A month ago, on February 13th, a granny found her youngest grandchild – a little baby girl 1.5 months of age – dead in her children’s apartment in Narva. Initial data reveal the baby had been dead for days. How long exactly, will be revealed by expert assessment in a few weeks time.
With assessment, light will also be shed on the cause of death. External evidence of violence was not found on the baby’s body. However, according to neighbours, the child’s parents Marina (31) and Aleksandr (33) had been partying in the apartment for a longer period of time. Neighbours saw the baby last on February 10th, at night.
«12.30 am, at night, Aleksandr came to the staircase front door downstairs and started ringing the bell for the apartment [upstairs]. The baby was in a special carrying bag, father laid it on the ground,» said the apartment association head Larissa Padelkovich. For some reason, however, the mother failed to let her husband and baby in for an hour and a half, the neighbours therefore summoning the police, being seriously troubled for the infant. «We feared maybe the child would freeze, and asked the police to get her to a shelter,» recalls Ms Padelkovich.
At the police’s insistence, Marina did, however, open the door and let both husband and baby in. «Asked what he was doing outside, so late at night, with the baby, Aleksandr answered that Marina wanted a hamburger and he took the baby along, to take a walk.»
According to Ms Padelkovich, Marina and Aleksandr had evidently been partying for weeks on end – loud music being played in the apartment every night. «Their kids, however, strange as it would seem, didn’t weep. We never heard them. I was in their apartment a day before the dead body was found, because the downstairs neighbour complained of leaking ceiling. The kitchen was terribly dirty, empty vodka bottles littered all over, used diapers and food leftovers. I didn’t see the children, the door to their room being closed,» said the association head. The family had three children – a ten year old boy, a four year old brother and the baby girl.
Sergei, who lives in the opposite apartment, did however hear the children weeping on February 8th. «The door hung open, parents lay drunk on the floor, the kids weeping. I called the police and filled in a report. That, however, led to nothing. I have not called the police any more, what’s the use,» he said.
That was not the only report filed to police on that family. Even the grandmother, who now discovered her smallest grandchild dead, had notified police two years back that the kids were neglected and needed help, as the parents were abusing alcohol, said Narva youth police head Natalya Buryakova.
On basis of that report, the city’s social department was notified, and a social worker was assigned to the family.
The last time the social workers came over was about a week before the tragedy. However, they found no reason to remove the children from the family. «The children were sleeping in their beds, the parents were sober. The apartment was dirty, we gave the parents a week to clean it up. A dirty apartment, however, is no basis yet to remove the children,» said Galina Vologdina, substitute for director of Narva social welfare department.
Following discovery of the dead body of the youngest child, the two older children were removed from the parents by social workers.
Criminal proceedings were commenced towards Marina and Aleksandr, regarding causing the child’s death by neglect. Upon questioning, the parents have given contradictory evidence on how their baby daughter died.
Two and a half years ago, there was a similar case in Narva, with a one year old boy falling to his death out of a window, his drunken parents deep asleep. Later, the child’s mother was punished with conditional imprisonment of two years. The father’s criminal case was closed due to his death.
According to Ms Vologdina from Narva social department, the border city currently has 101 crisis families checked by social workers. Neither this year nor in 2012 have any parents in Narva had their parental rights terminated. However, children have been temporarily taken to shelter due to physical violence or neglect. Neither of these, however, provides a basis to immediately and permanently remove the children from their parents. The families will, in such cases, be attended to by a psychologist and a social worker, trying to keep the family unified.
However, six Narva families have been taken to court within last 14 months, for a judge to decide whether or not to terminate father and mother’s parental rights.
«The parents really have to «try hard» to have their rights terminated,» admitted Ms Vologdina. Among other things, the court considers the wishes of children of 10 years and older, whether or not they desire to remain with their parents. Ms Vologdina only knows one case of a child not desiring to stay with mother.