On December 24, the Vidnovsky City Court of the Moscow Region will consider the suit of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities against the Khamovnichesky Department of the Civil Registry Office for invalidating the birth certificates of surrogate children.

The plaintiff demands to remove from the documents references to genetic Filipino parents as the mother and father of the babies.

This was reported to RT by the lawyer of foreigners Igor Trunov.

In his opinion, custody wants to deprive Filipinos of their parental rights, without even involving them and their legal representative in the case.

According to the lawyer, the two twins, in whose documents the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines Congress Fredenil Ernaes Castro and his wife Jane Tan Castro were listed as parents, were seized from an apartment in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region earlier this year.

Since then, they have been kept in the Vidnovsky Children's Home.

Trunov notes that the institution rejects his requests and does not respond to requests for an opportunity to visit the babies.

According to him, the guardianship authorities are trying to challenge the birth certificates of children, since the babies are allegedly neglected.

The reason for filing a claim is that the Castro spouses did not apply to the guardianship and guardianship authorities with a statement to transfer their children to them.

“An absurd situation has emerged - the originals, originals of birth certificates issued by the Khamovnichesky registry office and stored in the orphanage are being challenged only on the grounds that the parents do not take the children away.

This is despite the fact that the family went to court.

But when we ask to clarify why, with all the documents, the children are not given to their parents, why the investigation is inactive, we are denied this.

At the same time, the investigation does not doubt that the children are really from Filipinos, because they do not require additional examinations - although my ward is ready to fly in and additionally do a DNA test to confirm paternity, ”the lawyer notes.

11 episodes, 14 children

Recall that in January 2020, the body of a newborn boy was found in one of the apartments in the VNIISSOK village of the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region.

According to one version, the baby died due to sudden infant death syndrome.

According to another, from birth he was diagnosed with cephalohematoma (birth trauma in the head area).

As reported in the regional UK, a child born by a surrogate mother in December 2019 was under the supervision of a nanny in an apartment where three more babies (two and three months of age), born in a similar way, also lived.

Two of them had the Castro spouses recorded as parents.

"The newborns were there until their biological parents - citizens of foreign countries - were engaged in the preparation of all the documents necessary for the children, including for their further export abroad," the ministry said in a statement.

The remaining children (two heterosexual twins and a boy) were placed in the city hospital, and then in the "Children's Home".

Investigators opened a criminal case under Articles 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence) and 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (human trafficking).

In June 2020, law enforcement officers found another apartment with children born to surrogate mothers - this time on Argunovskaya Street in Moscow.

The police were contacted by neighbors because of the incessant crying of children behind the wall.

The apartment housed five babies, ranging in age from six days to six months, with two Chinese citizens.

According to the investigation, the children were intended to be handed over, including to families from the PRC.

The investigating authorities also opened a criminal case on human trafficking.

Later, the Investigative Committee merged criminal cases on trafficking in children found in Moscow and the Moscow region.

The persons involved in the "surrogate case" were obstetricians, gynecologists, urologists, as well as administrative employees of the European Surrogacy Center, the Petrovskie Vorota clinic and the Rosjurconsulting law firm (specializing in reproductive law, is involved in supporting the process).

There are 11 episodes in the case, uniting 14 children (one of whom was killed).

All episodes cover the period until the beginning of 2020, which does not give the investigators grounds to bring charges against children born after this date, including those found on Argunovskaya Street, says Olga Zinovyeva, a lawyer and member of the Commission on Ethics and Law of the Russian Association for Human Reproduction.

At the moment, seven defendants have been arrested, one more is under house arrest.

Two of them (Valentina Chernyshova and Roman Emashev) pleaded guilty and entered into a deal with the investigation.

The main person involved - the head of Rosjurconsulting Konstantin Svitnev - was put on the international wanted list.

He was charged in absentia under article 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (trafficking in persons, resulting in death by negligence, causing grievous bodily harm to the victim or other grave consequences as part of an organized group).

According to RT, Svitnev is in Prague.

In a conversation with the journalists of the TV channel, he said that he was ready to come as soon as international flights were opened.

Svitnev, like most of the other defendants in the case, denies that he had anything to do with the children found on Argunovskaya Street.

On November 5, the Basmanny Court of Moscow ruled on the arrest of Svitnev in absentia. 

In addition, within the framework of the case, one of the surrogate mothers, a citizen of Ukraine Iryna Kogut, was put on the international wanted list.

According to the investigation, she gave birth to three children in 2014 and 2016 and sold them to a customer in the Philippines, “adding deliberately false information to birth certificates” and taking part in the transportation of babies abroad.

On November 3, the Basmanny Court ruled on her arrest in absentia. 

"It is addictive"

Many surrogate mothers now fear that the fate of Irina Kogut will befall them, one of the surrogate mothers told RT.

But, according to her, they cannot refuse such a way of earning.

“It's addictive.

If you come to the program once, then most of the girls go the second time, ”says Olga (name has been changed) to RT, who twice gave birth to a child“ to order ”.

According to her, strict requirements are imposed on women taking part in the program.

They must have had independent successful childbirth in the past: this indicates that the mother is healthy, and is also a kind of guarantee that she will not refuse to give up a surrogate child.

It is necessary to provide certificates from doctors, including that the woman is not registered in the drug and psychiatric dispensary.

If the woman is married, a written consent from the husband is also required for her to participate in the program.

According to some reports, after the embryo is transferred and the pregnancy test is positive, the woman assumes a number of obligations.

For example, not to have sex throughout pregnancy (to avoid the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases), to eat normally and fully, avoid stressful situations by all available means, and also not to engage in heavy physical labor, not to make sudden movements and frequent bends.

For violation of these points, the participants face a serious fine - 50-100 thousand rubles.

In addition, according to the same data, from the moment of pregnancy and before childbirth, women monthly receive a small amount for food and other expenses (about 20 thousand rubles), plus a couple of thousand additional payments for multiple pregnancies.

If several children are born, then the final fee also grows accordingly: about 130-150 thousand more are added to the usual 1.2-1.3 million rubles.

If the pregnancy is terminated or freezes through no fault of the surrogate mother, then she loses her fee, but receives a certain payment: depending on the period, the amount ranges from 5 thousand to 50 thousand rubles.

From 28-30 weeks, expectant mothers most often move to apartments or houses that the agency rents.

As a rule, they live there together with other participants of the program, but some companies allow them to settle with their own children.

After giving birth, the woman writes a refusal to give up the child, permission to indicate the data of the genetic parents in the birth certificate, and after discharge from the medical facility, the obligations of the surrogate mother are considered fulfilled.

Olga decided to join the program in order to close a large debt and deal with the housing issue.

Her acquaintance, Maria (name has been changed), also became a surrogate mother for financial reasons, when she ended up on the street alone with her two children: “There is no other way to earn this money in such a short time.

And I helped myself and the other family. "

Now she has moved to the position of an agent, recruiting new participants for the program.

“I find mummies through advertisements in social networks, in newspapers, once we just post advertisements on boards.

Plus, word of mouth works.

From Moscow and the Moscow region, at least in our agency, the least number of participants, mainly from Lipetsk, Voronezh, Orel, "- said Maria RT.

According to her, there are a lot of agencies and clinics that provide surrogacy services: "There are probably 20 of them in Moscow alone."

Genetic parents are mostly Russians, but of the foreign citizens of Mary, the Americans most often met.

Closed borders

Children with foreign genetic parents are in the most vulnerable position due to the borders closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Unfortunately, the Russian guardianship authorities did not take appropriate measures to timely identify these children and provide them with proper controlled conditions of stay,” says lawyer Olga Zinovyeva.

- Therefore, I believe that the cases of finding apartments with unaccounted children may be repeated.

According to surrogate agencies, there are now about 300 such children in Russia. "

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Serhii Akhtemiichuk

In particular, in St. Petersburg alone, as of October 31, 92 babies were expecting their genetic mothers and fathers, of which 30 babies are parents of Chinese citizens, the office of the regional children's ombudsman in St. Petersburg said.

“By the end of the year, another 39 babies are to be born under the surrogacy agreement.

If the humanitarian flight does not take place or the state authorities do not develop and implement a different mechanism for reuniting children with their biological parents, on December 31, 2020, in the northern capital, 131 children will celebrate the New Year without their dads and mothers, ”they added.

Without the organization of transit, children are highly likely to end up in government agencies and data banks for adoption.

However, the regional children's ombudsman Anna Mityanina says that citizens of the PRC can obtain single-entry visas for medical services: “According to this form, almost 15 families are now in St. Petersburg.

Their documents have been transferred to the Main Directorate for Migration Issues of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, so that they can return home with their children on the Moscow-Beijing route.

One of the parents has already taken his child from orphanage # 3. "

A similar scheme was used in Karelia.

In August, in the Petrozavodsk Perinatal Center, a surrogate mother gave birth to a child for a Chinese couple, signed a permit to indicate their data in the certificate, and left the hospital.

“The situation is stalemate: it is impossible to write down Chinese parents in the birth certificate, because they cannot come,” the regional children's ombudsman Gennady Saraev commented on the situation.

- A surrogate mother is not allowed, because in this case the child officially becomes her son.

Well, we made the “wisest” decision: do not issue a certificate at all, let them be fined ”.

As a result, foreigners were able to apply for a visa for treatment or caring for relatives and three months later they issued a birth certificate for the baby.

They also had to do another DNA test for the Chinese authorities.

The family is now preparing to return home.

Changes in regulations

According to the lawyer Olga Zinovieva, the investigation is looking for other episodes that could sooner or later be combined with the main case: “I know that the investigation is also interested in men who are not married or in partnership with women, whose children were born by surrogate mothers, and single women who are legal mothers of children born to a surrogate mother using a fully donor embryo.

Separately, it should be noted that all the episodes that formed the basis of the criminal case occurred chronologically before the pandemic transport restrictions. "

Surrogacy itself is a completely legal type of assisted reproductive technologies, the lawyer continues.

“The existence and“ maintenance of life ”in this case is obviously caused by the fact that in a number of controversial programs, germ cells were used, whose identity the investigation still did not establish, a number of programs were carried out for persons who have no genetic connection with the child or the so-called "single men" (in my opinion, it would be more correct to call them men who are not married or in partnership with women, since they are often not single).

I believe that as soon as the investigation establishes this circumstance, the criminal prosecution on some episodes should be terminated by itself, ”Zinovyeva notes.

At the same time, the so-called partial donation (the use of donor germ cells of the mother and her own - of the father, or vice versa) from January 1, 2021, is expected to be officially allowed by the decree of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

Corresponding changes in regulatory documents are also necessary for foreign parents, lawyers say.

"Foreign parents are often advised to stay in Russia throughout the entire period of pregnancy in order to eliminate potential difficulties and disputes in the future, since the domestic legislation regarding the appeal of foreigners to assisted reproductive technologies is, to put it mildly, impeccable," the partner and leader told RT practices of "Special Assignments" of the Pen & Paper Bar Association Ekaterina Tyagai.

The practice of surrogate motherhood is not enshrined in a single law, adds Olga Yaroslavskaya, Ombudsman for Children's Rights in Moscow.

“Since May, the federal government has been actively working to regulate this system,” she explained to RT.

- For example, the introduction of special model visas - not tourist and not labor - for future parents, because they come for the child together, and the three of them leave already.

Children from surrogate mothers continue to be born and they should not suffer.

It is our duty to convey this to the executive branch ”.