Teen Russian Adoptee Joshua Alexander Salotti/Alexander Abnosov Returns Himself to Russia UPDATED
“A teenager adopted by an American couple has returned to Russia, claiming that his adoptive family treated him badly and that he lived on the streets of Philadelphia and stole just to survive, Russian state media reported.
The allegations by Alexander Abnosov, who was adopted around five years ago and is now 18, will likely fuel outrage here over the fate of Russian children adopted by Americans. It’s an anger that the Kremlin has carefully stoked in recent months to justify its controversial ban on U.S. adoptions.
Russia’s Channel 1 and Rossiya television — which are both state controlled — reported Tuesday that Abnosov returned from a Philadelphia suburb to the Volga river city of Cheboksary, where his 72-year-old grandmother lives.
Russian media identified the teen as Alexander Abnosov, but also show him displaying a U.S. passport that gives his name as Joshua Alexander Salotti.
Abnosov, who spoke in a soft voice and appeared somewhat restrained, complained to Rossiya that his adoptive mother was “nagging at small things.”
“She would make any small problem big,” he said on Channel 1. He also told Channel 1 that he fled home because of the conflicts with his adoptive mother, staying on the streets for about three months and stealing.
“I was stealing stuff and sold them to get some food,” he said with a shy smile.
According to the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, Abnosov says that his parents visited him while he stayed in a shelter in Philadelphia, but that they didn’t ask him to come home as he’d expected. Channel 1 said his adoptive father gave him $500 to buy a ticket to Russia, though it wasn’t clear when he arrived here.
The newspaper said it reached Abnosov’s adoptive mother, who denied driving him away. She was quoted as saying he was asked to come home, but said he wanted to return to Russia where he has relatives to care for.
The teen’s adoptive parents — identified in the media reports as Steve and Jackie Salotti — could not immediately be reached Tuesday.
A woman who identified herself as a relative at the couple’s home in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, said the parents weren’t there and did not want to discuss the case.
The teen attended the Methacton School District in Pennsylvania from April 2004 through the fall of 2012, when he withdrew from Methacton High School, spokeswoman Angela Linch said Tuesday.
Abnosov’s story was top news on Russian state television, which tried to cast it as an example of the alleged misfortunes that befall Russian children adopted by U.S. parents.
The Russian government in December banned all American adoptions of Russian children in retaliation for a new U.S. law targeting alleged Russian human-rights violators.
Some 60,000 children have been adopted by Americans in the past two decades, and many Russians disagree with the ban, seeing it as a politically driven move depriving children of a chance to have a family.
To help justify it, the ban has been accompanied by extensive state media coverage of what is described as numerous cases of parental cruelty to adopted Russian children in the United States. The Kremlin also has accused U.S. authorities of turning a blind eye to such cases.
Most recently, Russian officials pointed to the Jan. 21 death of 3-year-old Max Shatto, born Maxim Kuzmin, whose mother found him unresponsive outside their home in Gardendale, Texas.
Russian officials claimed the boy was the victim of “inhuman treatment,” and expressed disbelief with an American grand jury decided earlier this month not to charge Max’s adoptive parents in his death after a prosecutor concluded his fatal injuries were accidental.
Abnosov’s grandmother told Rossiya that she was refused custody of her grandson after his alcoholic father died five years ago.
“I’ve been asking them to give me the boy,” she said, referring to child welfare officials. “But I was very ill then, and they told me I was too old and ill to raise him.”
Abnosov indicated he plans to stay in Russia, and state media reported that he is going through the legal process needed to establish at what level he would fit in the Russian education system.”
Reports: Teen adopted by Americans returns to Russia claiming parental cruelty
[Washington Post 3/26/13 by Associated Press]
“Channel One said Abnosov had not wanted to be adopted and said “he wants to forget the five years he spent in America as soon as possible”.
Rossiya television added that the teenager “now plans to start a new life, to get a job, finish studying and in spring pass the medical commission to serve in the army.”
National service is compulsory in Russia for men aged over 18.
Abnosov told Rossiya television he argued with his adoptive family after they refused to take in a friend who had been thrown out of his home.
“They threw me out. Probably they had stopped receiving benefits for me. To save money, they thought up how to do it,” said Abnosov, his long dark hair falling over his eyes, speaking in his grandmother’s neat living room.
“I mainly had bad relations with my mother. She kept criticising me for small things,” he said.
His US passport shown on television showed that he turned 18 last June.”
Russian teen ‘flees US adopters back to grandmother’
[Global Post 3/26/13 by Agence France Presse]
The adoptive mother may have worked as director for a Christian Nazarene preschool Fairview Christian Academy.
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: “The brother of the adopted Russian teen who yesterday accused his American family of treating him badly and letting him live on the streets said today that it was his brother’s choice to live there.
Samuel Salotti – who was also adopted from Russia by Stephen and Jacqueline Salotti – said though he was not shocked at the allegations his brother Josh made from his biological grandmother’s home in Russia, he had quite a different version of events.
He told the Philadelphia Enquirer that yes, his brother did live in a drainage pipe on the streets for several months, but that he went there of his own accord after his adoptive parents would not allow his friend Ben – who had been kicked out of his home – to stay.
Neighbors confirmed this to the Enquirer:
‘He and another boy [were] living under the sewer,’ said Joe Caine, 69, who said he has lived across from the Salotti’s for nearly 33 years.
He also said they boys were stealing in the area and it was the first time people had to lock their cars.
In the interview from his Moscow home, where he fled late last year amid reports his adoptive family kicked him out after only five years, Josh Salotti confirmed he stole in order to survive.
Sam Salotti said his parents set strict rules but his brother refused to comply with them.
‘It got to the point, my mom said, “Get out of the house”,’ said Sam Salotti, who spoke at the home of neighbors Barbara and Jack Ayling, where he said he has been staying for a few nights, according to the Enquirer.
The allegations by Josh – who now goes by the name Alexander Abnosov [because that IS his name]- appeared in Russian media yesterday.”
“Answering the phone at their Collegeville home, Mr Salotti told MailOnline that the couple were preparing to issue a statement: ‘We are currently seeking guidance and counseling on this difficult matter before we talk to anyone or issue a statement as it has turned into a rather complicated matter.’
He confirmed that Samuel Salotti was also adopted from Russia but was not biologically related to Josh.
Sam still lives with the couple at their home and Mr Salotti said they have had no problems with him bar the usual ‘teenager’ problems.”
“Sam said he spoke yesterday to a Russian TV editor, who invited him to appear on his show with his brother and offered to reunite him with his own birth relatives.
‘I don’t care. I’ll do any stupid show’ to be able to see his mother and birth relatives again, he said.”
“Abnosov’s grandmother told Rossiya that she was refused custody of her grandson after his alcoholic father died five years ago.
‘I’ve been asking them to give me the boy,’ she said, referring to child welfare officials. ‘But I was very ill then, and they told me I was too old and ill to raise him.’
Abnosov indicated he plans to stay in Russia, and state media reported that he is going through the legal process needed to establish at what level he would fit in the Russian education system.”
[Daily Mail 3/27/13 by Rachel Quigley]
Update 2: “The American parents of an adopted Russian teenager, who returned to his country of birth after claiming his adoptive parents mistreated him, say his behavior changed last year when he visited relatives in Russia and was introduced to drugs and alcohol, things that were forbidden in his Christian American home, according to a local television news report in Philadelphia, near where the adoptive family lives.
Joshua Alexander Salotti, 18 , who was born Alexander Abnosov, made a number of critical statements to Russian media about his American family, comments that were “very hurtful,” his adopted father, Steve Salotti, told WPVI-TV in an emotional interview.
“With the press pounding on the door and Russia putting these programs on the television, I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” the father added.
Joshua, who was adopted by the Salotti family when he was 13-years-old, along with another Russian boy, told Russian media his American parents forced him to get a job when he was 15 and kept most of his pay.
He also told news reporters in Russia his American mother nagged him repeatedly, struck him once, and that his adopted parents kicked him out of the house last year, forcing him to live on the streets with a friend.
“We slept in trailers, in cars, in drainpipes, wherever we could,” he told Russia’s state-run Rossiya-24 television. “We slept wherever it was warm.”
Steve Salotti and his wife Jackie have a very different version of events, describing an idyllic home life that included fishing trips, Christmas gifts and family pets. They told WPVI they noticed troubling behavior after Josh returned from Russia, so they implemented new rules in their Collegeville, Pennsylvania home.
There was to be “no drugs or alcohol, there was no disrespectful talk to us or teachers,” said Steve Salotti, and his wife said Josh was “subject to drug testing.”
Joshua and his brother were also given a curfew and told to attend counseling, the parents said.
Joshua’s complaints have resonated with Russian officials, as it comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over international adoptions.
In January, Moscow banned Americans from adopting Russian children as part of legislation passed shortly after Washington adopted the so-called Magnitsky Act, which introduced sanctions against Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Magnitsky Act had triggered the adoption ban, but Russian officials also cite the deaths of at least 20 Russian adoptees in the United States during the past two decades as a driving factor in Moscow’s push for the ban.
Charles Mandracchia, an attorney for Steve and Jackie Salotti, told WPVI they have been “made out as villains,” and added, “Why the Russian government or the American government would allow this to happen is beyond me.”
The public controversy, Steve Salotti said, “doesn’t change the fact that we’re concerned about our son and what’s happening to him in this.””
Abuse Claims of Adopted Russian Teen ‘Very Hurtful’ – US Parents
[RIA Novosti 4/1/13]
Update 3: Hat tip to a commenter who pointed out that Alexander was arrested for shoplifting in Russia. We found Russian articles about this.
Fled from the U.S. to Russia Chuvash orphan caught stealing coffee [RIA Novosti 4/2/13], Google-translated says “Tenth March to prior agreement Salotti Joshua Alexander and his friend tried to steal three cans of coffee from the store and were detained by store security. The case has not yet appointed. Case went to court only on March 29*, a decision on it has not been made,” – According to the court.”
* another Russian article said that the charges were only received on March 29 and that the trial would occur soon which is why a decision has yet to be made.
18-year-old Joshua Alexander and Alexander Abnosov Salotti, who left foster care in the United States, in Cheboksary to face trial on charges of shoplifting. According to investigators, March 10, the young man with a friend tried to steal three cans of coffee, but their actions were stopped by guards [Aggregator Pro 4/2/13] says the Kalinin district court is where the trial will be.
Chuvash police blames shoplifting 18 years orphan Abnosova Alexander (Joshua Alexander Salotti), left the United States to Russia, from foster parents to his grandmother. [Argumenti 4/2/13], Google-translated says “In early March, Joshua Alexander Salotti and his friend tried to pull off three cans of coffee from the store and were detained by security guards.
Media reported that Alexander had gone to Russia to adopt him from five years ago, American adoptive parents – Steve and Jackie Salotti – and flew to Russia. Prior to leaving the boy lived in Cheboksary orphanage. He claims that he was taken to the U.S. against his will, because he did not want to be separated from my grandmother, who lives in Cheboksary, the young man now lives with her and goes to night school ninth grade”
Update 4: Another US article mentions Alexander and explains who he asked his adoptive parents to give shelter to…another Russian adoptee who also was homeless! It also had to include a happy-yappy story complete with picture of a tea party to show that not all Russian adoptees have issues.
“A teenager says his parents treated him badly, hassling him about little things until they finally kicked him out of the house, forcing him to sleep in a culvert.
His parents describe a willful young man who ignored house rules, disrespected teachers and others, and chose to leave.
It’s a scenario that plays out in communities across the United States.
In this instance, the troubles between a Collegeville couple – Jackie and Steve Salotti – and their son became an international incident when Russia framed it as an example of Americans mistreating adoptive Russian children.
The story flared recently. The Salottis’ adopted son Josh, who had returned to Russia, lambasted his parents on TV there.
About four months earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had barred Americans from adopting Russian children. The December ban was seen as retaliation for a U.S. law targeting Russian human-rights violators. Scandals in the United States haven’t helped.
Russia says about 20 children have died from abuse or neglect by their American families.
A Moscow Times story quoted a Foreign Ministry official who said the Salotti case “confirms the necessity of ensuring effective control over the observance of the rights and legal interests of Russian children adopted by citizens of the United States.”
The story of the Salottis and their adopted son is a tangled tale that stretches from Moscow to Montgomery County, beginning about five years ago.
Josh was 13 when the Salottis adopted him and an unrelated Russian boy, Sam, then 14. The family met the two, who were living in an orphanage, through a program that brought Russian children to the United States to visit prospective families. [aka a Hosting Program. Which one? I guess not all “aging out” teens want to be adopted to the US. Gasp!]
Sam went to the orphanage early in life. His mother died when he was young and his father was never around, said Charles D. Mandracchia, the Salottis’ attorney.
Josh was 5 when his mother was fatally shot, Mandracchia said. For a time, the boy lived with his alcoholic father and his grandmother. But the grandmother couldn’t handle the father’s abuse of Josh, and sent the child to the orphanage, where he became friends with Sam.
The Salottis knew that much about the pair, but they didn’t know much more, only what Russian files told them – and not all of it was true.
One boy had “life-threatening health issues” that the file listed as treated, Jackie Salotti said. They were not. Another condition needing surgery was diagnosed for the same boy. He didn’t get the surgery until he got to the Salottis’. The other child was generally healthy.
The children had good times, she said, including camping and fishing with their father. But they never really embraced their new home and the Salottis’ rules, including a curfew and no alcohol or drugs in the house. They increasingly wanted to do things their own way.
“Their language was always f- this and f- that,” she said. “We were getting at least weekly reports of them flipping teachers off or smoking or stealing things from school.”
The climax came when Josh befriended another Russian adoptee. A Russian news story that quoted both young men said Josh asked the Salottis if his friend could live with them when the friend and his adoptive family parted last October. When they said no, the two teens lived outside.
Josh wasn’t kicked out of the house, as he told Russia’s Channel One, she said. He chose to leave and said no when the family urged him to come back. After the weather turned cold, the Salottis and the Methacton School District helped him get housing through a social-service agency in Philadelphia.
Josh also decided to return to Russia, Jackie Salotti said.
Russian children aren’t the only adoptees who have had problems. An ex-pediatrician in Tennessee, for example, was found guilty in 2010 of first-degree murder in the death of her 4-year-old Chinese daughter.
But the spotlight falls brightest on Russian children. Why?
“Russia monitors these cases. If it happens to a Russian adoptee, we know it,” said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute near Boston.”
Collegeville family ensnared in Russian adoption controversy
[The Inquirer 4/22/13 by Carolyn Davis and Jeff Gammage]
Alexander explains that he took one can of coffee for his grandmother on April 4 in this article and said he has to pay a fine. At this time, we can find no update on any hearing or trial.
http://kazan.kp.ru/online/news/1407254/ Google-translated: “What will happen to Sasha, the court will decide, but according to the story, the young man is really lost in the real world.
–Went to the store, my grandmother would bring coffee – told Sasha. . – Money’s parents did not send, and that the grandmother was not worried because of this and raise her spirits, I decided to bring her coffee.
. However, the guy is not confused, that in his pocket was not any money.
-I had no money, so I did not go through the cashier, I just picked the most expensive coffee for 400 rubles and took it turns out that the stole. .I knew it was impossible to do so, but it did. I just had to bring her grandmother coffee.
. If you attempt to leave the store, the guy tied up the guards. . They called the police and taken to the Abnosova department. . There brought the case under Article 158 part 2.. The guy immediately confessed. Sasha says that still took just one bank, and not three as the media are writing.
– Committed a gaffe, I understand, I now write out fine – the police told 1000. [rubles]”
Update 5: “Alexander Abnosov (Joshua Alexander Salotti), a Russian orphan adopted by American parents who made international headlines recently when he chose to return to his native country as a teenager amid allegations of parental mistreatment has been convicted of shoplifting and sentenced to 200 hours of punitive labor, a Cheboksary court told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“The sentence came into force on April 23,” the spokesperson said.
On March 10, Abnosov and his friend, Dmitry Prokopyev, attempted to steal three jars of coffee from a supermarket and were detained by the store security.
Prokopyev was given a six-month suspended sentence and one year of probation.
According to media reports, Abnosov fled the US family who adopted him five years ago when he was 13 years old and flew back to Russia.
He told Russian media that his US parents forced him to get a job when he was 15 and kept most of his pay, adding that his US mother nagged him repeatedly, struck him once, and that his adoptive parents kicked him out of the house last year, forcing him to live on the streets with a friend.
Prior to his adoption, the boy lived in a local orphanage in Cheboksary in the Volga region of Chuvashia. He claims that he was taken to the United States against his will and that he did not want to leave his grandmother.
The young man moved in with her after his return.
The adoptive parents, Stephen and Jacqueline Salotti, said they were shocked and offended by the abuse accusations, AP reported. According to the adoptive father, the boys behavior changed dramatically after a trip to Russia.
Furthermore, he ran away after his parents forbade him to take alcohol and drugs.
In January, Moscow banned Americans from adopting Russian children as part of legislation passed shortly after Washington adopted the so-called Magnitsky Act, which introduced sanctions against officials suspected of human rights abuses.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Magnitsky Act had triggered the adoption ban, but Russian officials also cite the deaths of at least 20 Russian adoptees in the United States during the past two decades as a driving factor in Moscow’s push for the ban.”
Russian orphan convicted of shoplifting after fleeing US
[RAPSI News 5/7/13]
Why is this posted under the puzzle piece of “corruption”?
Corruption as in unethical placement in the first place due to Alexander NOT wanting to be adopted and secondarily due to the Grandma wanting to parent him. She was unable to adopt him at the time, but since he is with her now, she obviously lived 5 years beyond whatever illness she had when he was internationally adopted. This placement was not in his best interest. He was 12 at the time of adoption. His desire NOT to be adopted should have been granted. Regardless of whether he was or was not mistreated, this situation was never going to work out.
Actually… I know this family and he had to write a statement saying he wanted to be adopted. He was in no way forced.
Oh ok, there is no way that statement was coerced by anyone involved in making money from this adoption, right? I am sure you can prove that, right?
I was wondering about the name change but did not want to say anything prematurely. To do so at that age is the height of cruelty, as if the child was worthless, as if you could wipe out all the trauma. I could not imagine what kind of chicken-fried rube would change a 12 year old’s given name, especially when that original was Alexander. It’s not as if we don’t have that name here! Anyone have a $10 on them? I figured they’d have to be some kind of feckless oafs to take a name like Alex and exchange it for something from the Old Book, Like Joshua or Samuel. Who Allowed this to happen? Clueless Idiots.
Just for your information, well after the fact, we used the name Joshua Alexander Salotti, and left it to him which he would go by. He chose Joshua. Before you pass judgement, get all the facts.
So the Russian government wouldn’t let this kid stay with his grandmother and now they are persecuting his adoptive family because of it.
This boy was not abused. I know the couple that adopted him.
Here are more (and perhaps more illuminating) details: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pa-couple-deny-mistreatment-russian-teen-18846274#.UVmJ1pBDvWE
Interesting that they leave out a few statements in this article that the Russians did not. I will be adding this one shortly http://en.ria.ru/world/20130401/180384034.html Actually I am not surprised that the Associated Press leaves out all details that make American APs look bad as they always do this. In fact the Associated Press proudly spins the stories for lobbyists like NCFA. NCFA even brags about how they supply info to all kinds of publications on their own website https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/who-we-are/achievements.html
Rose,
Re: “…the Russian government wouldn’t let this kid stay with his grandmother and now they are persecuting his adoptive family because of it…”
It’s not “persecution” to carry a news story– which includes allegations of abuse by a Russian adoptee. Alexander has just as much right as the Salottis to tell his side of the story. The accusations and counter-accusations between Alexander and the Salottis have not been confirmed by any neutral third parties at this time. In the absence of such corroborating evidence, all we have is “He said/They said”.
The undisputed facts are that Alexander Abnosov wasn’t happy with his APs, that he was living outside their home for a time– supporting himself by theft– and has now returned to his biological grandmother in Russia. Since he’s a legal adult, the APs can’t force him to return to them unless Alexander chooses to. And apparently, their treatment of him doesn’t motivate him to do so.
I question the reason for the name change as well. At age 12, changing the first name a child has gone by all his life is unjustifiable. Even if a child’s name has negative connotations in America, all the PAPs should do is warn them of that fact and let the kid decide if they wish to change their name or not.
And as Robert points out, the name like “Alexander” is quite mainstream in the United States, so the change was completely pointless.
I agree with the name change issue, and I do recognize the ethical issues with regard to this adoptive situation.
But I don’t think you understand where I am coming from. I literally know this family–the adoptive parents and the boys. And I can guarantee you that there was NO ABUSE. Therefore, unjustly though he may have been treated when it comes to adoptive issues, Alexander is bending the truth, or else his words are being blown out of proportion by the Russian government. That is the reason I used the word “persecution”–the government controlled media in Russia is not simply reporting a story, but are using it as a political tool, as the most recently posted article explains.
And frankly, certain things that are portrayed as awful here–like a curfew for a teen who has been having drug and alcohol abuse issues–are simply good parenting! I would enforce that for my 18 year old son.
Rose,
Re: “…I literally know this family–the adoptive parents and the boys. And I can guarantee you that there was NO ABUSE…”
Unless you lived with them and monitored all interactions between Alexander and his APs, you can’t guarantee that.
Even if you could, Alexander didn’t complain of abuse, but that his mother was constantly finding fault with him and “made little problems seem big”. The “hit him once” allegation wasn’t part of the initial story, and doesn’t seem to be central to Alexander’s discontent.
Re: “…a curfew for a teen who has been having drug and alcohol abuse issues–are simply good parenting!…”
Since this backfired spectacularly, obviously not.
Re: “…his words are being blown out of proportion by the Russian government. That is the reason I used the word “persecution”…”
It’s ironic the very “making little things into big ones” that Alexander complained of becomes “persecution” when the Salottis are on the receiving end. And Steve and Jackie don’t have to live with their tormenters, nor are they subject to the authority of the Russian government. Something worth thinking about, isn’t it?
Breaking news….He has been detained in Russia for trying to steal 3 cans of coffee.
Thanks for the tip. I looked it up. He and a friend shoplifted on March 10 before the return story even broke and the hearing was March 29. No news yet on outcome of that trial, but we will keep checking. I will update the post with the translated articles
Quite obviously this is one disturbed young man. An angry young man willing to say or do just about anything to get his way.
I was also adopted from Cheboksary a little down from him. does anyone know a way to contact him?