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Adoptive parents speak up over mother who sent back Russian boy
They blame adoption agencies rather than her, saying parents are often misled and left to deal with extreme problems without training or options.
By Bonnie Miller Rubin
April 14, 2010 | 2:34 p.m.
Reporting from Chicago
To many, the act seemed callous, even abusive: A Tennessee woman sent her 7-year-old adoptive son home to Russia alone last week, with a note that she no longer wanted him.
Although the episode has been roundly condemned and authorities are investigating whether any laws were broken, adoptive parents of troubled children are speaking out. Rather than condemn Torry Hansen, 33, they castigate adoption agencies that do not always accurately describe a child’s troubled past, leaving families to manage extreme problems without training or options.
“There are days when we’ve all felt like that Tennessee mom,” said Linda McBride of Chicago, who adopted three boys — now 19, 14 and 13 — from Russia in 2002.
Thousands of overseas adoptees flourish in the U.S., but others face numerous health risks, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, attachment disorders, mental health issues and other disabilities that will last a lifetime.
“I never understood the importance of those early years,” McBride said. “I was just excited about being a mom.”
No one condones Hansen’s action, but many can sympathize. Hansen, a registered nurse, brought her son home eight months ago from an orphanage near Vladivostok. When she sent him back, she said the boy was violent and threatened to burn down her home with her inside. The boy’s birth mother reportedly was an alcoholic.
Linda Baker of suburban St. Louis can understand — at least a little.
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