Will Hansen be Charged with Abandonment?

It's questionable and oddly seems to hinge on a technicality.

Randall Boyce, Sheriff of Tennessee's Bedford County said it was not clear whether any laws had been broken.

"This is extremely unusual," Boyce said. "I don't think anyone has seen something like this before."

Bob Tuke, a Nashville attorney and member of American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, said abandonment charges against the family could depend on whether the boy was a U.S. citizen, and it isn't clear if the adoption had been finalized. A Tennessee health department spokeswoman said there was no birth certificate issued for the boy, a step that would indicate he had become a U.S. citizen.There was no response to a knock at Torry Hansen's door, and a phone listing couldn't be found for her. Her mother also declined to put AP in touch with her, and the family has since retained an attorney.

Distorted Priorities

"That incidents like the one today can cause children to remain in orphanages rather than be adopted by loving families is the real tragedy," said Sue Gainor, who adopted a child from Russia in 2001 and is the national chairperson of Families for Russian and Ukranian Adoption.

Really? That's the real tragedy? Kids are far better off in an orphanage within their own culture than beaten to death or subjected to another abandonment like this - whether it is "legally" and technically an abandonment or not.

UPDATE: Russia has suspended the license of WACAP, the placing agency, a spokesperson says the State Department