My good friend Noz and his wife have been attempting to adopt a child for many years now. They’ve been in Kazakhstan since late last year attempting to get a hearing and satisfy the authorities there that they are suitable parents (which they certainly are, and then some). And, yet, they keep getting screwed by untimely disclosures about stupid Americans being shitty adoptive parents (or worse).
let’s see, just before we filed our adoption petition with the court, casey johnson died and the resulting news stories screwed everything up in our process here. then two days before we finally got our first meeting with the judge, a pennsylvania couple was [arrested] for the death of the boy they adopted from russia, causing an anti-adoption firestorm in the russian media (which also dominates in kazakhstan) and further jeopardizing our process.
but now we’ve finally weathered these delays, staying here more than twice as long as we were originally supposed to and put up with the fact that noz jr. was condemned to months of additional time being cared for by an institution instead of a family. it’s only natural that this story would come out just two days before our long awaited court date.
That story, of course, is the story of Torry Hansen of Shelbyville, Tennessee, who put her 7 year-old adoptive son on a one-way plane ride to Moscow with a note saying she didn’t want him back. Which led to this:
MOSCOW — Russia formally announced on Thursday that it would suspend all adoptions of Russian children by Americans, responding to the case of a 7-year-old boy who was sent back to Moscow alone last week by his adoptive mother in Tennessee. The case of the boy, who was named Artyom in Russia before he was adopted last year, has caused widespread anger here, and Russian officials said new regulations had to be put in place before adoptions by Americans could proceed.
Kazakhstan, of course, is a former Soviet Socialist Republic and it is heavily influenced by Russian media and culture. It is my understanding that Mr. and Mrs. Noz had their hearing two days ago and are awaiting a follow-up visit with the judge. Needless to say, Russia’s announcement doesn’t help their cause and could even lead to a generalized moratorium on American adoptions in Kazakhstan.
I don’t know how they could do more to demonstrate their commitment to this child than they have already done. They have put their careers on hold for five months to live in a relatively poor country on the entire opposite side of the Earth. Who does something like that if they aren’t seriously committed?
I wish there was something I could do to help them. I hope the judge doesn’t overreact and is fair and clear-minded about what is best for this child who has already bonded with his prospective parents.
And I wish I could give a piece of my mind to Torry Hansen. Just think of all the broken hearts of people who have been pursuing adoptions from Russia.
