CBS 7 - Your Eye on West Texas

Russian Biological Mother Wants Living Son Back, But Is It Possible? 2/22/13

Matt Rist
mrist@ cbs7.com
CBS 7 News Reporter
February 22, 2013

ECTOR COUNTY-Yulia Kuzmina had both her sons taken from her because of alcohol abuse.

Now the Russian woman is speaking out, and asking for her living 2-year-old son Kirill back after the death of his 3-year-old brother, Max Shatto.

Texas Child Protective Services says it is investigating the Shatto family after Max’s death, but so far has no plans to remove his two-year-old brother from the Shatto’s home.

“I would like to appeal to the president, the state prosecutor and [attorney] Pavel Astakhov, asking them to take my second child from these adoptive parents so the same thing that happened to my first son doesn't happen again,” Yulia Kuzmina said in a video published by Russian media outlets.

Even if CPS did find that the boy needed to be removed from the home --which it has not -- would he go back to Russia?

"That's nothing that we would consider at all,” said Patrick Crimmins, Spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. “But we’re a state agency in Texas that operates under laws under Texas state laws and we wouldn’t be involved in doing anything other than placing that child within Texas."

CPS says both the Shatto boy's adoptions are considered “consummated” which means neither the Russian family nor the private adoption agency which fielded the adoption have any parental rights.

"Generally speaking, once an adoption is consummated, the parents are the legal parents,” Crimmins said. “It's as if they are the actual parents, legally."

County Attorney Scott Layh was not certain, but said the only possible scenario in which Shatto’s biological mother could get the living child would be through adoption. That would only happen if CPS severed all parental rights to the Shattos, which it has made no plans to do.

"If it's a birth mom that gave up her rights at some point, she has a right to fill out the application and procedures just like any other individual would.” Layh said.

CPS says it tries to keep children it takes with family members of its adoptive family or into foster care in Texas, but can work with other states to move children in state care.

Autopsy results are still pending in the death of Max Shatto.