Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill enabling people with certain diseases to legally adopt children who are living with them.
Before this bill was signed, a 2013 list of diseases created by the Russian government was used to enforce a ban on all adoption proceedings by disease-positive individuals. This ban prevented individuals from becoming parents or legal guardians of children unless they could demonstrate persistent remission.
Individuals infected with HIV, Hepatitis C, tuberculosis and other diseases are now able to adopt children who already live with them “due to previously established family relations.” This bill applies where the best interest of a child is served by remaining in the care of a parent or guardian who is or has become infected.
The passage of this bill follows a constitutional court case that ruled it unconstitutional to prevent HIV-positive families from adopting. In the case, a woman was infected with HIV following a miscarriage, and she later had a child via surrogacy. Before the court’s decision, she was precluded from adopting her own child. Although the bill increases adoption access, the bill continues to exclude open adoption proceedings by disease-positive individuals.
Russian stigma associated with HIV is pervasive, and Putin’s administration has done little to combat the ongoing HIV epidemic. The signing of this bill may be a small indication of future policy shifts.
