Prosecutors bring negligence charges against Moscow social workers for leaving a family with two fathers alone

On July 17, reports emerged that Russia’s Investigative Committee had opened a criminal negligence case against social workers employed by the Social Welfare Department of Moscow’s Maryino neighborhood. Investigators argued that the social workers had allowed two children to live with their same-sex adopted fathers to the detriment of the children’s well-being.

On July 18, Moscow’s citywide Social Welfare Department responded to the investigators’ claims by pointing out that the department had never received complaints about the family in question and that the children involved appear to be receiving a healthy upbringing, “including where morality is concerned.” The department’s statement indicated that the children receive individual coaching in multiple sports, study with a range of tutors outside school hours, receive health care in a private clinic, and regularly vacation abroad or in the countryside. Investigators have argued that the social workers’ behavior was negligent because they allowed the children’s fathers to propagandize “non-traditional relationships” in their presence.