U.S. Mom Appeals Child Support for Boy Sent Back to Russia

A U.S. woman who sent her adopted son back to Russia has appealed against a court order to pay child support for him, saying she could not afford to pay $1,000 a month, WBIR television reported on Friday.

Torry Hansen filed the appeal on Tuesday after a judge in the state of Tennessee ordered her to pay $150,000 in child support in May.

Hansen was living in Tennessee in April 2010 when she put Artyom Savelyev, then aged seven, unaccompanied on a flight to his native Russia, with a note saying she did not want him as he was "psychotic." She had adopted the boy from a Russian orphanage in 2009.

He currently lives in a group home in Moscow.

WBIR cited court records, in which Hansen claimed she is unemployed and asked the court to suspend the child support payment order while her appeal is being considered.

Savelyev's case sparked an outcry in Russia and together with previous incidents prompted the government to stiffen regulations for adoption of Russian children by foreign parents.