April 9, 2005: David and Glenda Kinghorn refuse to retrieve Sasha from the children's home. Jeffrey Bignell travels to Arkansas to take him to Ukraine, where he and Michelle Bignell try to annul the adoption. They place him in a short-term psychiatric facility and return to the United States.
Dec. 21, 2005: American missionary Gerald King contacts Washington County to inform social workers that since May 9 he has been visiting with Sasha after he felt the boy was abandoned in the psychiatric hospital. Over the next 12 months, King sends social workers and the U.S. State Department detailed e-mails describing his meetings with Sasha. No known contact is made between the Bignells and the boy.
Nov. 16, 2006: A Ukrainian court rules the boy should be returned to the United States.
Dec. 3, 2006: Washington County social worker Maggie Hansen travels to Ukraine to retrieve Sasha. They return Dec. 6.
Dec. 7, 2006: An emergency protection hearing is held in Washington County to determine what should happen to Sasha in the short term. Washington County is given temporary custody of the child. He is placed at Northwood Children's Services in Duluth for physical and psychiatric evaluation, where he remains.
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Dec. 13, 2006: Michelle Bignell admits during a court hearing that she is unable or unwilling to provide the necessary care for Sasha. In a signed petition to the court, Washington County social services supervisor Tamara Kincaid requests that the parents reimburse the county and the U.S. State Department for all costs associated with the care and return of the boy from Ukraine.
Dec. 28, 2006: Jeffrey Bignell says during a court hearing he is unable or unwilling to provide the necessary care for the boy.
Jan. 16, 2007: A disposition hearing is scheduled to determine what should happen next to Sasha.
Source: Washington County court records
