Search Results for: blog on the child sent back to russia

What Problems Do Parents of Russian Adoptees Face?

Posted on by

Most of the world is justly horrified by the fact that Torry Hansen sent her adopted Russian son back to Russia. I admit I don’t know how I would respond if my child threatened to kill me. But as I said in my blog on Wrongful Adoption lawsuits, once an adoption is final, the parent-child relationship is final. If my biological child suffers brain trauma and becomes a danger to others, he may have to live in a residential treatment center, but I would still visit him, try to assist in his healing process, contribute financially to him as much … Continue reading →

Should There Be Dual Citizenship for Internationally Adopted Children?

Posted on by

My last blogs were about the boy sent back to Russia and in which jurisdiction the abandonment occurred. (You can click here if you missed last week’s update .) I learned from his adoption agency’s website that children adopted from Russia to the U.S. have dual citizenship in both countries. This was news to me. Adopting from Korea, we were advised to inform our agency when the adoption was finalized so that they could sent a request to South Korea to remove her from the Korean citizenship rolls. This was especially important because all male citizens in South Korea serve … Continue reading →

An Update on the Adopted Child Sent Back to Russia

Posted on by

The adoption agency World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP), which handled the adoption of Artem Savaliev, also called Justin Hansen, has filed a petition Tuesday in Bedford County, Tennessee, asking the court to investigate whether his abandonment (in his case, being sent back to Russia alone on a plane) constitutes abuse or neglect. The agency said in its petition that the adoptive mother Torrey Hansen and her mother Nancy Hansen had inflicted “severe emotional injury upon this minor child who has now been abandoned twice, by his biological and adoptive parents”. (The boy’s biological mother’s rights were terminated in … Continue reading →

Who Has Jurisdiction in the Abandonment of the Russian Boy?

Posted on by

My last blog concerned last month’s news about the adopted boy flown back to Russia alone. Some commentators have speculated whether abandonment charges would be brought in the U.S., which does allow unaccompanied minors to fly, or in Russia, where he landed. Also, the jurisdiction where the child was abandoned may be Tennessee, where the adoptive mother and grandmother reside, or possibly Washington D.C., since the child’s grandmother flew with him there and then put him on the nonstop flight to Russia alone. Children adopted from Russia to the U.S. are citizens of both Russia and the United States of … Continue reading →

On the Child Sent Back to Russia

Posted on by

It’s been nearly a month since two nations were stunned by the actions of an adoptive mother and grandmother, who put a seven-year-old adopted from Russia on a plane to Moscow as an unaccompanied minor. He bore a note addressed to the Russian Ministry of Education from his adoptive mother. Apparently his grandmother, who lived next door to his adoptive mother in Tennessee, had spoken with a driver in Russia and hired him to meet the party at the airport and drive to the Russian Ministry of Education. The driver was under the impression, from phone calls the week before, … Continue reading →

Language and Learning in Adopted Children

Some parents who thought their children were doing very well with speech and language may find themselves unpleasantly surprised as their children begin second grade, when a higher level of language is required. Teachers have often noted poor academic performance among immigrant children graduating from English as a Second Language programs, even though the children appear to converse in English perfectly well. Educators and speech-language clinicians are learning that there are two kinds of language. Many refer to the first type as Communicative Language Fluency. This is the type of language we think of when we say a child can … Continue reading →

Adoptions: Non-Refundable?

I’ve always loved children. I’ve been babysitting my whole life, went to school to become an elementary grade school teacher, and taught preschool for two years after graduating. Since becoming a mother, I look at children in a totally different light. Before, kids were just kids. I liked them, and most of them were fun. However, some were cute, some weren’t as cute; some were brats, some were angels. Now, when I see a child, I think to myself, “Someone carried that child in her belly for 9 months. Someone gave birth to that baby. Someone probably loves that child … Continue reading →

Book Review: Nikolai, the Only Bear

Nikolai, the Only Bear is a story about a bear who lives in an orphanage (in Russia. Nikolai is the only bear in the orphanage. He is three years old. He tries to play with the other children, but they are afraid of him. His caregivers are constantly telling him to say hello, say thank you, play nice, sing the same lyrics as everyone else at music class. The problem is, Nikolai does say all those things, but the caregivers and the other children don’t speak bear. The softly colored illustrations show the orphans playing and being cared for in … Continue reading →

Sins of the Father—Mel Gibson Has a Meltdown

It looks as though Mel Gibson may have a conscience after all. At least part of one, anyway. And it’s beginning to bother him. A lot. The father of seven (soon to be eight) reportedly went “ballistic” in church last Sunday. In what is being described as a “crazed rant,” the actor apparently lit into parishioners while pacing back and forth on the altar of Holy Family Chapel in Agoura Hills, California. I suppose having a meltdown on the altar (a place reserved exclusively for priests and altar servers) is one of the perks of building your own (purported) Catholic … Continue reading →

Can Homeschoolers Be Good Citizens?

I recently came across a conversation on one of my homeschooling email lists about homeschooling and citizenship. One woman stated that in her response letter from the school district regarding her intent to homeschool, she got a message back that essentially said that the school would no longer be held responsible for the child’s education nor the type of citizen they would become. Such a statement assumes that without the help of public schools, a child would surely be in danger of becoming a poor citizen. That seems like a large pill to swallow, doesn’t it. What many of us … Continue reading →