Russian boy runs away from Finnish orphange

Seven-year old Robert Rantalla, the son of a Russian mother and a Finnish father has run away from the orphanage in Turku and has returned to his parents,  ITAR-TASS reported citing the family's spokesman Johan Beckman.  Beckman said that on Monday the boy went to school as usual but ran away after the first lesson to his parents. The parents are happy but also at a loss because under the ruling of a Finnish court Robert should stay in the orphanage for six more months. The family hopes that a visit of Pavel Astakhov, a well-known Russian lawyer and presidential envoy on children's rights and his coming meeting with Finland's children ombudsman Maria Kaisa Aula will help to improve the situation.

Robert Rantala, who has dual Russian-Finnish citizenship, was sent to an orphanage in Turku after he told his classmates his mother might take him back to Russia. The local welfare authorities then decided to take the boy away from his family for security reasons and filed a lawsuit to deprive Robert's father and mother of their parental rights.