In a nutshell, a single mom from Tennessee put her 7 year old adopted son on a plane back to Moscow, alone. And why? Apparently, the boy was violent, threatened to burn down the house and had psychological problems so she was returning him back to the orphanage.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the little boy came attached with a note detailing how the mother was deceived by the orphanage and the boy had psychological problems. And just when you don't think it can get any worse, she pays some person she never met $200 to pick up the child in Russia to take him to the Russian Education and Ministry office.
I have no idea what is worse about this story, putting a boy on the plane for 10 hours by himself, the note or entrusting a complete stranger to pick the child up. If he was violent, she is leaving it up to the flight attendants to deal with him on the flight not knowing his background.
I don't doubt (I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt) that there might have been problems with the child and she was deceived as I know another single mom who did not know her daughter had down's syndrome until she went for a check up in the United Stats but she certainly did not return her.
I think that she could have handled the situation differently. She is certainly not the first adopted family nor the last that has had to deal with this type of situation. In all the reports, it makes no mention of her reaching out to her adoption agency so I am not sure if she did all she could have done.
I get worried having a babysitter pick up my daughter from school and walk her the fifteen minutes to our house, lord have mercy, I can't even imagine putting my daughter on a 10 hour flight by herself. That is just plain ludicrous no matter how much she wanted to get rid of him.
But her way has caused Russia to halt all adoptions to the United States which means hundreds of families are now in waiting limbo. This is so serious, that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has spoken about this incident. This is front page news in Russia now. And at some point, you Hillary Clinton and the President are going to have to get involved.
And I am sure because the woman was single, Russia will now change it's policy that no single woman will be able to adopt on their own.
What a mess.
1 comments:
I read this in the newspaper last night. Could NOT believe it. That mom should be charged with child endangerment or something. How tragic for everyone involved. And to know that there are people who would fly with a child for a payment. How freaky is that?!
I JUST finished reading and reviewing a book about a familiy who adopted a daughter from Thailand. The daughter had some neurological disorders and attatchment issues. They went through the correct process after like 5 yrs to revoke their adoption. The little girl was given to another family who knew of her issues.
This is so terrible. And the whole Russian issue is a shame as well. Kids who have disorders being sent to families without them knowing. There was more to the story, but can't remember it all.
I know this hits on an extremely personal level for you.
~Mimi
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