Russian Adoptee Custody Case UPDATED

“A Californian court has announced the verdict in a custody case involving a Russian child adopted by an American same-sex couple, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) reports on Monday, citing a copy of the court order.

Beth C. and Marcia B. met in 2002. They soon moved in together and started thinking about adopting a child. They then found a four-year-old Russian boy named Yegor. Marcia applied for adoption. The women could not apply together as Russia does not allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

In 2007, the papers were ready and the boy arrived in the United States. Beth started the official custody process, which she failed to complete due to the couple’s move to New York City.

Beth looked after the boy while her partner worked. One year later, the couple broke up.

The child stayed with Beth, who moved back to California. Marcia did not object at the time. However, a year and a half later, when Marcia took the boy to stay with her for a weekend, she refused to bring him back and applied for official guardianship.

Beth filed a lawsuit and the court supported her by ruling that she had acted as a mother and therefore had a priority right to obtain custody of the boy.

The court ruling has not yet been enforced as Marcia filed an appeal.

The hearing has not yet been scheduled.”

U.S. court rules on lesbian couple’s Russian child custody dispute

[RAPSI News 1/21/13]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A U.S. woman who adopted a Siberian boy has  been accused of deliberately hiding the fact she was a lesbian from Russian  courts, heaping further strain on already fraught relations between authorities  in Moscow and Washington.

President Vladimir Putin has already passed a  ban on American parents adopting Russian children, in a move widely viewed as  retaliation for the introduction of a new law in the U.S. targeting Russians  suspected of human rights violations.

Now the Russian Foreign Ministry has said it  is investigating the 2007 adoption of Yegor Shetabalov, now aged 10, by American  citizen Marcia Ann Brandt, who they claim hid the fact she was in a relationship  with another woman at the time. The Russian Family Code does not allow adoption  by same sex couples.

The ministry’s concerns emerged after Russia  introduced its controversial ban on U.S. adoptions from January 1, which is  thought to have been partly driven by long-brewing resentment in the country  over the 60,000 Russian children that have been adopted by Americans over the  past 20 years, of which at least 19 have died. The move sparked angry protests  in Moscow, where 20,000 demonstrators, who say the ban victimises children to  prove a political point, took to the streets to air their fury last  month.

This week also saw a Russian mother whose two  sons were adopted by a Texas couple make a tearful appeal to President Putin to  return her younger child to her care after his three year old brother died in  the U.S.

Now, in a fresh blow to relations between the  two countries, the Russian Embassy in Washington said it has come to light that  Ms Brandt  was in a relationship with a woman at the time of her son Yegor’s –  known as Ian in the U.S. – adoption.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has accused Ms  Brandt of deliberately hiding her relationship from the court in Kemerovo, and  said it believed the adopted boy had become involved in a situation of ‘highly  dubious morality’ and faced ‘unacceptable conditions harmful to his mental  health’.

According to a report in the Siberian  Times, the Russian  Embassy said Ms Brandt was in a ‘same-sex marriage’ with a woman called Beth  Chapman when she adopted Yegor – who is now named Ian.

‘Mrs Brandt deliberately hid this fact of her  family status from a Russian court because it goes against the Family Code of  the Russian Federation, which clearly states that a marriage is a union between  a man and a woman,’ said the Russian Foreign Ministry commissioner on human  rights Konstantin Dolgov.

Mr Dolgov called the adoption an ‘immoral  trick’ in a tweet yesterday, according to the report.

The couple split in 2009 and later  engaged  in a custody battle over the boy in U.S. family courts, the  report said. The  women had been in a relationship since 2002 although it is unclear if or when  the relationship was officially registered.

The courts decided in favour of the boy  remaining with Ms Chapman, a  housewife, over Ms Brandt, who worked full time.  The decision has been  upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Russian diplomats are understood to have had  their requests for consular access to the adopted boy denied in the  U.S.

 

This lesbian should NEVER have been allowed to adopt a Russian child: Kremlin opens case into ‘immoral’ U.S. woman who adopted boy, ten

[Daily Mail 2/21/13 by Kevin McDermott]

Update 2: “Russia and the United States will soon hold consultations and will in particular discuss the destiny of two Russian children adopted to the U.S., Kirill Kuzmin and Yegor Shatabalov, Voice of Russia’s Olga Denisova reports.

“We plan to hold relevant consultations soon during which we will receive exhaustive information on the investigations on the deaths of Russian children. Then we [will discuss] the issue on the latest two cases related to Kirill Kuzmin and the re-adoption of Yegor Shatabalov,” Russian Deputy Education and Science Minister, Igor Remorenko, said while speaking at a “governmental hour” in the Russian State Duma.”

Russia wants to know more about adoptee death in US

[The Voice of Russia 3/26/13]