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Russian boy's former adoptive mother in US appeals against court ruling

She must pay 1,000 dollars a month for the child until he is 18
Photo ITAR-TASS/Press service of the Russian President's Ombudsman for Children's Rights
Photo ITAR-TASS/Press service of the Russian President's Ombudsman for Children's Rights

NEW YORK, August 17 (Itar-Tass) — Russian boy Artyom Savelyev's former adoptive mother - American Torry Hansen - has appealed against the court ruling that she must pay 1,000 dollars a month for the child until he is 18, American media reported on Thursday.

Hansen at present lives in the city of Redding, California. She says she is unemployed and has no enough money to pay the alimony. Hansen asks the court to allow her not to pay until the appeal is considered.

In July, the Bedford district court, Tennessee, upheld the earlier ruling obliging Hansen to pay the alimony.

Hansen adopted Artyom Savelyev from an orphanage in the Primorsky Territory. In April 2010, the boy arrived alone in Moscow by plane from Washington, after he remained in the American family for six months. The child had only a knapsack with his wear, the Russian passport with an American visa and a letter addressed to the Russian Education Ministry, informing that the adoption was cancelled.

In the letter, Hansen said that she refused to be Artyom's adoptive mother any longer since the boy was mentally unstable, cruel and had serious psychopathic problems in his behavior. According to her, those who worked at the Russian orphanage lied to her about the child's mental stability.

The suit against the adoptive family was brought jointly by the National Council for Adoption and the World Association for Children and Parents, the American agency that had assisted Hansen to adopt a child.

The American authorities did not bring criminal charges against Hansen since they did not find crime in her actions.

At present, nine-year-old Artyom lives in the Children’s Village in Tomilino, near Moscow.