Unlucky orphan trapped in red tape

28 November, 2008, 06:28

An orphan in Siberia has suffered a double blow. Not only has he no parents – but now he has been stripped of a nationality. Murat, not yet two, was abandoned by his Uzbek mother. Later he was given Russian citizenship. But this has been revoked until it is determined which country he really belongs to.

Without a nationality, Murat can’t be adopted.  And the unfortunate child has already lost the chance to be adopted by an American couple.

Murat was rejected by his mother after his birth and has been in an orphanage ever since. But unlike the other children in care, he has no chance of finding a loving family.

Social worker Viktoria Shpakova said because Murat is a foreign citizen, the orphanage has no legal right to place him with a family.

Murat was born in Russia and was initially granted Russian citizenship. But his biological mother is from Uzbekistan and that's why the authorities are now reviewing his case. 
 
Prosecutor Olga Dashevskaya said that “the question of citizenship was not settled in the proper way and this came up during the process of placing the child with a family. 

”Violations were disclosed and his Russian citizenship had to be rescinded," she said.

Determining Russian citizenship is a complicated business.

There are a number of ways of defining or claiming it – but none of them seemed to apply in this case. And that's upset Murat's current carers.

For almost two years Russia has been taking care of the child, feeding him, clothing him, giving him shelter and providing medical services. And all of this was lawful. But granting him citizenship was ruled unlawful – how is that possible?
 
No adoption papers can be processed until the authorities determine whether the little boy is Russian or Uzbek.

This bureaucratic sticking point is preventing him from leaving the orphanage and beginning a normal life.
 
Head of Social Services, Valentina Titova, said “nobody intended to go against the law. If there were violations after all, why did they not pay attention to them earlier, since adoption documents were handed to the court way in advance?” she said. 

A U.S. couple wants to adopt Murat, but they won't be able to until his citizenship is confirmed and they know which country they have to deal with.

But it may take years for the paperwork to be completed, while Murat waits for his chance to have a family.