Monday, Bedford County, Tennessee Common Pleas Court Judge Franklin Lee Russell ruled against child abandoner Torry Hansen's request that the public be barred from court in upcoming child support hearings No date has been set.
Hansen made international headlines last year when she put her adopted son Artyom Savelyev, 7 (now 9) on a plane by himself with orders to return him to the Russian Ministry of Education, the ministry that oversees adoptions from Russia. The little boy wasn't a good fit for her and her overbearing mother.
The World Association of Children and Parents ((WACAP) the agency that placed Atryom with Hansen has brought suit for child support arguing that putting the
boy on a plane to Moscow is not a "legitimate way to annul an adoption." Hansen, the agency contends, is still the legal parent,
and liable for child support payments to WACAP. Russian courts have
also reportedly requested child support from Hansen. According to Monday's news, WACAP is asking for a standard 27% of her salary as a nurse, plus back payments.
Hansen's (third) attorney, Sandra Smith, had asked the court to exclude the media from
hearings because of the Artyom's juvenile status. According to Monday's Tennessean Smith argued:
There will be discussion of the boy himself (during the trial). Quite a
bit,” Smith said, noting that issues such as psychiatric records and
other confidential information will come up in court.
Since that kind of information on juveniles is barred from public access under Tennessee privacy laws, it's highly unlikely the public would be given a full-blown report of Artyom's "condition." As a layperson I fail to understand how Atyom's mental condition should affect child support in Hansen's extra-legal adoption annulment scam.
According to the Shelbyville Daily New Journal, Russell's ruling permits media access, but will still bar confidential documents, presumably regarding Artom's psychiatric and medical records. from public access. That is, some documents will remain sealed.
Circuit Judge Lee Russell today ruled in favor of the media request
presented by attorney Robb Harvey but said some records about the boy’s
family and adoption history would remain sealed. The judge said privacy
laws related to such disputes are intended to protect the child involved
and do not govern records related to contract disputes between adults.
After attorneys agree and he reviews those records they will be
released, likely in several weeks, the judge said.
Harvey and attorneys in the suit agreed to work together on deciding which records will be released.
Torry Hansen refused to cooperate with the criminal investigation that followed Arytom's return to Moscow, and has since refused to cooperate with negotiations in the civil litigation which have dragged out for about a year and a half.. From the Tennesseean:
After the hearing, [Larry] Crain (WAPCO attorney) said he has tried three times to get Hansen
and her mother to sit down for a deposition to tell their side of the
story. Two times, he said, she skipped the appointment and the third
time she did not respond to a request to schedule a date.
Incredibly Hansen, through Smith, complains that she gotten a bad deal with the media :
Asked whether her client — who has moved to California and refused all
requests for interviews — got a fair hearing in the media, Smith said:
“No, I don’t think she did, and why will come out later.
Perhaps this note Hansen wrote to the Russian Ministry has something to do with it:
Judge Russell also ruled that Artyom and the Russian facility in which he now lives can be added as plaintiffs..
Congratulations to the organizations who fought to keep this case open to the public: The Tennessean, the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, The
Associated Press, the Tennessee Press Association, The Tennessee
Coalition for Open Government, WKRN News 2, WSMV Channel 4 and the
Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
For more information on Artyom's case, please go to the righhand sidebar on Nikto and click appropriate links.
Things just got more complicated in WACAP v Hansen, (see entry directly below.) Bedford (TN) County Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell called a postponement in the hearing scheduled for yesterday, after Torry Hansen's lawyer, Sandra Smith, filed a last minute motion to exclude the press and public from the hearing. Smith argued that proceedings and filings in juvenile court are confidential. While this is true, the current case is filed in circuit court and not under seal.
I can't find the motion online, but Shelbyville Times-Gazette reporter John Carney quoted Smith's argument:
The mere fact that the matter may be newsworthy should not override the
parties', including those of the minor child, right to confidentiality.
Of course this is laughable. Torry Hansen and her mother Nancy are concerned about Artyom Saveliev's "confidentiality" after their antics plastered his story and picture around the world, turning the boy into an international incident that nearly shutdown cross-country adoption between Russia and the US? Concerned about somebody's confidentiality for sure, but not his.
WACAP;s Nashville attorney Larry Crain said it best:
It is indeed ironic that the same parent who recklessly abandoned her child by placing him on a one-way flight to Moscow would not be concerned about protecting the same child's praviacy?
Crain said that the adoption records filed in the case should remain under seal, quite a different matter from conducing closed-door hearings in circuit court which are open to the public and media..
Yestereday's hearing has been re-scheduled for November 21 At that time, the court will take up the question of open court proceedings with media representatives being allowed to argue their case before Judge Russell. Larry Crane says if the court approves Hansen's challenge, media outlets will probably file their own challenge.
Judge Russell is also expected to rule on whether Artyom can be added as a plailntiff to the WACAP suit.
.
WACAP is requesting child support from Hansen, arguing that putting the boy on a plane to Moscow is not a "legitimtae way to annul an adoption.." Hansen, the agency contends, is still the legal parent, and liable for child support payments to WACAP. Russian courts have also reportedly requested child support from Hansen.
It's a Small World
In 1996, WACAP attorney Larry Crane represented the American Center for Law and Justice in its unsuccessful suit to overturn Tennessee's semi-open records law., Doe v Sundquist. He is a partner in Brentwood Law Offices, and serves as ACLJ's Senior Legal Council. There is no indicaiton that ACLJ is involved in this case.
I need to do some backtracking on the Artyom Savelyev/Justin Hansen case The 8-year old Russian abandoned by his adopter mother, is still in care somewhere in Moscow. Here's what happening stateside.
The lawsuit filed by World Association of Children and Parents, the adoption agency that placed Artyom with his forever mother Torry Hansen, has been scheduled to be heard in Bedford County (TN) Circuit Court court on January 3, 2012, a year and a half after it was filed. Two motions will be heard later today, though,, one to dismiss; the other to amend the petition. The case is under seal and there are no other details.
Sheriff Boyce during press conference
The WAPAC suit was filed in May 2010, a month after Artyom was COD'd back to the Russian Ministry of Education, via American Airlines, when Torry Hansen and her mother Nancy decided the boy wasn't a good fit. WACAP filed asking to be appointed temporary guardian out of frustration because no one in Tennessee, the boy's "home state," was investigating claims that the Hansens had abandoned and endangered him there. Bedford County Sheriff Randall Boyce argued that there was no evidence to indicate that the boy had been abandoned in his jurisdiction so no charges could be filed; thus dropping the criminal investigation and tossing the case back to the Russian civil courts..
While the WACP case waited to be heard, a Russian court ordered the Hansens to pay the Russian government about $2500 a month in child support. saying that Torrie Hansen, incredibly was now denying she had had intended to terminate her parental rights when she sent Artyom packing!
Earlier, in January, the English language Moscow Times (paid subscription to access archives) ) reported--picked up by the Shelbyville Times Gazette-- that Russian children's ombudsman Pavel Astakhov tweeted that Torry Hansen, under the threat of child support, was now claiming that she sent Artyom back to Russia by himself because "he asked to see his (biological) mother and she let him go. " Astakhov said that Hansen's court testimony
was "cynic slyness" that aimed to avoid making child support payments.
How the note accompanying Artyom to Moscow--and the Hansen's delivery instructions to Russian tour guide Artur Lookyanov, the real hero of this whole sordid affair--could be construed as anything other than a desire to terminate parental rights is something that only the Hansen's lawyers can explain. (The family s now on its third attorney).
It gets more headachey with the National Council for Adoption jumping in on it. .Since court documents are under seal, I'm going to let Brian Mosely, reporter for the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, who has diligently worked to untangle the Hansen mess from the beginning, take it from there (with some repetition of what I wrote above): .
Russians want support
A motion was filed last week by the World Association for Children and Parents (WACAP), the National Council for Adoption (NCFA) and adoptive parent Jennifer Terhune, requesting for more time to respond to the motion to dismiss that was filed at the end of 2010 by Henegar. (at that time the Hansen's lawyer)
Terhune is a resident of Wilson County that WACAP is asking to be appointed the guardian of the boy since she has already adopted three children from China and Korea.
Attorneys representing the adoption agencies are currently engaged in a jury trial in Chattanooga and have requested until Jan. 28 to respond to the motion and set a date for oral arguments on pending matters.
Henegar argued in her dismissal motion that Tennessee does not have jurisdiction to order child support because it is not the boy's "home state," the termination of parental rights proceeding precludes the court from exercising exclusive jurisdiction, that the court should decline jurisdiction because it is not the appropriate forum and that even if the state did have jurisdiction, it could not award child support.
Last May, WACAP filed a petition requesting that Bedford County's Circuit Court appoint the agency as a temporary guardian for the boy. The matter was moved to juvenile court in August after an agreed order was signed by both parties.
But in October, WACAP, NCFA and Terhune filed a second amended petition that asked the court to determine child support due from the Hansens.
Henegar wrote that NCFA has alleged it had been in contact with Russian authorities and intended to provide evidence "regarding the amount necessary for Justin's care and maintenance in Russia." NCFA has also alleged that the Russians had appointed it as the "liaison" with the court. Henegar claims.
"In actuality, NCFA has repeatedly engaged in ex parte communications with the Judge of the Moscow City Court to persuade the Court to postpone its proceedings to terminate Respondent's (the Hansen's) parental rights due to the fact that Respondent will not have to pay child support in Tennessee once her rights are terminated and will not be held criminally liable," Henegar wrote.
On Dec. 13, 2010, the Municipality of Intra-municipal Formation in Moscow refined their claim, asking that Hansen pay for the support of the child.
Henegar pointed out that Tennessee state law defines the "home state" as where a child lived with a parent for at least six months, claiming that the boy lived with the Hansen's in Bedford County from Oct. 7, 2009, to April 6, 2010 -- less than six months.
She also states that the Moscow court has accepted jurisdiction over the proceeding since the boy has been in that country's jurisdiction for more than six months immediately preceding the filing of the petition to revoke the adoption and to seek child support.
Artyom's case is further complicated by the confusing status of his citizenship, with both countries claiming him for themselves. As far as I know, this hasn't been clarified.
Early reports indicated a married couple described as English-speaking Russian diplomats who had reared two orphans, had been appointed his guardian and that he would not be sent to an orphanage. Several later reports indicate he is indeed in an orphanage, though government authorizes deny it.
******
I have written extensively on this case. Please go to the right sidebar and click on the link. This entry is cross-posted to my main blog, The Daily Bastardette..
Another Adoptee for Torry Hansen ABC News reported yesterday, using an unnamed source inside the Bedford County sheriff's office, that while Torry Hansen was getting ready to ship one adopted son back to Russia she was trying to adopt another child from the Republic of Georgia. And she wasn't getting any help from her agency, the World Association for Children and Parents, either:
She switched adoption agencies after the agency that arranged the adoption of her first child, World Association for Children and Parents, urged her to wait before adopting again, the source said. The association advised Hansen it would be best to settle in with the boy before adding to her family, the source said.
WACAP now has a FAQ on its page regarding Artem's case (much of which is "confidential" and cannot be released) and outlining international adoption procedures and practices it follows.
No more details on the alleged second adoption plan ..but in a related note...
...WSMV-TV Nashville reports that Artem was not Torry Hansen's first try at adoption.
An unnamed co-worker from the VA Hospital in Murfreesboro where Hansen works as a medical/surgical nurse says that a year ago Torry and Nancy Hansen spent two weeks in Russia to meet a child with mental and developmental problems Torry planned to adopt. Deciding she (or we bet "they") couldn't handle a special needs child, the two returned home empty-handed. The friend reports that six months later WACAP called Torry with a new child described as having "no serious problems." Ms and Mrs. Hansen made a quick trip to Russia and returned with Artem.
The friend told WSMV that Torry's decision to adopt from Russia was influenced by her sister's "successful" adoption from Russia of Logan, described in earlier news reports as Torry's biological son. Torry, the friend says, wanted the boys to "grow up together like brothers."
When I first heard about Logan last weekend I was concerned about his reaction to the sudden disappearance of Artem and the firestorm that followed. Adoptees are all too familiar with the Forever Family threat, "I'll send you back to where you came from." In this case, it happened. As a Russian adoptee himself, does Logan now fear he'll be sent back, too?
Speaking of the boys, you may remember that Artem told authorities that he had not attended school while living with Torry Hansen; suggesting a pattern of social isolation that is common amongst abused and murdered Russian adoptees (though hardly limited to that abused group). ABC reports that neither Artem nor Logan attended public school and that they are not registered in a home school program as required under Tennessee law. This report contradicts a claim by Nancy Hansen published the Toronto Star that Artem was working with an English-language home school program to prepare him for enrollment in a "traditional school "in the fall. If so, what was Logan doing?
A Helping Hand for the Hansens? Despite Nancy Hansen's claim that the decision to deport Artem to whence he came was a last-minute decision, Karina Krasnova, the lawyer that Hansen claims advised her, says she was contacted by Hansen a month ago. You can read their correspondence,--which really consists of a free "ask a Russian lawyer entry--in yesterday's "lawyer identified" entry.
Krasnova actually gave Hansen succinct, but excellent advice, and...a-hem...warned her that Torry could be held financially responsible for Artem until he is 18 if he weren't re-adopted. Obviously a one-way ticket to Moscow is cheaper.
In an interview with RIA Novisti, Krasnova says that she offered to represent the Hansens in the Russian courts if they decided to disrupt. (I found this information last night off the Russian language news.ru.com and today can't locate the links to either article. I printed out the article, "American grandmother Artem Saveliev: for the daughter adoption was a tragedy . She became an outcast."
Krasnova appears briefly in the ABC video at the bottom of this blog (taken from the above ABC link). Speaking of Nancy Hansen, she says through a translator:
When this woman encountered a massive problem nobody lent her a helping hand. I think this was an act of desperation by the family.
Kransova says "nobody lent a helping hand." The New York Times reports that there is no evidence that the Hansens ever asked for that helping hand or that anyone was aware they needed one. United Way of Bedford County, the Tennessee Department of Children Services and an unnamed Shelbyville social service agency say the Hansens did not contact them for help.
The Toronto Star (above link) reports that Hansen (which one?) reportedly consulted a psychologist but never took Artem for an evaluation or session. Moreover, there is no evidence that the Hansens contacted the International Adoption Clinic at Vanderbilt University, only an hour away in Nashville. (Torry Hansen took her undergrad degree at Vandy).
WACAP says it had no report of problems, and actually received a happy family picture from the Hansens a couple weeks before Artem was dumped. They only learned about his return when the Russian Ministry of Education called them on April 8.
Adoption Assistance, Inc. in Smyrna, Tennessee (Lisa Mosley, casework supervisor), which did the home study and post-placement checks (WACAP's endorsement here) has released a statement saying the Hansens never discussed serious problems with Artem. I cannot find a copy of the statement online, but the NYT says:
And the agency that conducted home visits before and after Justin’s adoption, Adoption Assistance, in Smyrna, Tenn., released a statement Monday saying the Hansens had not told its social worker about the severity of their concerns. In January, the statement said, a social worker found that “the child appeared to be adjusting to his new home and family and his mother was enthusiastic about his accomplishments.”
Nancy Hansen has said the boy became a problem later. Adoption Assistance said, “If this mother would have contacted us when the adjustment problems began, we would have worked with her on the issues or arranged alternative placement.”
Which, of course, is right in line with Krasnova's unhappy legal warning.
Hansen Compound Commenters on various forums have remarked on the oddity of Torry Hansen, as a new adoptive mother and her own mother Nancy living together. Actually they don't. It just seems like they do. As you can see from the picture (right) they live side-by-side, their modular homes connected by a high wide fence. There is no doubt, though, that Torry Hansen is henpecked and Nancy does all her talking. Torry (and probably the rest of the family) are inseparable and indistinct from Nancy.
ABC's Ashleigh Banfield, reporting across the street from the Hansen homes tosses this little grenade into the news hole and then walks away from it with no explanation or seeming curiosity. Explaining that the Hansens are avoiding the long arm of the media, Banfield stretches her own long arm out to what she calls the Hansen "compound":
They are in a very extensive compound behind me. Acres and acres of land, several buildings that the [Hansen] family members all live and work in.
Look over here real quickly. A very expansive system of fencing that goes for hundreds of yards and is 6 feet tall.
Neighbors say that's really unusual for this these parts, and the neighbors said they really don't know these people well. But we did find a friends who said they would never ever hurt Artum like this...
Say what? Fenced-in compound?
I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon and evening trying to figure out what's going on--if anything-- behind the fence at 8973 Couchville Pike, admittedly difficult to do from behind a computer in Columbus, Ohio.
ABC and earlier the New York Times reported on the Hansen family's apparent isolation, a marker in a good number of abuse cases. Neighbors said that outside of bi-weekly yard sales, the Hansens had little interaction with them. One neighbor who lives "within eyesight of the Hansen's" believed the family came from California and had moved in about a year ago. She reported that during a rare neighborly discussion, an unnamed Hansen woman said she didn't like the area and was thinking of "going back." This same woman said she didn't remember ever seeing Artem. Other neighbors said they have no idea where the family went to church, which struck me very odd since church is central to most folks in that area. The area, known locally as El Bethel (or the El Bethel Community) was founded in 1837 when Primitive Baptists built a church there. The current El Bethel Baptist Church, which includes a rec center and social hall, is a couple minutes walk from Hansen's homes. So far, no connection has been made between the church and the family. From the look of things, there is none.
It's important to note that no neighbors, quoted in the NYT, at least any that made the cut, mentioned a mysterious "compound" where various Hansen family members live and work--a point you'd think would be taken. From the ABC video and and Google Maps satellite view, the area doesn't look like a farm where people might live together. It's more like a group of ugly modular buildings. It's all very curious.
The Hansens have spent a good part of their lives in out-of-the-way places like Mount Juliet, Tennessee (their actual location, not Shelbyville.) Places like Hayfork, Calilfornia (pop 2,315) Bandera, Texas ( pop. 957), Unionville, Tennessee (pop 6,532): close enough to larger cities to get things done, but far enough out of the way to be left alone. The largest cities I've found them related to are Madison, Alabama and Redding, California.
Neither Torry, Nancy, nor any of their known close family members: Erik Robert Hansen, Tammy Jo Hansen, Tracy L. Hansen and possibly Evelyn Ruth Hansen, Paul Hansen, and Anna Hansen appear in any local or nearby newspapers.
Bedford County, Tennessee public records (clerk of courts, auditor, treasurer, probate, etc.) are not available online nor are they available for Trinity County, California or Banderas County, Texas. Madison County and Shasta County, California records, however, are online. There are no listings for any of them in Madison County. I found entries for Erik Robert Hansen and the names Tracy Hansen and Nancy Hansen (not verified as "our" Hansens) in the Shasta County, California Superior Court database, but the court's "new and improved" system won't let me in to them. Perhaps somebody else will have better luck. I don't see online access for other public records in the county.
Except for recent news coverage, the Hansens are virtually absent from the Internet.
There is enough blame to spread around, but it should start with Adoption Assistance. The Hansen's unusual living arrangement and dysfunctional family relationships should have been noted during the home study. Certainly Nancy Hansen's overarching influence on Torry and presumably the rest of the family and what seems to be her role as primary caregiver for Atem should have been a red flag either then or during post-placement investigations. I've known people subjected to all kinds of absurd home study checks--the most absurd reported when a social worker stuck a thermometer inside a refrigerator to assure acceptable food temperature. At the opposite end, there's the phone-in (if that) home study of pedophile Mathhew Mancuso who adopted Masha "Allen" to be his sex slave. Home studies are the gateway, and it looks like in this case, the lock was pretty rusty.
The idea of a fenced-in compound where the family lives and works smacks of fundamentalism or survivialism or both. Especially so when linked to the Hansen's lack of community interaction, Artem and Logan's lack of formal schooling, the family's apparent refusal to seek help from local social service agencies, and their rejection of legal advice and services. So far, we've only got Ashleigh Banfield's word about the "compound." Local media should follow up on her report. It can't be that difficult to dig around on-site. If I were down there, I'd be out on Couchville Pike.
Sidenote: Imagine my surprise when during the video below, some pictures from my memorial page showed up. (2:53). I know at least some of them are mine because they are not available online and I got them from private sources, and edited them myself. That's, OK. I just wasn't expecting it.
In yesterday's entry on the World Association for Children and Parents involvement in the ArtemSaveliev case, posted directly below this, I wrote that WACAP is a member of the adoption trade association the National Council for Adoption. NCFA's membership list, I noted, was not online when I checked right before posting. Actually, I was pretty sure I'd seen the roster a couple days earlier when NCFA's new webpage was launched. It turns out I was right. The membership roster was online. THEN. And it is online. NOW. But not yesterday afternoon, when it appears that a NCFAnoid was busy scrubbing the site clean of WACAP membership.
Super sleuth and longtime NCFA watcher JoAnne Swanson took screen shots of the NCFA Washington State roster before and after the cleansing. (Click on the images below to make them larger). And if you don't believe me, go to today's NCFA membership site.
BEFORE
AFTER
This doesn't mean that WACAP (so far) is gone from NCFA, but that NCFA has sent if off the island to distance itself from their member. WACAP membership, as of this writing, is still posted on the JCICS site.
While we're at it, we were greatly amused by NCFA's press release on the ArtemSaveliev/Artem Justin Hansen case; re: its statement on child abandonment (still not online):
"Child abandonment of any kind is reprehensible," says Chuck Johnson, acting CEO of the National Council For Adoption. "The actions of this mother are especially troubling because an already vulnerable, innocent child has been further victimized."
Oops! The country's baby dumping "safe haven" laws, which let parents "legally abandon" newborns with no questions asked, were godfathered by NCFA's founding president the late Bill Pierce while still at NCFA. I guess it's different when its your own. Thanks for the great quote, Chuck! We'll be using it.
Thanks to JoAnne Swanson for permission to post screenshots.
The adoption agency that placed Artem Saveliev/Artem Justin Hansen with his Forever Mother Torry Ann Hansen has been identified: WACAP--World Association for Children and Parents working out of Renton, Washington.
And...
Novisti reports that the Russian government has suspended the agency's operations
"We have suspended the permission of the nonprofit corporation World Association for Children and Parents to operate in Russia," Alina Levitskaya told journalists.
The agency assisted in a U.S. couple's adoption of a Russian boy, Artyom Savelyev, who arrived in Russia by plane on Thursday with a note in which his adoptive parents said they were sending him back due severe psychological problems...
A spokeswoman for World Association for Children and Parents in Russia said the adoption agency had no report of the incident. She said the agency would provide all the necessary information on the child's adoption at the request of the Russian authorities.
WACAP is proud to be one of the largest and most experienced international nonprofit adoption agencies in the United States. In 1976, WACAP placed its first child for international adoption from Korea. In the 1980s, we expanded our adoption programs to include Thailand and India. WACAP was the first U.S. agency to pioneer adoptions from China and Far East Russia in the early 1990s. In recent years, we have added programs in Ethiopia and Kazakhstan.
In 1993, WACAP was the first agency authorized to place children from the Russian Far East with adoptive parents. We have placed over 850 children from Russia since then. We are registered as an international non-governmental organization (NGO) through the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, as required by Russian law, and are accredited by the Russian Ministry of Education to place children from across the Russian Federation.With offices in Moscow and Vladivostok, and 11 employees in Russia, WACAP staff assist families every step of the way through the adoption process. Currently WACAP is placing children from four regions in Russia: the Republic of Tatarstan, Novosibirsk, Primorsky Krai and Sakhalin Island.
Using the Wayback Machine I located old WAPAC webpages. The latest archived page is dated August 22, 2008, a year before Artem was adopted. Under "Waiting Children" we find discounts and deals (via subsidies from unnamed sources) to move various categories of children. If these deals were still on a year later, Artem would have fit into the first discount group: "a boy 5 years or older." We don't know when Torry Hansen started her adoption process with WAPAC, but there's a probability she may have gotten Artem for next to nothing.
WACAP's Let's Make a Deal: Russia and Kazakhstan Thousands of older children, sibling groups, and children with special needs in Russia and Kazakhstan are waiting for adoption—children who need loving families. Due to confidentiality laws in these countries, information about specific waiting children can only be shared with families who have completed all application materials and been approved to adopt; the process works much like an infant adoption.
Promise Children and Subsidies To encourage the adoption of waiting children in Russia and Kazakhstan, WACAP has funds available to cover the entire adoption fee for a family who adopts:
A boy 5 years or older, or
A girl 10 years or older, or
A sibling group of two or more boys 3 years and older, or
Two siblings (one boy and one girl) both 5 years and older, or
Three or more siblings with at least one 7 years of age or older, or
A child who is blind and/or deaf, or
A child with Down syndrome, dwarfism, arthrogyrposis, spina bifida or significant cerebral palsy.
To help find families for children with other types of medical conditions who are waiting in Russia and Kazakhstan, WACAP has reduced the adoption fee to $5,000 for a family who adopts:
A boy 3–4 years of age at time of referral (with special needs), or
A girl 7–9 years of age at time of referral (with special needs), or
Sibling groups of two that include a boy 3–4 or a girl 7–9 (a $3,700 sibling fee applies to siblings below these ages)
A child with missing or shortened limbs, clubfeet, reproductive/urologic condition, significant craniofacial condition, or significant congenital heart disease requiring surgery.
If you're interested in adopting from Kazakhstan, you must be open to children who are Asian, Eurasian or Caucasian. While Russia and Kazakhstan do not identify waiting children until they are matched with an approved family, families usually have information about a child by the time they travel to meet him or her.
Families must submit an Adoption Subsidy Request and a Russia or Kazakhstan Promise Child Agreement, if applicable. Families are considered for the Waiting Child Subsidy only when funds are available. WACAP reserves the sole right to determine which children are eligible for fee subsidies.
With a subsidy of $20,000 and a no-interest loan of $4,500, WACAP offers the most affordable adoptions from Eastern Europe of any agency. For more information about adopting a waiting child or Promise Child from Russia or Kazakhstan, please e-mail Family Finders or call 206-575-4550.
Novisti (and other media) also report today that Russia is set to freeze the US out of adoption:
The Russian foreign minister said on Friday that Russia could freeze child adoptions by U.S. citizens until the countries sign an intergovernmental agreement on adoptions.
Sergei Lavrov (left) told Russia 24 news channel that the agreement should include the conditions under which the Russian authorities can allow adoptions and the obligations of the adoptive parents.
"We have been suggesting [signing an agreement] but they evade this. But I think the latest case is the last straw and we will demand the agreement be signed," Lavrov said.
WAPAC hasn't published a statement yet on it's webpage regarding Artem's case.
WACAP is a member of the National Council for Adoption (membership list currently not online) and JCICS. NCFA issued a press release late this afternoon, but...oops...forgot to mention that WACAP belongs to them. It's not on online yet.
News has been coming in so fast today, I've not had time to finish what I started this morning. I appeared in a 4:00 PM segment of Russian Television. I'm afraid I got tongue-tied. I'm a better writer than a TV pundit.
