Woman Returns Son to Sender
It was a big year for scandals, but few of them became an international incident. However, when Tennessee nurse Torry-Ann Hansen put the 7-year-old boy she had adopted on a plane to Moscow in April, asking for him to be taken back, the Russian authorities took a dim view. Hansen, 34, said in a typewritten note that she sent with the otherwise accompanied minor, Artyom Savelyev, that he was mentally unstable and she feared for her life and that of her family. She claimed the Vladivostok orphanage had misled her about his behavioral issues and that she wanted the adoption annulled. The scandal led some Russian politicians to call for a suspension on foreign adoptions of Russian children, but although that outcome has been averted, it's still unclear whether Hansen will be charged with any crimes.