MOSCOW, June 4 (RAPSI) — The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the judicial practice in cases of international adoption: the number of such cases has significantly decreased, and already scheduled hearings were either suspended or terminated due to the impossibility of the adoptive parents to come to Russia. 

Most often in 2020, Russian children were adopted by citizens of Italy (28% of cases decided in favor of applicants), Germany (14%) and France (14%), according to the summary of the judicial practice of the Supreme Court.  

At the same time, the Court states that in 2020 the number of cases in this category decreased as compared to 2019 figures.

In 2020, regional and peer to those courts took decisions in 42 cases of international adoption (all in favor of applicants), what is by 79% less than in 2019 (203 cases), and by 84% less than in 2018 (256 cases), the Supreme Court observed saying there was a clear downward trend.

Nevertheless, in 2020 such a significant decrease in the number of cases of international adoption was associated, among other things, with the spread of the new coronavirus infection and respective quarantine measures undertaken at the federal and regional levels.

For example, the Supreme Court of Udmurtia returned an adoption application as the applicants informed that it became impossibly to prepare and submit documents of foreign authorities to the court due to the unfavorable sanitary and epidemiological situation and the closure of the borders between the Russian Federation and France.

The Vologda Regional Court accepted an application of an Italian pair and scheduled the hearings, but due to the applicants' inability to enter the Russian Federation, the proceedings were postponed and subsequently left without consideration on the merits. 

In yet another adoption case because of the same reasons the Leningrad Regional Court had to suspend scheduled proceedings initiated by spouses from Italy.

On the same basis, proceedings on international adoption cases were suspended by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Supreme Court of the Udmurt Republic, the Krasnoyarsk and Primorsk regional courts, the Vladimir and Kemerovo regional courts, and the St. Petersburg city court. The Kemerovo Regional Court had to suspend nine such cases, the St. Petersburg City Court - two cases, the Supreme Court reports. 

Nevertheless, in 2020, the Khabarovsk Regional Court took one decision in favor of applicants seeking adoption of a severely ill child on humanitarian reasons, the report reads.