Torry Hansen deemed seven-year-old Artem Saveliev "mentally unstable"; Russian adoption agency suing for child support
It seems that cruelty knows no bounds, either morally or internationally. Tennessee nurse Torry Hansen had been looking to adopt her perfect child. She thought she was getting him in 2009 in the form of nine-year-old Artem Saveliev, an orphan from a group home in Moscow, Russia. However, after spending a year dealing with what she claims were Artem's "violent" and "psychopathic" behaviors, she decided she'd had enough and put him on a plane back to another mother… Mother Russia. Except she didn't exactly go through proper procedures, unless she thought pinning a note onto Artem explaining why she was returning him like a dress was enough.
"He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues/behavior. I was lied to and misled by the Russian orphanage workers and director regarding his mental stability," she wrote on the note, and stating the obvious: "I no longer wish to parent this child."
The adoption agency, World Association for Children and Parents, weren't thrilled with what Hansen had done. The Association took Artem back, and placed him in another group home that specialized in children who have lost hope that they would ever get adopted. But they weren't done with the situation, as they have sued the ex-mother for child support, maintaining breach of contract. In May, a US judge will hear the case and determine how much, if anything, Hansen will owe the WACP. As for criminal charges like neglect or child endangerment, the nurse (who now resides in California) has seemed to skirt the law as of now.
As for Artem, organizers at his school say the child has returned to his roots and is working hard to forget his time in the States. They aren't allowing the media to meet with the child in hopes of his past wounds not reopening. He just tries to get along with the other kids, speaking in Russian and not English, the language he has all but forgotten.