Prospective Foster Parents Now Required to Provide Certificate of “No Sex Change”

Guardianship authorities in St. Petersburg have begun requiring those wishing to become adoptive or foster parents to provide proof that they have “not changed sex” — as Russian authorities refer to changing the gender marker in a passport and undergoing gender-affirming procedures. Prospective foster parents and employees of city guardianship offices told IStories about this. The new requirements appeared after the adoption of the law banning “sex change” in July 2023 — among other things, the law prohibits trans people in Russia from adopting children or taking them into guardianship.

“I found it ridiculous to get this certificate — I have given birth to five children”

Adoptive and foster parents told IStories that St. Petersburg guardianship offices have been requiring such information since at least 2024, although in the official list of documents, this requirement is absent. Candidates are asked to confirm the absence of a “sex change” in various ways — in some places, they need to provide a birth certificate using Form No. 4 from the civil registry office, while elsewhere it suffices to state this in an autobiography.

Tatyana [here and below, names of interviewees have been changed for safety reasons] applied for guardianship at the guardianship and trusteeship office of the Kolpino municipal district in the summer of 2024. As proof that she had not undergone gender transition, the woman was asked to provide a birth certificate from the civil registry office, for which she paid about 400 rubles. “The guardianship officer told me: ‘We’re embarrassed ourselves to ask for a certificate that you haven’t changed gender. We even ask elderly people who are applying for guardianship over incapacitated children,’” Tatyana recounts. “Their explanation was that they’ll get in trouble if they accept the documents without this certificate. I found it ridiculous to get this certificate — I have given birth to five children, what doubts could there possibly be in my case?”

The same certificate was requested from another guardian — Ekaterina — in the Chkalovskoye district guardianship office. According to her, the civil registry office staff were bewildered: “They were also completely confused: there is no such certificate [confirming no gender transition].” In the end, she submitted a birth certificate to the guardianship office, and the civil registry office added a note at the bottom: “Sex was not changed.” The same requirements were made of her husband. “We are now collecting documents for adoption, and this certificate is required again, so we’ll have to update it,” says Ekaterina.

Two other St. Petersburg women interviewed by IStories confirmed to guardianship authorities in different ways that they had not undergone gender transition. “When we submitted documents to the guardianship office, they asked us to simply write in our own words that I have not changed gender, my husband has not changed gender, and we do not own property abroad,” Irina recalls about the guardianship office in Lomonosov (which is part of St. Petersburg). Svetlana, who applied for guardianship in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, was also asked to handwrite the relevant phrase in her application. “Of course, requiring a certificate is absurd,” she says. “It’s just some kind of nonsense: bring me this — I don’t even know what.”

“Such is state policy”

IStories contacted guardianship offices in various districts of St. Petersburg to find out on what basis they require a document that is not on the official list. In one of the Petrogradsky district guardianship offices, candidates are only asked to supplement their biography. “For us, it is sufficient if you state in your autobiography that you have not changed gender and simply sign it. You take responsibility,” a guardianship employee explained.

However, for most of the guardianship offices we surveyed, this is not enough — a certificate from the civil registry office is required. As justification for such a requirement, officials refer to a non-public informational letter that “was sent down” from the St. Petersburg Committee for Social Policy.

Help IStories With your support, we can continue our workSupport

“This is the latest recommendation from the Committee for Social Policy,” said an employee of another guardianship office in the same Petrogradsky district. “This is due to the current political situation: under the law, people who have changed gender are prohibited from being adoptive or foster parents or guardians. The requirements for candidates have not changed for ages, only this wonderful certificate has appeared.”

“The Committee for Social Policy held a meeting. They discussed upcoming changes in legislation [apparently referring to local legislation at the city level]. So for now, we require this certificate for ourselves, to have a complete package of documents,” said an employee of the Kolpino district guardianship office. “If a person has changed gender, they cannot become an adoptive parent, guardian, or trustee. There is now an active campaign against this — such is state policy.”

Only in one St. Petersburg guardianship office among those we contacted did an employee say she had no right to require any documents beyond the official list: “This is the first I’ve heard of it. What is this certificate, and who issues it? If it’s not on the official list, how can we require it from you?”

“You wrote it into law — so prove it”

Lawyers interviewed by IStories say that guardianship authorities really cannot require candidates to provide documents not included in the official list.

In addition to the ban on guardianship and adoption for trans people, the law also contains other restrictions, says a family law attorney specializing in child placement, who asked for anonymity. For example, people who are legally incapacitated, candidates who have been deprived of parental rights, or former adoptive parents whose adoptions were annulled due to their fault cannot become adoptive or foster parents or guardians. However, candidates are not asked to provide any additional certificates on these grounds.

“This is pure lawlessness. The list [of documents required from candidates by guardianship offices] is filled with all sorts of fantasies, I encounter this everywhere,” the lawyer says. “Recommendations of the [St. Petersburg] Committee for Social Policy cannot contradict the government decree of the Russian Federation. If someone is denied a conclusion because they did not provide this certificate, they can file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office. I always say, if it’s easy to bring something and it’s not a big deal, it’s better to bring it. But you cannot let them walk all over you: tomorrow they’ll ask you for another certificate. You wrote it into the law: those who changed gender are prohibited — so prove it. Why should we have to prove we’re not camels?”

At the federal level, the Ministry of Education requires a document confirming the absence of gender transition only from foreign prospective adoptive parents, stateless persons, or Russian citizens permanently residing abroad. This requirement appeared in July 2024, but by then, international adoption of children from Russia had practically stopped: in 2023, only six children were adopted abroad, and in 2024 — not a single child.

IStories sent a request to the St. Petersburg city administration, which includes the Committee for Social Policy, asking them to comment on the legal basis for recommending that guardianship authorities request information about the absence of gender transition from prospective foster parents. As of publication, we have not received a response.