"You are a man": My children were taken away after breast removal
Last year, the guardianship of the Sverdlovsk region They took two foster children from Yekaterinburg resident Julia Savinovsky. The reason for this was that Julia did a bilateral mastectomy - an operation to remove the mammary glands. In December, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court quashed the decision on seizure and returned the case for reconsideration. However, the Ordzhonikidze district court of Yekaterinburg again sided with the guardianship: in their conclusion, they claim that after the breast surgery Savinovskiy identifies himself as a man - despite the fact that she herself categorically denies it.
Yulia Savinovskikh told us what a foster mother can do in Russia, who has made a mastectomy for herself, and what complaints she is made of by the guardianship authorities.
Your floor is dirty
Everything happened on Sunday, August 27th. On the eve of late at night, at eleven, we returned from the cottage. We were out for about ten days, there was no one at home at that time, so the floor was a bit dusty. Subsequently, for this floor they will present me - they will say that there is insanitary conditions, although there was no dirt. There were unassembled bags that we brought from the cottage. Perhaps this can be called a mess - but not anti-sanitation. We disassemble the bags, feed the children, put them to bed. We wake up in the morning, they bring their blankets to our huge cot, have a tea party, eat cinnamon rolls and watch Mayweather and MacGregor fight on TV.
I turn on the computer, Olga Moskaleva, an employee of guardianship, writes me, I do not attach much importance to this. In twenty minutes I have three representatives of the guardianship on my doorstep. We must understand that they are not in the performance on a day off. Nobody notified me about the conduct of an unscheduled inspection, as it should be according to the regulations - although later a notice executed on my knee was brought to the court. Then, when I begin to insist that this document is a fake, it disappears from the court.
I am an open, sociable, friendly person, so I let the guardianship representatives. I didn’t even think that something was wrong here. Naturally, it was necessary not to let them in, but immediately call the police and the prosecutor's office. Although, perhaps, it would be useless - I have a feeling that the prosecutor's office is working in conjunction with the guardianship.
They say to me from the doorway: "We are taking your children away." Naturally, we were shocked. When I asked what was the matter, they told me: "An anonymous appeal was received that you had performed an illegal operation. And in general you are dirty, there is not enough of a piece of wallpaper over there." The husband jumps up and says: "May we not give you the children." They answer him: "Do you want riot policemen to come here and have a scandal? You will have problems." I think it was a psychological pressure.
The nature of the disease of one of my adopted children is such that he cannot be subjected to stress at all. And I felt that I was acting in the interests of the children. We trampled, but the children were collected and given away.
They insisted that I did the operation illegally. Then I presented them with documents from the surgical department, which confirm that everything was done according to the law. When I turned away, one of the employees stuffed my papers into my bag. That is, they also tried to rob me.
I reassured my husband: "Zheka, let's try to talk to people in a civilized way." Guardianship representatives say: "There will be no talk. Gather the children, we will take them. If you want to return them, come tomorrow, tomorrow will be Monday. We will discuss everything and tell you what to do." I took it. The nature of the disease of one of my adopted children is such that he cannot be subjected to stress at all. And I felt that I was acting in the interests of the children. We trampled, but the children were collected and given away.
The next day we came to care. We were told: "We will not give you the children." Gave paper and offered to write a voluntary refusal of custody. By that time, we had invited wines to restore perfect order in the apartment. The missing piece of wallpaper (it seems, a child otkovyryanny) husband personally glued back. We took all this photograph and showed the guardianship. It was only later that we realized that neither the floor nor the piece of wallpaper can be a legal basis for the removal of children.
I did not write a voluntary refusal. If they had legal requirements, they would present them to me. "You have unsanitary conditions." Showing photos - no more unsanitary conditions. "You did the surgery." But that's my business. "You have been blogging." So what? "We suspect you want to change gender." It turns out that suspicion was enough. There was no conflict commission, there was no consultation with experts. Allegedly, in the interests of the children, they subjected these very children to the most severe stress - simply on the basis of suspicion. The head of custody of the Ordzhonikidze district, Natalia Vladimirovna Bolotova, said to me: "The children are state. We want - we give them away, we want - we take them back."
You are mentally ill
In court, the representative of the guardianship authorities Larisa Zakharyan stated that I am on a psychiatric account. What was absolutely not true. They did not even bother to check it, although for this they needed an elementary query. In court, they asked my husband if he knew that I was registered. The husband naturally answered negatively. Based on this, it was concluded that I was not only mentally ill, I also concealed this fact from my husband, which means that in our family there is a distrustful relationship.
Mastectomy in Russia is so easy to do. First you need to go through a commission so that the experts will recognize that you do not have a craving for self-mutilation, no mental disorders. An adult must confirm that he understands what he wants. On such commissions, I was recognized as completely healthy and given permission for the operation.
But that's not all. After being called mentally ill in court, I first of all made an extract that I had never been on any account. Then I appealed to the regional psychiatric hospital, but they told me that they could not carry out the examination - it should be initiated by the court. A private person can be examined. They said to me: "Do not be afraid? We will dig." I passed this examination and received a conclusion: I am healthy, adequate and do not need psychiatric supervision. This is the second paper.
The local psychiatrists turned me inside out, conducted all possible tests with me, including a test for aggression. We have their conclusion that I have no mental disorders that would prevent me from taking care of children - even biological ones, even adoptive ones
Paper three: representatives of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation come, communicate with me, provide me a psychotherapist who has experience in dealing with crisis families. Tatyana Yaroslavtseva, a specialist with great experience, watched me, watched me communicate with my husband and children. And she concluded: I, my relationship with my husband, relations with children are healthy and are not subject to any doubts. Then she acted as a witness from us at the trial, but her testimony was considered irrelevant and was not taken into account at all.
At the request of my lawyer, Vladimir Mendelevich addressed me (doctor of medical sciences, professor, head of the department of medical and general psychology at Kazan State Medical University). We talked with him on Skype, I gave him a full history - my whole life, taken apart in detail. He made a conclusion.
I filed an application for abuse of power by the guardianship authorities. In response, they demanded to open a criminal case against me under Article 156 ("Failure to fulfill the duties of raising a minor." - Ed.). And as part of the pre-investigation check on this statement, the investigators initiated an examination at the regional clinical hospital. The local psychiatrists turned me inside out, conducted all possible tests with me, including a test for aggression. We have their conclusion that I do not have any mental disorders that would prevent me from working with children - even biological ones, even adoptive ones.
I am probably the most thoroughly surveyed foster parent in the country.
You're a man
When we got this conclusion (on the recognition of Yulia Savinovskikh "a man". - Approx. Ed.), for us it was a big surprise. Nothing foreshadowed such a development of the situation. Perhaps it is due to the fact that in court, answering the question of whether I associate myself with the male sex, I stated that I did not want to play the games imposed on me and did not want to glue labels on myself. That I am a person - successful, good. This is the only prerequisite for the court to make such a decision.
I have a passport stating that I am a citizen of the Russian Federation. My children turn to me "mom". My husband, my friends and relatives call me by name and contact me in the feminine gender. There is not a single person on this planet who would address me as a male. The guardianship authorities found my account on instagram, where I, under an assumed name — masculine — met people who were going to change sex. (today the term "transgender transition" is considered correct. - Approx. Ed.), or have already changed, or are in the process of changing. Communication with transgender people is not prohibited by law.
In court, I said that in every person there are masculine and feminine elements. There is a male element in me. I grew up in my father’s barracks (I had a military man, after school I went to him), I preferred male professions, I have a karate-kyokushin category, I was the first woman in Yekaterinburg to receive a license for firearms, I collect furniture at home All this is considered to be masculine. My husband loves children very much. For some reason, we consider it normal when a man, having made children, scores on them - this is a “real man.” And if a man shows affection for children - is that not a man’s behavior? I consider masculine.
As for transgender people, I am very warm towards them already because they are deprived of their rights. And I will treat all people who have to endure injustice. I don't want to put gender stereotypes on myself. Perhaps I have a non-binary personality. But I have a female passport, and in court, in a legal instance, it cannot be simply ignored.
We don't like you
Everything that guardianship refers to relates to my personal life, but not to the performance of my guardian’s duties. At three meetings, I was told that there were no complaints to me, which lies within the competence of the guardianship bodies. They just don't like me.
Now I am going to record and post short clips on YouTube every night. In them I will call the names and surnames of those people from whose actions I suffered. I will start with Olga Moskaleva, who wrote to me on the day my children were taken away from me. I will continue with Mikhail Kozlov, who was present at the seizure. He paled and blushed, worrying about the situation, and then to the question of potential adoptive parents why custody impeded meeting with the children they had chosen, he modestly said: "Corruption". Soon he should become the deputy head of the social policy department of the Ordzhonikidze district of Yekaterinburg, Natalia Bolotova. Then I will talk about Yulia Yevseyev, who tried to steal my documents from me.
Then I will talk about Natalia Bolotova, describing in detail her behavior and the violations that she committed during the withdrawal process. Then I will talk about the regional ombudsman for the rights of the child who has withdrawn himself, although he knows for sure that the law was violated and the rights of the children were violated. However, he protects the guardianship and does not try to take the side of children. And he does it in the interests of his friend - the Minister of Social Policy of the Sverdlovsk Region. He, in a conversation to which I was invited along with the ombudsman, said: “I don’t know your case, but I fully support the guardianship authorities. You are accused of transgenderness, and we stop this at the root. You are not the first, we already there was a case when we already adopted children were taken away from a man who decided to become a woman. " I asked: was there domestic violence? Did he shoot child porn? Took drugs? Drank? Did not feed the children? To which the minister replied: "So he was a transgender." I clarified: just for that? "Yes," said the minister.
These people openly disregard the law and feel free to talk about it. Their personal opinion is the law. The prosecutor's office and the courts carry out their order.
