Svetlana V. and Sergey F. - spouses from Surgut - in the spring of 2020, they took custody of Vanya (name changed. -
RT
), a boy with Down syndrome.
He was in the Stavropol orphanage almost from birth - his biological parents did not take him away from the hospital, signing an adoption permit.
According to Svetlana, they were going to transfer the boy to a boarding school for children with disabilities, because he was already four years old.
The woman and her husband have their own 35-year-old son, also with Down syndrome, and Vanya reminded the spouses about him.
“We issued documents for two children at once: if Vanya had a brother or sister in the same place, they would not be separated.
We already had three adopted children, whom we adopted seven years ago, they are just brothers and sisters to each other, so we understood how important it was, says Svetlana.
- Later it turned out that Vanya really has a brother, but he lives with his mother.
And we took Vanya's friend from the same group.
So now we have five adopted children.”
© Photo from the personal archive
The boy's guardians say that after Vanya had a new family, he flourished.
“The son was very weak, allergic, with a bunch of side diseases: heart disease, hearing loss, poor eyesight.
When we took him, he barely pulled as a one and a half year old child: he walked in diapers, his muscles were flaccid, he walked badly and held a spoon, he did not speak, he had no skills, Svetlana lists.
“Now this is a boy who goes to the toilet on his own, eats on his own, talks a little.”
The decision on the appointment of Sergei and Svetlana as guardians (available to RT) states that they are obliged "within one month from the date of issuance of the act to apply to the court for the recovery of alimony from the parents of a minor."
According to a letter from the Ministry of Education of the Stavropol Territory (available to RT), it was understood that the next step for the guardians would be to file a lawsuit for deprivation of parental rights and adoption of a child.
“According to the Family Code, adoption is a priority form of family placement for children left without parental care.
In addition, the biological parents of the minor signed a consent specifically for adoption, ”the document says.
"Revoked permission"
Svetlana and Sergey did not have time to apply for the deprivation of parental rights and adoption of Vanya - the boy got into their family at the very beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and when it came time to draw up further documents, all institutions were quarantined.
“Documents for adoption were issued only in electronic form,” explains Svetlana.
- But my husband and I are people of the age, I am 57 years old, he is 62 this year, we are not good at computers.
Therefore, we turned to the guardianship authorities only in the spring of 2022.”
It turned out that all this time, Vanya’s biological father (mother, according to Svetlana, divorced her husband, lives in another city and has not been in contact since then) continued to pay alimony to the orphanage in Stavropol, although from the moment his son was transferred to a foster family, he must was to transfer money to the guardians.
“We were advised to find dad ourselves and conclude a new contract with him - but how can we do this if we are in different cities and do not know his address?
The second option is to sue him for child support.
I asked the guardianship to help us with the last option.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2022,” Vanya’s guardian continues.
According to her, the biological father of the child, having received a notice, within ten days exercised his right to appeal the claim, and also wrote a statement in which he asked for guardianship to assist in establishing communication with Vanya and further transferring him to education.
“We found out about it when we were on vacation.
Urgently returned, applied for adoption, but his father withdrew his permission for this, signed in the maternity hospital.
Now we have courts going on - we filed a lawsuit to deprive my father of parental rights and to ensure that Vanya continues to live with us.
Although I was assured in guardianship that since dad left him in the maternity hospital and again refused to take his son when he was informed of the imminent sending of the child to a boarding school, it is unlikely that he will appear in our life at all, ”says Svetlana.
"We recommend a compromise"
At pre-trial meetings and at the first hearings, the biological father said that he regularly visited his son in the orphanage, and for two and a half years, when he was in a foster family, he was desperately looking for him, says Vanya's guardian.
“But the former employee of the orphanage, who is ready to testify in court, emphasizes that she has never seen Vanya’s biological father, and he would not have been able to get past her to his son.
His name is not in the visit logs either.
At the same time, from the very house of the child, the words of the pope were confirmed in an official response, ”she is perplexed.
This is not the only controversial detail in the case, Svetlana continues: “At the trial, Vanya’s dad and his new wife claimed that the boy was dressed dirty at the meeting with them, he smells bad from his mouth, and from himself he smells of diapers that have not been changed for a long time, snot to his knees .
But this is a lie!
We have not been using diapers for a long time, he is already an independent boy, there is no caries, no snot, we regularly go to the doctor.”
© Photo from the personal archive
“They also said that Vanya, before we took him away, could distinguish colors and name them - in confirmation that dad knows everything about the child and that supposedly there were no positive changes in the boy’s family over time.
But again this is not true.
He can only distinguish colors, but he does not yet know how to name them.
I’m already silent about the fact that he didn’t talk at all in the baby’s house.
There are many changes, doctors confirm this, ”she adds.
Svetlana claims that Vanya’s own father has a vested interest in taking him to her: “He has three children in his new marriage: two children from his second wife and one common, he is still very small and, naturally, takes a lot of strength at parents.
They live in a two-room apartment, which is not suitable for a child with a disability.
If he takes Vanya, he will be able to claim more housing.
They will also be able to receive matkapital”.
Vanya's guardian fears that the family of the boy's biological father simply cannot cope with a child requiring special care.
“A son is not a chair or a table; he cannot be easily pushed into a corner when he is tired.
If he is returned to the nursing home, then I won’t be able to take him back to me: he has a father, and the adoption permit has been revoked, ”the woman laments.
At the same time, Svetlana adds that, according to lawyers, the guardians have little chance of defending the right to educate Vanya.
The official response to her appeal from the Ministry of Education of the Stavropol Territory does not add optimism to her: “According to the Family Code, a guardian or trustee has no right to prevent a child from communicating with his parents and other relatives, unless such communication is not in the interests of the child.
Thus, the statement of the biological father on the intention to raise the child on July 25, 2022 is legal and justified.
We recommend that you reach a compromise with the biological parents of the child and resolve this situation in the interests of the child, eliminating the infliction of psychological trauma on him.
RT contacted the boy's biological father, but he declined to comment while "the issue is being considered in the legal field."