hearing scheduled for next month."
Torry Hansen filed a lawsuit in Moscow’s Savelovsky Court, seeking retraction of a November 24, 2011 article in the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily. She also demands punitive damages.
"The essence of the lawsuit is that I call Hansen an adoptive mother, while she wants me to call her Artyom Savelyev’s former adoptive mother,” Astakhov said.
"I’m glad a lawsuit was filed by Torry Hansen against me and the Rossiiskaya Gazeta. I’ll gladly meet her and request that she visits Russia and the court,” he added.
Hansen was living in Tennessee in April 2010 when she put Artyom Savelyev, then 7, on a flight back to his native Russia unaccompanied, with a note saying she did not want him because he was "psychotic."
Astakhov said that the Russian side would seek child support payments from the U.S. woman, according to the March 8 U.S. court ruling.
“We will try to make her pay the cost of Artyom’s support, nothing more,” he said.
According to the child ombudsman’s estimates, the boy’s stay in a group home costs 42,000 rubles per month (over $1,400), not including psychological treatment costing 27,000 rubles (over $900) per month.
If the lawsuit is really about being called Artyom's adoptive mother, rather than his former adoptive mother, I'm sorry to tell her that, at least under American law of libel, truth is a defense. She is still Artyom's adoptive mother, at least in the U.S., since her parental rights have not been terminated here. One cannot terminate parental rights by simply sending a child away. The fact that a Tennessee court has ordered her to pay child support is evidence that she is still his parent, since child support is only a parental responsibility.
8 comments:
As for Russia trying to get her to pay $1,400 for care per month and $900 for psychological costs per month, even though I do not agree with the principle of returning him to Russia, I also do not agree that Russia should be able to sue her. $1,400 is not even what it would cost for a child to be in foster care in American each month, so I seriously doubt it would cost the Russian government that much to house a child in Russia. Secondly, there have been a lot of children from Russia who have been psychologically hurt upon IA, and the APs have had to work hard to help them, when the Russian government would blindside the APs by not disclosing their needs. I don't know of one American AP who has even considered suing the Russian government or it's orphanages for the cost of psychological care of a child adopted from Russia. And from what I understand, Russia has the majority of children , out of all IA adoptions, who end up needing help.
in reply to Karen, $1400 actually seems quite reasonable. I work for a post adoption counseling center that pays group homes about $100-$150 PER DAY to house "troubled" foster and adoptive children (average is $4000 per month.)
As far as needs are concerned, these things often do not show themselves until the child is taken out of the situation (in this case the original orphanage)they have grown accustomed too. No AP should think that the child they are adopting from an orphanage of foreign country, that does not speak the same language as AP is going to be without problems and struggles.
i am glad to hear that the stone cold hearted B**c# will have to pay for the cruelty that the russian boy had to go through. it is unethical to send a 7 year old adopted child across he world with a discusting note such as the one she wrote of hime. I hope that when she lands in russia someones takes her dumba$$ out of this planet. People like her shouldnt be alowed to breath the same air as us... filthy Cu^T!! Justice shall be served!!!
I'm going to write this while trying to contain my anger, but it may be difficult. I myself was adopted from an orphanage in Russia, where I endured years of abuse. I was brought in to a small town in Wyoming with absolutely no idea what was going on, speaking no English whatsoever, and with nobody around me that spoke Russian. It took me almost 10 years to fully comprehend everything, but the scars I have from my time in Russia are still prevalent. When you adopt a child from overseas, you have no idea what kind of past they've had. You may find out later on that the child has a history of abuse, neglect, mental illness, and that's not the child's fault. This woman knew full well what she was getting herself in to, and she needs to be responsible for whatever it costs to help that poor child. He didn't deserve this, and I just hope he's able to find a sense of normalcy and love in this world.
I don't understand why the press has been debating so much the mental sanity of the child, who arguably never did anything crazy, rather than that of the adoptive mother. It seems obvious to me that she is pathetically nuts...
Forget child support -- Nancy (Torry's mother) should "disannull" her parental obligations, deport Torry to a child orphanage in Siberia, and throw away the key.
God, in his infinite wisdom, made Torry barren. Perhaps, rather than to adopt a child, she should have gone to Russia to get a good brain transplant.
Are you dense? This irresponsible failure of a mother is trying to sue THEM to run away/recieve compensation for "damages" that she has faced for it. Quite frankly, she deserves those consequences and I don't think money payments even cover it. She is irresponsible and clearly hasn't learned anything at all if she feels she is the victim. The fact that she is selfish and stupid enough to sue is ridiculous.
Well she and they whole family could be dead if he did succeed in burning down the house - would that make everyone feel better?
Well, it could be true that the kid wanted to burn down the house, but if she wanted to really deserve being called a mother, she should have put him on a safe place and figure out what to do from there, but no, just like certain pet owners, she wanted to save some money. I am just shocked that Russia isn't charging her more to do the job she was supposed to do.
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