Foster Children Describe Abuse in Multi-Child Family

In September, a family story in Saratov Region caused widespread attention where a child died. A 52-year-old local resident and her 35-year-old son were accused of torturing three children with particular cruelty and abusing them, and the woman was also accused of murdering a young disabled child, according to the regional department of the Russian Investigative Committee.

According to the data presented, from 2015 to 2025, the mother and son took custody of four children and lived with them first in Khvalynsk District and then in Balakovo. However, their ideas about upbringing differed from traditional ones — they systematically used violence against minors, causing them physical and mental suffering.

On one of the days from 2019 to 2021 (the exact date of the crime was not specified by investigators — ed.) the woman drove a previously adopted three-year-old disabled child — from Khvalynsk District to Balakovo. There she killed him and hid the body.

The details of the story were examined on one of the federal channels. The large family from Saratov Region was long considered exemplary — it raised nine foster children as well as two biological ones. But when, after an 11-year-old foster son reported beatings to the police, a check was conducted, one child was found missing. The boy«s remains were discovered in an abandoned house.

Horrifying details from life in the large family were shared by foster son Pavel Upary, who now lives separately. According to him, days when children were not beaten were considered days off. He does not remember the moment he moved into the care of the new family, but he does remember the scars that will remain with him for life. He showed them on air.

“I have a scar on my forehead: the foster mother threw a glass at me because, allegedly, the soup went bad due to my fault. I didn’t call an ambulance because she is a veterinarian herself and treated the wound on her own,” he recalled in the NTV studio.

The young man said that he attended school until the 5th grade, and then he was transferred to home schooling and locked in a crawl space. This was explained by the fact that he «shamed» her daughter, who studied at the same school. All this happened because he did not get enough to eat and stole food. According to Pavel, he lived in the crawl space from the 6th grade until he was 19 years old. When it was cold, he covered himself with a potato net. Instead of a toilet, there was a bucket and bottles. Periodically, he was pulled out into the house to perform household duties. He was given a bowl of soup a day, and when the foster mother received benefits — mashed potatoes with a cutlet.

“She passed food through other children, saying: ‘Pass it to Upary,’ I had no name,” Pavel said. “Three foster children had the nickname ‘upiri,’ meaning ghouls.”

Pavel described how foster children were mercilessly beaten with sticks and rods, drowned in the bathtub for poor house cleaning. The foster mother, her biological son, and their godfather participated in the punishments. For not being able to hold onto a pull-up bar for long, according to him, he was taken to a cemetery at night, tied to a cross, and left for several hours. Also, for educational purposes, three foster children were once taken to the forest and tied to trees all day, ‘so that wolves would eat them.’

Not all experts in the studio believed the young man«s story. Some even tried to take the foster mother»s side.

“There is an element of the little boy making up part of the story,” commented actress Anna Ischenko. “I see helplessness in her actions, she wanted to give them everything, to raise them, but everything fell apart. Was she alone?”

According to Pavel, initially the children had a foster father, and he also beat them. In the end, tired of their bad behavior and theft, he gave his wife an ultimatum: ‘Either me or them!’ The woman chose the children. And she continued to take new ones under her care. This is how one-year-old Sasha and three-year-old Artyom appeared in the family. Both were severely disabled. The girl died after some time and was buried in a homemade coffin to save money.

The boy continued to live in the family — the woman officially adopted him. As Pavel said, she did this to receive bonuses from the state. And two weeks after receiving them, Artyom disappeared. The foster mother said that she had taken him to a boarding house.

“Did everyone believe that?” the host asked.

“They believed. We had no choice. She allegedly later called the boarding house and inquired about him,” Upary answered.

He said that the guardianship authorities contacted the family only when they needed to participate in competitions and portray a happy family. However, Pavel«s sister — Yekaterina Bykova — did not support her brother.

“The foster mother is not capable of murder,” the girl stated.

According to her, life in the family was quite tolerable, and if someone had a birthday, gifts were given to everyone. The broadcast showed footage of how holidays were cheerfully celebrated at home, and children were taken to the sea. However, at the age of 16, Yekaterina ran away from home. The whole village searched for her.

Initially, the family lived in the village of Alexeyevka in Khvalynsk District. After the disappearance of three-year-old Artyom, they moved to Balakovo.

“We had a confrontation, the mother said that when the child had a fever, she took him to the hospital. On the way, she discovered that he was not breathing. She got scared and buried him on the grave of his one-year-old sister,” Yekaterina told her version of events.

However, the version that the child«s body was buried next to his sister was not officially confirmed. Later, the woman admitted that she had hidden the body in an abandoned house.

“While in Khvalynsk District, the woman put her adopted disabled child in her car, took him to Balakovo, killed him, and concealed the body. The woman indicated the place where she buried the child«s body. As part of the investigation, a number of forensic examinations have been appointed. Active work is continuing on the criminal case aimed at gathering and securing evidence,” commented Natalya Troshina, senior assistant to the head of the department (for information interaction with the public and mass media) of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Saratov Region, during the program.