Yaroslavl mother beaten daughter sparks outrage
A mother beat her little daughter in Yaroslavl
A video of severe abuse captured by a hallway camera in a nine-storey building in the Zavolzhsky district of Yaroslavl (Russia) has sparked nationwide outrage. It shows 45-year-old Natalya shaking and hitting her three-year-old daughter. She shouted at the child, swore, told the little girl to «drop dead», and then tipped over the stroller she was trying to carry up the stairs.
The girl«s mother beat her right in the stairwell
The video spread across the country in less than a day, forcing those responsible to act. Child welfare authorities temporarily removed the girl from her mother, and investigators opened a criminal case into the abuse of a minor.
Neighbours say Natalya often brought drinking companions to the flat
Neighbours of the family are certain the incident could have been avoided. They say they complained to the police and child welfare services many times.
One of Anastasia«s sons, according to neighbours, found his own way to escape the family
There were three children — now only one remains
Natalya seemed not to understand who was trying to talk to her and about what
Natalya«s neighbours are used to loud shouting: it often comes from her flat. They note, however, that it is the mother herself who shouts. The little girl mostly makes no sound. According to neighbours, the girl does not speak and does not walk.
Nina Ostanina commented on the situation
They speak about their neighbour in hushed voices, glancing at her flat door.
According to the psychologist, the girl must be isolated from conditions where violence is used against her
«It»s a terrible thing. Abuse. The police have already been here. Her mother [Natalya«s] used to live with them too, now she»s somewhere else. Now she«s here alone with the child. Poor child. She abuses her. Shouting, noise, commotion. Yesterday she was causing trouble — she stood at the door with the child, she couldn»t get into the flat,« one resident said, shaking his head.
The family«s treatment of the girl may affect her behaviour in the future
Long-time residents say the family has lived in the building for a long time. They still remember Natalya«s grandmother. When the pensioner died, the woman was left alone with her mother. For a time, the father of Natalya»s two older sons also lived with them. As it turned out, she has three children in total.
The footage contains scenes of child abuse
One of the pensioners living in the building said the problems in the family began right after Natalya«s grandmother died.
Audio recording of the conversation with Natalya
«She and her mother have some kind of feud. And she [Natalya] was in prison, did you know? How did her youngest son manage to study well in such a family? I really enjoyed talking to him. And the older one kept calling my intercom at night, asking me to open the door. But I haven»t heard from him or seen him for a long time. But what a boy he was! I saw him in all sorts of states. I can«t say anything good, though he seemed kind. I gave them money, 150 rubles ($2), so they could get a key made. He still kept ringing,» said Svetlana (name changed — Editor«s note).
«Now he was lying in the stairwell, now they were calling an ambulance for him»
Many neighbours do not speak well of Natalya«s firstborn. According to them, the young man, who should be around 20, often drank, like his mother, and was seen in the stairwell in an incoherent state.
«He may be in prison now. Now he was lying in the stairwell, now they were calling an ambulance for him. The father of the older boys is also said to be in prison. And I don»t know who she had the girl with. Well, she certainly brings men home. Lots of them,« said Anastasia, a resident of the nine-storey building.
Neighbours speak positively only of Natalya«s youngest son. They remember him as a teenager of 14–15. The boy was polite, greeted neighbours and said he studied well. Residents say that about four years ago the boy himself asked child welfare services to remove him from the family.
«His older brother got him hooked on drugs, he almost died. And he went to the child welfare authorities himself so they would take him as far away from this family as possible; apparently he was afraid. Because the boy was very good, always said hello, he was the most sane of the whole family,» neighbours said.
«I hope you drop dead!»
Recordings from the building«s cameras show that Natalya beat her daughter in the stairwell at around 2:30 a.m. on 25 August. Some neighbours woke up to the screaming. They say she was drunk that night. According to them, the woman banged on the door, shouted, swore and asked to be let in.
After that, it seems she tried to drag the stroller with the child up the stairs, and unleashed her anger on her little daughter.
At one point Natalya simply tipped over the stroller with the child, dropping the little girl. Fortunately, she managed to brace herself with her hands, but she still cried.
Instead of calming the child, the mother roughly picked her up and began slapping her hands on her face and body, shouting: «You wretch! You wretch! You wretch! You wretch!» She did not stop there.
«You bitch, [annoying] scum. [Inaudible], [annoying, damn],» Natalya«s tirade was full of obscenities.
Why did no one come out to help the little girl? Anastasia explained how that could have happened.
«Honestly, I think all the neighbours are used to it. There are constant drinking parties here, lots of shouting. I think that»s why no one came out. They«re used to constant yelling. No one simply knew that the girl was with her. Because you can»t hear her, she hardly ever cries,« Anastasia explained.
Svetlana also heard the screaming; she says it woke her up. The pensioner was worried about Natalya herself and the child, but could do nothing. She was afraid.
«It was night — where was she with her at night? Unmanageable people. I woke up in such fear, I»m still shaking. It seems to me the whole building heard this mother«s shouting. But the child»s crying was terrible. It was something. I thought someone was knocking at her door and she didn«t want to let them in. And she was yelling for someone to help her. This isn»t the first time, the police have come before, but no measures are taken. We think: «Lord, where is child welfare?» The child doesn«t speak. What is this? Is this the environment?» Svetlana said.
«Where is my daughter?»
Natalya herself returned home around noon on 26 August. Hearing a journalist call out to her, she turned around fussily. Natalya looked unwell: dishevelled hair, a greyish face and blue lips, as if from cold. The woman«s gaze wandered, and she seemed not to understand what she was being asked about.
«Where is my daughter?» she shouted at us.
«I don»t know,« I reply.
«Where is my daughter?» she repeated, as if she had not heard the answer.
«I don»t know,« I repeat.
«Goodbye,» Natalya slammed the door.
Then Natalya came out onto the landing once more and shouted: «If you don»t give me back my daughter, I«ll complain that your employee beat me, [damn it]. I can barely walk. Get out of here!» With that, she finally slammed the flat door.
«They come — and she sits there acting normal»
Neighbours say they tried to help before, but it was no use. According to them, child welfare services had already come to check on the family, but they had no complaints about Natalya.
«They come — and she sits there acting normal. She kicks the drunk men out of the flat and acts like she»s feeding the little girl. They hadn«t taken the girl away before,» Anastasia said.
The 76.RU newsroom sent an official request to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Directorate for Yaroslavl Region asking whether police officers had indeed been called to this address repeatedly. We will publish the response.
The family«s neighbours are radical in their views and are certain the child must be taken from her mother and sent to an orphanage. They believe the girl will be better off there.
«In the future, if, God willing, we manage to resolve this issue and the girl is placed in an orphanage, I would like to take on this issue to help the girl with some kind of recovery. Because it seems to me that it»s possible, at least some partial recovery and hope for a better life. She has endured so much in these three years with such a family, she doesn«t deserve it,» said Natalya«s neighbour Svetlana.
The Agency for Family and Children«s Affairs of Yaroslavl Region briefly commented that the girl was taken away after this incident.
«Police officers have removed the child from the family, and she is currently in a safe environment in an institution of the prevention system. Law enforcement agencies are working to hold the child»s mother accountable,« the authorities explained.
«Maybe there was some kind of breakdown»
Meanwhile, Nina Ostanina, chair of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood of the eighth convocation, told 76.RU that in her opinion, removing a child from a family is an extreme measure.
«If signals reached the police, the police were obliged to pass the information to child welfare services. And child welfare services should have looked into what happened in this family. Maybe there was some kind of breakdown, conditionally speaking, an illness. Such things happen. Some tragedy occurred that led to a temporary, so to speak, clouding of the parents» minds,« Nina Ostanina said.
After the video spread, the Yaroslavl Region prosecutor«s office mentioned that the family belonged to those that should be registered as being in a socially dangerous situation. That is, where parents fail to fulfil their upbringing duties, negatively influence the child»s behaviour or treat the child cruelly.
It also mentioned that every region has a children«s rights commissioner who also has the authority to look into such matters.
«Removal is an extreme measure»
The politician is certain that without preventive measures and appropriate checks, children should not be taken from their biological families.
«Our child welfare services are government institutions responsible for placing a child in a family if the child has no parents. In this case, the parents exist. But we see that something is going wrong. First, work must be done with the parents, to understand what the matter is. Is the mother an unhealthy person? Has some tragedy happened to her? In any case, it is necessary to find out whether there are close relatives, grandparents,» Nina Ostanina explained.
«Perhaps first give the child to her grandparents to raise. Then place her in a children»s institution. Removal is the most extreme measure, but at the same time you must immediately understand where the child will go. And do everything to first transfer the child to blood relatives. If they refuse or child welfare services see that they show no interest in raising the child, then consider the issue of placing her somewhere,« Nina Ostanina said.
She mentioned that the Russian Family Code provides for placing children first and foremost with blood relatives.
«But these blood relatives must first be found. And child welfare services may say: »We don«t have such powers.» Maybe the grandmother lives in another city. So what if she lives in another city? Is it really so hard to find this grandmother? Sometimes child welfare services do not show due initiative in this regard, so to speak, they don«t lift a finger. Therefore, they must also be held accountable in this regard,» Nina Ostanina said.
«The question of the mother»s condition arises«
Yaroslavl family psychologist Irina Utochkina told 76.RU that if systematic violence was indeed used against the child, measures must be taken to remove the girl from the family.
«The question of the mother»s condition also arises. Perhaps the woman also needs recovery or treatment. This case needs to be studied to understand the full picture. If the child has been in such conditions since birth and has no other adequate close relatives, then she will most likely need to be placed in state institutions,« the psychologist explained.
At the same time, the specialist, like Nina Ostanina, is certain that if there is an opportunity to maintain contact with relatives and leave the child living with them, that option is the most preferable.
«Our psyche is like an iceberg»
Another important question is how what happened to the girl will affect her psyche in the future.
«It varies. Adults sometimes have something like a blackout [of childhood memories]. They say: »I don«t remember myself as a small child at all, only from school, from about age 10.» Such a signal may indicate that something beyond the pale happened in childhood. And it is pushed out of memory. But our psyche is like an iceberg. We are aware of some part, while many things remain in the depths,« Irina Utochkina said.
The psychologist explained that in some people such traumas manifest as suppression. The child may be withdrawn and timid. In others it will manifest as increased aggression and attention-seeking behaviour.
«It all depends on the nervous system and on how this girl»s future develops. It is impossible to say for sure whether this memory will be repressed. Each person goes through it in their own way,« Irina Utochkina explained.
«There may be a developmental delay»
Fragments of memories of what happened may remain in the girl«s memory.
«Maybe not even specifically with her mother. Because preschoolers and small children under three have a division into, as it were, two images: the good mother and the bad mother. If the mother satisfies the child»s needs, she is a good mother. And if she scolds and does something wrong, she is a bad mother. And gradually an image builds up that the mother can be both. What will happen in this case is hard to predict,« the psychologist explained.
According to the specialist, such a splitting of the mother«s image is present in children up to the age of three. Then, at this age, the three-year crisis sets in and self-awareness forms.
«If a girl grows up in such an environment, she may show a developmental delay. Because stressful situations have a negative impact on a child»s development, and cognitive processes develop worse. And the emotional sphere, of course, suffers too,« the psychologist said.
What is happening with the girl now
After the video spread, the children«s rights commissioner in Yaroslavl Region, Mikhail Krupin, began looking into the situation. Child welfare services are conducting a check.
Before the beating, according to the children«s ombudsman»s assistant, there had been no complaints about the family. At least not to the commissioner.
«The child is now in a state institution, she will definitely be all right, she is under protection now. Everything is being checked: if there are problems, the mother»s rights will be restricted,« Mikhail Krupin»s assistant told a 76.RU correspondent.
According to Mikhail Krupin«s office, all of Natalya»s children are minors.
Investigators have opened a criminal case under the article on torture, and the progress and results of the investigation will be monitored by the Yaroslavl Region prosecutor«s office. The head of Russia»s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, also took note of what happened.
