From Russia With Nyet Love: Russians Express Outrage After Family Returns Adopted Boy By Putting Him On Plane With Note

A Tennessee family is at the center of global controversy after Nancy Hansen of Shelbyville put a 7-year-old adopted boy on a plane back to Russia with a note saying that he had mental and emotional issues. The family says it was given the boy without being told that he had problems. There is a move to halt U.S. adoptions after a series of controversies leading to this latest case.

The letter with the boy read:

The letter read: “This child is mentally unstable. He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues. I was lied to and misled by the Russian Orphanage workers and director regarding his mental stability and other issues. … After giving my best to this child, I am sorry to say that for the safety of my family, friends, and myself, I no longer wish to parent this child.”

Nancy Hansen said that the boy told everyone that he intended to burn their house down and that the family feared for its safety due to violent statements and actions by the boy.

The problem is treating a boy like a defective product being returned to the factory.

In 2009, nearly 1,600 Russian children were adopted in the United States.

Artyom Savelyev, 7, was given a one-way ticket back to Moscow, though the family insists that it paid $200 for a guy to drive him to Russian Education and Science Ministry.

In Tennessee, authorities were investigating the adoptive mother, Torry Hansen, 33.

The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, joined the condemnations of the family, saying that he was “very angry that any family would act so callously toward a child that they had legally adopted.”

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