Child protection services in New Zealand take baby away from Russian family

Social services of New Zealand that took a newborn daughter away from a Russian, agreed to return the child to the biological parents.

Victoria, a baby girl aged only six weeks, was withdrawn from the family after the parents brought her to the hospital with a swollen leg. Doctors diagnosed a fracture in the ankle, but her 19-year-old mother could not explain the cause of the injury. The problem became more complicated when it was revealed that Victoria had no Russian citizenship. By local laws, the girl was a New Zealander.

The parents do not know where their little daughter was kept. Social services only agreed to deliver the mother's breast milk to the baby.

The baby's grandmother addressed to the Russian embassy for help. According to First Secretary of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in New Zealand, Valery Martynov, the child's relatives had a meeting with local social services. As a result, the child protection services agreed to return the girl provided that the girl's grandmother would commit to move in with her son (the baby's father) and take full responsibility for the health and well-being of the child.

Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights Pavel Astakhov has already appealed to the Foreign Ministry with a request to verify the information that the New Zealand authorities wrongly took a newborn baby away from the Russian family. Astakhov also sent requests to the Russian Ambassador in New Zealand and to the Prime Minister of the country.