Russian wants US woman to testify over adoption

Date: 2012-04-12

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

The Russian children’s rights ombudsman says he wants an American woman who sent her young adopted son back to Russia to testify in a Moscow court.
TOMILINO, Russia —

The Russian children’s rights ombudsman says he wants an American woman who sent her young adopted son back to Russia to testify in a Moscow court.

Torry Hansen was living in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in April 2010 when she sent her then-7-year-old son on a plane alone back to Moscow with a note that said the boy was violent and she no longer wanted to keep him.

A Tennessee judge ruled last month that Hansen is liable for child support in a lawsuit brought by her former adoption agency.

Pavel Astakhov said Thursday he would like Hansen, who has sued him in a Moscow court, to testify at a hearing scheduled for next month.

Astakhov says the boy now lives in foster care and taking care of him costs around $2,300 a month for housing and “psychological correction.”

(This version corrects that boy lives in foster care, not an orphanage.)