“I was asked to return the money for March and April”: my mother was deprived of benefits for an autistic child because of a blog on the Internet

Stanislav Wojciechowska, a 29-year-old resident of Krasnodar, is raising a six-year-old son alone who has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The boy was diagnosed at two and a half years old, at four years of age - disability was issued. Wojciechowska began to receive monthly benefits for her son in the amount of ten thousand rubles.

However, in May 2020, officials stopped paying child support. According to Stanislava, after that she turned to the Pension Fund with a request to clarify the reason for the termination of payments.

“The Pension Fund told me that the reason for the termination of payments is my blog, on which I started making money. In addition, they asked me to return the money for March and April - this is 20 thousand rubles, ”says RT Wojciechowska.

I did not know about earnings

In 2019, Stanislava launched her own channel on the Yandex.Zen platform and began talking about her personal experience of raising a child with autism and teaching methods. 

• © Photo from the personal archive of Stanislava Wojciechowska

It’s hard to call Wojciechowska a popular blogger - she has less than a thousand subscribers. However, in February 2020, she managed to monetize the blog.

“Monetization is executed under a public offer agreement. Ads are posted on the blog and the amount from Yandex is calculated upon the views. The tax service received information about the contract and my earnings, and from there the information was transferred to the Pension Fund. As a result, I was deprived of benefits. Although in three months in total I earned only 8 thousand rubles, ”the woman says.

In the department of the Pension Fund for the Krasnodar Territory, RT said that the monthly payment was laid on non-working parents of disabled children.

“A monthly payment is established for an unemployed able-bodied citizen who takes care of a disabled child. There are certain rules for making a monthly payment for caring for a disabled child. The pension fund must act in accordance with these rules. When making a monthly payment for caring for a disabled child, an unemployed able-bodied citizen is informed that in case of going to work or starting other activities, which, in accordance with the law, is equivalent to work, he is obliged to inform the FIU independently about this within 5 days in order to promptly stop making monthly payments, ”Vladimir Obikhod, spokesman for the PFR branch in the Krasnodar Territory, told RT.

According to him, Wojciechowska did not timely inform the body that pays the pension for a disabled child.

Data on the fact of her work came from a monthly report that the employer provided to the territorial authority of the PFR.

“In connection with the above circumstances, the monthly payment was stopped and an overpayment formed. The citizen returned the overpayment on a voluntary basis. To resume the monthly payment to the mother, it is necessary to provide documents confirming the fact of the termination of work or other activities, ”explained Obihod.

Need a new law

According to Wojciechowska, after depriving her son of benefits, she turned off monetization on her blog. But, since the woman has not officially entered into an employment contract, she cannot receive a document on termination of employment.

Stanislava says that the Pension Fund allowed her to provide documents in free form.

Network users, having learned the story of Stanislava, transferred 147 thousand rubles to her. According to the woman, she will spend this money on the rehabilitation of her son.

“I can pay for five months of ABA therapy (Applied behavior analysis - an applied behavior analysis, ASD treatment system based on behavioral technologies and teaching methods. - RT ) five hours a week and two more courses of bioacoustic correction after the summer heat in September and December, ”says Wojciechowska.

In addition, on June 12, she created a petition in which she asked not to deprive the benefit of those parents who do not have opportunities for full-time employment, but may have small sources of income not exceeding 1 minimum wage.

“At the moment, according to the Rules for making monthly payments to unemployed able-bodied people caring for children with disabilities under the age of 18 years or children with disabilities from childhood of the 1st group, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 397 of 05/02/2013, and specifically paragraph 12, subparagraph" e ”, those parents who perform“ any paid work ”, regardless of the level of income for it, are not entitled to receive childcare allowance for a disabled child,” writes Wojciechowska.

That is, even a one-time income of 1000 rubles deprives the right to receive benefits, she explains. 

According to Stanislava, the government could allow parents of children with disabilities to receive benefits for those with small sources of income.

Public Chamber member Irina Volynets told RT that the situation of the woman is far from the only one. Volynets explained that she had already submitted to the State Duma a draft law that contained proposals similar to those put forward by Wojciechowska.

“We came up with a proposal so that parents of children with disabilities can work part-time. We are talking about children with disabilities of the first group and about working on a remote site. Moms asked to protect their interests, because, in fact, the income up to one minimum wage is very small, but for parents of special children this money is not superfluous. Many rehabilitations are not included in the compulsory medical insurance policy and parents have to pay for them themselves, ”the interlocutor emphasized.