How Could You? Hall of Shame-Anton Fomin case-Child Death-UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From the township of North Bluff, Nebraska, Russian child Anton Vecheslavovich Fomin, 9, died in a house fire on Thursday May 17, 2012. The fire is still under investigation. There have been accusations that the child was either in the basement or locked in the basement at the time of an explosion that leveled the house. Both DOS and the Russian Ombudsman have been trading jabs in the media over the past few days as the Russian DUMA is preparing to ratify the bilateral agreement with the US this Friday.

Further complicating this story is that many of the early stories contradicted each other on whether Anton was domestically adopted, in US foster care or under guardianship of friends of his mother. He was NOT internationally adopted.He immigrated with his parents to the US. Tragically, his father died in 2008 and his mother was unable to take care of him. She left him in the care of members of his church, House of Prayer Church, in Lincoln.

Anton was under legal guardianship. His guardian’s name is Slavik Sinchuk. His father’s name was Vyacheslav Fomin.

WOWT reports that “An autopsy has been performed on Anton’s body, but results won’t be back for several weeks.”

KLKNTV reports that “The Lancaster County Attorney says results from an autopsy won’t be released for at least 30 days.” “The State Fire Marshal’s office says they’re still the cause of the fire but neighbors say they heard a loud explosion.

Investigators won’t say much other than the explosion possibly came from a propane tank.

“At this time the information we have is very limited and the investigation is on-going. We know there was a family member inside the home at the time of the fire. Pending autopsy results, we’ll have further information at a later time,” said LSO, Chad Bryant.”

1011 reports “Neighbors told 10/11 they heard the fire before they actually saw flames.

Taylor said after the explosion his wife saw then saw the fire.

“When she went outside there were ashes flying over the roof. And then she looked over and said ‘Our neighbor’s house is on fire. ”

Taylor said his wife then called 911. Early reports from Thursday night suggest Fomin may have been in the home when the fire started.”

The New York Times reports “The United States government tried to head off a diplomatic row with Russia on Tuesday after Russian officials demanded an investigation into the death of a Russian child in an adoptive American family.

American news media reported last week that Anton Fomin, a nine-year old Russian child adopted into a Nebraska family, died in a house fire while his parents were gone. On Monday, Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, demanded an investigation, saying that American investigators had established that the child had been locked in the basement. “Either the boy was punished or he was neglected and got into the basement accidentally,” Mr. Astakhov said, according to RIA Novosti news service. “Why the boy was locked in the basement and why he could not get out, we will ask the U.S. attorneys about this.”

Russia Today says “The Russian ombudsman for children’s rights urged Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to take the case under his personal control and find out if the adoptive parents are to blame for the accident ” and that the US Embassy has replied with ”

“The death of the child is a tragedy, and our condolences go out to Anton’s family and community,” the embassy said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.”

Officials promised to share “all available information” on the accident with Russian officials, helping them “liaise with the Nebraska authorities.”

The reporter for the Christian Science Monitor tried to turn the tables on the story to Russia’s need to “clean house” with its orphanages. While true, that has NOTHING to do with this tragedy. Shame on you!

The Washington Post says “Nearly 200 people gathered at a Lincoln church Wednesday to mourn the death of Anton Fomin, who was alone when his legal guardians’ house caught fire May 17 in the town of Davey, Neb. the boy hadn’t lived with his parents since 2005, according to court records. His father died of cancer in August 2008, and friends said he asked for his son to live with a family from church because of his wife’s mental health issues.

Church officials who knew Anton, his parents and the boy’s legal guardians said Russian officials were unfairly comparing the child’s death to other high-profile U.S. cases that have involved abuse of adopted Russian children.

Anton’s legal guardian, Slavik Sinchuk, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that earlier media reports about the boy being locked in a basement were untrue.”

“Fire investigators referred questions to prosecutors. Chief Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon said Wednesday that his office won’t have much information to release until the investigation is complete, which could take 30 days because toxicology tests are being performed to determine how the boy died.”

The Washington Post clarifies all of the places Anton has lived

“Officials with the Russian consulate have asked prosecutors in Lancaster County for information on the case. Condon said the county attorney’s office will provide it after the probe is done.

Anton’s youth pastor at House of Prayer Church in Lincoln, Oleg Stepanyuk, and Sinchuk said the boy was asleep before the fire started. Stepanyuk, who often served as an English translator for the boy, said Anton had grown to love the family that had become his legal guardians.

“He was loved. He loved being there,” Stepanyuk told the AP. “He was feeding chickens and dogs there, and really, the last three years he lived there were some of the happiest of his life.”

Sinchuk said he and his wife left home to visit Sinchuk’s father in Lincoln and let Anton stay asleep in his basement bedroom because they didn’t want to disturb the boy.

They returned 30 to 45 minutes later and found the house burning, Sinchuk said, adding that he didn’t know how the fire started. He said neighbors reported hearing an explosion shortly before the blaze.

Church pastor Bogdan Stebanyek said Anton’s father, while dying of cancer, asked that the boy be placed in the care of another family because Anton’s mother had mental health issues.

Stebanyek, speaking in Russian with help from an English translator, said the church tried to connect the boy with a member family that had children his age. Anton went to a family that had four other children. Another family took in Anton’s older brother, Mikhail, now 20 and enrolled in a community college.

Stebanyek said Anton left the family that took him after one year. The man of the house was a truck driver and often was away from home, and the woman struggled to care for all the children.

The woman’s sister — Sinchuk’s wife — offered to take Anton.”

Sources:

Fatal adoption

[The Voice of Russia 5/22/12 by Olga Sobolevskaya]

Update: Official Confirms 9-Year-Old Boy Killed in House Fire

[1011Now.com 5/18/12]

Update: Boy dies in rural fire

[KLKNTV 5/18/12 by Ian Hest]
Young Fire Victim Remembered For Kindness, Happiness

[WOWT 5/21/12]
Russia Demands Inquiry in Death of Child in U.S.

[NY Times 5/22/12 by Andrew Roth]

U.S. Moves to Defuse Latest Adoption Scandal

[The Moscow Times 5/23/12]

US Embassy urges Russia to avoid scandal over orphan’s death

[Russia Today 5/23/12]

After 9-year-old Russian-born boy dies in Nebraska, adoption debate flares

[Alaska Dispatch 5/23/12 by Fred Weir of The Christian Science Monitor]

Russian boy killed in Nebraska house fire laid to rest as Russian government seeks information

[Washington Post 5/23/12 by Associated Press]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “U.S. authorities will not file charges in the death of a 9-year-old Russian boy who was killed in a house fire while in the care of a couple in Nebraska – an incident that renewed Russian concerns about reports of abuse and a lack of oversight of adoptive American parents.

Anton Fomin died of carbon monoxide and soot inhalation in the May 17 blaze at his legal guardian’s home in Davey, a small town about 10 miles north of Lincoln. Russian officials requested more information about Anton’s death.

Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly told The Associated Press that investigators could not determine what caused the fire and couldn’t find evidence of criminal behavior. The fire started in the northwest corner of the home, and neighbors have said they heard an explosion before it was reported.

“The more severe the fire, the less likely investigators are to find particular causes,” Kelly said. “This was a very big fire.”

Kelly’s office told The Associated Press of the findings ahead of a planned announcement Wednesday morning.”

“The U.S. Embassy in Moscow [ensuring that their butts are completely covered on this one] emphasized that the boy was not adopted by the family in Nebraska and that the family had not brought him from his home country to the U.S.”

“Andrey Bondarev, a spokesman for the Russian Consulate General in Seattle, said officials wanted to review the investigation results in more detail before commenting on the case.

“It’s unfortunate, a terrible accident that happened with a Russian boy,” Bondarev said.”

“Anton’s youth pastor at House of Prayer Church in Lincoln, Oleg Stepanyuk, said the boy was asleep before the fire started. Stepanyuk, who often served as an English translator for the boy, said Anton had grown to love his legal guardians.” [Amazingly neither Oleg nor his legal guardian Slavik were in the house, yet that they KNOW that he was asleep and the media accept that. Why did these people go to Lincoln for only a 30 to 45 minutes visit and why did they leave a 9 year old alone at night? Both towns cited as the location -North Bluff and Davey- are approximately  25 minute drives one way to Lincoln yet no reporter asks the question of  how they could only be away from the house for a 30 to 45 minute time span. ]

No charges in fire death of Neb. boy from Russia

[WSET 6/13/12 by Grant Schulte/Associated Press]

Update 2: On February 25, 2013, Russia opened an investigation into Anton’s case.

“Investigators have opened a murder case into the death of a 9-year-old Russian boy in the care of U.S. parents, the Investigative Committee said in an online statement late Monday.

Anton Fomin died of smoke inhalation in a fire at his house in the state of Nebraska in May 2012.

Local authorities could not determine what caused the fire and did not find evidence of criminal behavior, The Associated Press reported at the time.

But Russian officials have said that Fomin’s death was suspicious. “The child was left alone,” and his body was found in the basement, children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov tweeted on Tuesday.

Astakhov earlier said the boy was locked in a cellar, a charge Fomin’s guardian denied.

Although the Investigative Committee’s statement says that Fomin was adopted in Russia, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow released a statement shortly after the boy’s death saying there was no intercountry adoption involved.

Fomin was brought to the United States by his biological parents in 2005 and later placed in the care of an American family who attended the same church as his parents.

U.S. families have adopted an estimated 60,000 Russian children in the past two decades. At least 20 have died, sparking outrage from some Russian officials, led by Astakhov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

Russian investigators have opened 11 mostly symbolic criminal cases in connection with the deaths, claiming that several have not been adequately adjudicated by U.S. courts.

One of them appeared to be stymied on Tuesday, when a Moscow court refused to order the arrest in absentia of an American man accused of murdering his adoptive Russian son in 2005, citing the man’s acquittal by a U.S. court.

News of the death of 3-year-old Max Shatto, a Russian boy adopted by U.S. parents, last month sparked the latest row between the United States and Russia over bilateral adoptions.

Citing the safety of Russian children following a string of abuse scandals going back several years, the government banned U.S. adoptions as of Jan. 1.

The move was widely seen as a response to a U.S. law that called for sanctions against Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses, and critics said officials failed to put the U.S. deaths in context.

Up to 300 orphans entrusted to Russian families die every year, according to State Duma Deputy Yelena Mizulina, head of the Duma’s Committee on Family, Women and Children, Gazeta.ru reported.”

Latest Case Opened into U.S. Adoptee Death

[The Moscow Times 2/26/13 by Jonathan Earle]