An International Incident

Found Poem #6/An International Incident

A 7-year-old Russian boy
adopted by an American family last year
was put on a return flight to
Moscow this week.

Nancy Hansen, the Tennessee woman
who put Justin Hansen on the plane in Washington,
said she was concerned about her family's safety.

When her daughter, Tory Hansen,
adopted the boy from a Russian orphanage last year,
she asked the doctor there
if he had any physical or mental problems,
Nancy Hansen said.

The doctor answered "'He's healthy,”
and turned and left,
she said.

Hansen said the child had a "hit list"
of people he was targeting, including her daughter.
He threatened to kill her grandson
for a videogame,
she said.

When she caught him starting a fire with papers
in his bedroom last Monday,
she feared the child might burn down the house
and kill her family,
she said.

She then consulted a lawyer.
booked a flight,
paid the fee for a steward to escort Justin through the airport,
hired a driver in Moscow she found online
to pick the child up from the Moscow airport, and
prepared a letter for Justin to present to Russian officials.

Justin had never been happier
than when he boarded the plane for Moscow,
she said.

But Russian child protection officials
were not happy when the child
arrived unannounced at their ministry Wednesday.

Still Hansen said she believed the matter was settled
and the boy was safe,
until she also got a call from the U.S. Embassy.

They told her she had set off
an "international incident."


Source: CNN News, April 11, 2010.