Russian boy abandoned: U.S. mother who sent boy back to Russia must pay child support
An American woman who sent the Russian boy she adopted back to Moscow on a one-way flight has been ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in child support.
Torry Hansen will have to pay a lump sum of $150,000 to the child she named Justin but later abandoned, as well as $1,000 per month until he is an adult.
On Thursday a judge in Bedford County, Tennessee ruled that she must begin making the child support payments in June and continue to pay until the boy, who is now 10 years old, turns 18.
Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell said the $150,000 Hansen must pay includes damages for breach of contract, legal fees and support for the boy.
Tennessee nurse Torry Hansen took a trip to Russia in 2009 and met Artem, who she renamed Justin, in an orphanage. Their meeting is pictured here
Hansen sent Artem Saveliev back to Russia in April 2010 with a letter saying the child was disturbed and violent and she did not want him anymore.
The case created an international uproar and prompted Russia to temporarily halt its adoption program with the U.S.
The World Association for Children and Parents, which helped Hansen adopt the child, then filed a lawsuit seeking child support.
Hansen has since moved to Redding, California and has failed to show up at any of the hearings, said Larry Crain, an attorney for the adoption agency.
She has hired a series of three Tennessee lawyers to represent her but the most recent one, he said, has been granted permission to leave the case. She did, however, hire a court reporter to attend the hearing.
Artem, who is now nearly ten, lives in a suburb of Moscow with his foster parents and other children who are having difficulties finding adoptive parents
Hansen filed a lawsuit last month in California against representatives of a Russian orphanage saying the Russian Federation Supreme Court annulled the adoption.
“In doing so, it denied defendants the ability to recover a sum of money in the form of child support from plaintiff,” the suit says.
Hansen wants the California court to recognise the Russian decision.
Adoption advocates hailed the Tennessee court order as a measure of justice for the boy, and said the judge”s decision would show there are consequences to abandoning adopted children.
Hansen apparently never told social workers that she was having problems with the boy.
The agency sued Hansen to deter others from doing anything similar and to show the Russians that “you cannot do this in America and get away with it,” Mr Crain said.
“It has certainly caused concern on the part of Russian officials that unless there are consequences when a parent abandons a child placed in their home, there”s a need for safeguards to make sure this never occurs,” he added.
The judge said in his order that when Hansen adopted the boy she signed a contract acknowledging that it was possible the child could have physical, emotional or behaviour problems that were unreported and even unknown to the adoption agency.
Lee said $58,000 of the $150,000 will pay for the past two years” worth of support and medical fees for the boy in Russia.
Court documents say the boy was hospitalised for three weeks after he returned to Moscow, but they do not say what he was treated for.
He was later moved to an orphanage and then sent to another institution.
XOXO Ariella♥ 
That was pretty messed up on what she did there, now that boy will REALLY need extra loving care. .
What could she have done differently? I agree she shouldn't have just shipped him off back to Russia but should be forced to keep a child she's unable to care for?
Btw, my two older sisters were born in Redding California :-)
I agree forcing her to keep him was not the answer. That could have turned tragic. I wish she'd taken him back to her social worker instead of shiipping him away. I think that if they find someone to adopt him, she should no longer have to pay child support. I would hope they are actively seeking an adoptive family. But if he'd been left here in the States, they'd probably get him counseling and look for a forever family. It is just messed up, no matter how you look at it.
Quoting paganbaby:What could she have done differently? I agree she shouldn't have just shipped him off back to Russia but should be forced to keep a child she's unable to care for?
Absolutely, I shudder to think of her turning abusive :-(
But why didn't she talk to the social worker? That would have made so much more sense. I'm sure he would have stood a better chance had he stayed out here. Counseling and maybe like you said, a forever home. That poor boy.
But if had given up to the state out here, do you think she should still have to pay?
Quoting Thelmama:I agree forcing her to keep him was not the answer. That could have turned tragic. I wish she'd taken him back to her social worker instead of shiipping him away. I think that if they find someone to adopt him, she should no longer have to pay child support. I would hope they are actively seeking an adoptive family. But if he'd been left here in the States, they'd probably get him counseling and look for a forever family. It is just messed up, no matter how you look at it.
Quoting paganbaby:What could she have done differently? I agree she shouldn't have just shipped him off back to Russia but should be forced to keep a child she's unable to care for?
In some states, depending on the circumstances, parents who relinquish their children to foster care are required to pay some child support to the state. I think the amount she is having to pay is beyond the norm. I have mixed feelings to be honest on that. There is no way to make sure all of that is going to the child himself or to the other children in the group home he is in. That is my concern. According to my research, Russian orphanges frequently (not always) do not give their best for the children. They use monies for themselves and not for the kids. This may or may not be the case. But there is no way to track what is happening to his money from here, at least not realistically. Seems to me, if he is going to get child support from here, he should be placed here.
Quoting paganbaby:Absolutely, I shudder to think of her turning abusive :-(
But why didn't she talk to the social worker? That would have made so much more sense. I'm sure he would have stood a better chance had he stayed out here. Counseling and maybe like you said, a forever home. That poor boy.
But if had given up to the state out here, do you think she should still have to pay?
Quoting Thelmama:I agree forcing her to keep him was not the answer. That could have turned tragic. I wish she'd taken him back to her social worker instead of shiipping him away. I think that if they find someone to adopt him, she should no longer have to pay child support. I would hope they are actively seeking an adoptive family. But if he'd been left here in the States, they'd probably get him counseling and look for a forever family. It is just messed up, no matter how you look at it.
Quoting paganbaby:What could she have done differently? I agree she shouldn't have just shipped him off back to Russia but should be forced to keep a child she's unable to care for?
Okay I can see that. You're responsibility to a child doesn't end because you can't handle them. And I totally agree. If the money is coming from the states then he should stay in the states.
Quoting Thelmama:In some states, depending on the circumstances, parents who relinquish their children to foster care are required to pay some child support to the state. I think the amount she is having to pay is beyond the norm. I have mixed feelings to be honest on that. There is no way to make sure all of that is going to the child himself or to the other children in the group home he is in. That is my concern. According to my research, Russian orphanges frequently (not always) do not give their best for the children. They use monies for themselves and not for the kids. This may or may not be the case. But there is no way to track what is happening to his money from here, at least not realistically. Seems to me, if he is going to get child support from here, he should be placed here.
Quoting paganbaby:Absolutely, I shudder to think of her turning abusive :-(
But why didn't she talk to the social worker? That would have made so much more sense. I'm sure he would have stood a better chance had he stayed out here. Counseling and maybe like you said, a forever home. That poor boy.
But if had given up to the state out here, do you think she should still have to pay?
Quoting Thelmama:I agree forcing her to keep him was not the answer. That could have turned tragic. I wish she'd taken him back to her social worker instead of shiipping him away. I think that if they find someone to adopt him, she should no longer have to pay child support. I would hope they are actively seeking an adoptive family. But if he'd been left here in the States, they'd probably get him counseling and look for a forever family. It is just messed up, no matter how you look at it.
Quoting paganbaby:What could she have done differently? I agree she shouldn't have just shipped him off back to Russia but should be forced to keep a child she's unable to care for?
Question....if your spouse passes away and you get remarried......
- MsAriella
on May. 21, 2012 at 4:04 AM