There's a very good reason the adoptive mother did not escort the boy back to Russia herself......She knew good and well she was breaking Russian law, specifically everything she agreed to and signed during the adoption proceedings. While in court, you agree that this child will be yours as much as if you had given birth to it and that you are fully aware the child may have problems. You don't "give them back" any more than you do if you adopt a US born child. No wonder Russia is having a fit. She put him on a plane like a piece of carry on baggage, with a note on him saying she didn't wish to parent him any longer. It just doesn't look good.... I've made the trip to Russia twice and it is a tough flight. Very long. I cannot imagine putting a 7 y.o. on a plane to Russia alone.
As for jurisdiction and citizenship.....He's a US citizen abandoned by his US mother. It matters not if he had a US birth certificate. He doesn't need one. My child doesn't have one. You don't need it to get a SS card, a passport or to be a citizen. The two are not related, as one law enforcement officer (I believe) seemed to think. What he has is a Russian issued birth certificate, listing the adoptive mom as his mother. Because that is what she is.
I have a great deal of trouble mustering up sympathy for this woman, even if the kid DID have RAD. There is no way she was unaware that her actions would endanger thousands of current and future Russian adoptions. No way. Maybe she did try and get extensive help for the child, but even her own family says otherwise. So to solve her problem, she willingly screwed over thousands of other children and sacrificed their chance at a decent future. Sorry, I can't forgive that. You can call it desperation, but I see it as callous selfishness. I don't care if he was Damian II, you do not stick a kid on a plane and send him back to Russia like a
Walmart return.
As for the person who asked what I had against the boy being homeschooled....nothing, actually. I was trying to point out that he was experiencing multiple shocks to his system. He had been in a group setting in the orphanage, surrounded by large numbers of children. Everything is done in groups. You are one of many. To suddenly go from that being your norm to being a homeschooled only child would have been a tremendous adjustment for this child. Not only are the adults speaking a language he cannot read, write or understand....He cannot even watch other children to observe what normal behavior is in this new setting. He has no reference point. Try to imagine how terrifying that could be for a 7 y.o.
Throw him a bone.....get him a tutor who speaks Russian, take him to socialize with other recent adoptees who speak Russian, learn Russian yourself.
A lot of people go into IA with unrealistic expectations and believe that within a few months the child will be all hugs and kisses with their new mom and dad. This happens a lot with babies, but the older a kid is, the longer it may take. And if a child has been hurt already (in this case by being raised by a bio mom and them having her rights terminated) they are wary of becoming attached to a new mom or dad. History has taught them that they cannot depend on parents. Parents are not "forever." In this case, the boy has just had that belief reinforced by the adoptive mother.
Even if every negative thing they say about the child is true, it's difficult to say whether he had RAD or was simply a child pushing and testing as much as he could in order to see if the mom would love him "no matter what." Many older kids will do this. They will be bad, for lack of a better word, to prove that you really don't love them. After all, when has anyone loved them before? You have to prove to them that you do.....no matter what. It doesn't seem as if this mom gave it long enough to determine whether the child was a "tester" or was really a case of RAD. And without extensive psychological help, she would have been clueless regarding the nature of his problem after only a few short months.
It seems she was quite efficient at solving her problem, but not so industrious when it came to finding ways to solve his.
Hopefully, the poor kid flew into Domodedovo. Even if he made his way to the correct area, who is to say WHAT kind of person was waiting for him? For crying out loud, this kid could have wound up in child porn or worse! Did she even think about that????? 
