Villagers Near Volgograd Seek Help from Family of 11 Children

Residents of the village of Bolshoye Sudachye in the Rudnyansky District of Volgograd Oblast are asking to be saved from a large family. According to them, Irina«s children are wreaking havoc: stealing, intimidating, humiliating, and beating their peers. Meanwhile, the mother herself has stated that neighbors are jealous of her due to the large benefits she receives and are therefore harassing her family. The conflict has reached the popular TV show »Male/Female« on a federal channel. There, new details emerged. Irina has two more children who are currently in an orphanage. She has buried two other children.

As village residents told the show«s hosts, Irina has seven children, but she does not engage in their upbringing. The woman, like her partner, does not work anywhere and lives on child benefits. According to Irina, this is approximately 140,000 rubles per month (about $1,500 at current rates).

«Her children misbehave, wreaking havoc. They steal, do whatever they want. Even our elderly are afraid to walk around the village. She has seven children. The oldest is 20 years old. The youngest is 8 years old. The girls don»t cause trouble, but the boys do. They beat our children,« says resident Rita. »Literally. My eldest daughter came to visit with her grandchildren. My grandson runs in with tears, shouting: «Grandma, they almost ran us over with a motorcycle, they were throwing stones.» Then my younger daughter runs in. There«s a bruise on her back: they hit her with a stone.»

According to Rita, 16 people are seeking the eviction of this family from the village. They have complained to the local administration and the Juvenile Affairs Division (PDN), but to no avail. Here is what other villagers, including children, say about this family.

«It»s a dysfunctional family altogether. She doesn«t care about the children.»

«It»s impossible to walk past the boys. They start picking on you, beating you up.«

«Children from this family offend me. They call me fat at school. Because of this, I don»t want to go to school.«

Villagers complained that Irina«s children have repeatedly humiliated or beaten their children. According to one resident, Irina»s eldest son beat up a sixth-grader allegedly for insults. Another mother admitted that Irina«s son threatened her child and took away his phone. Additionally, neighbors accused the woman of causing the death of her sick ex-husband, whom she kicked out to live in an unheated house.

«Before he died, we separated. He lived in another house. Yes, I kicked him out. He stopped supporting the family,» said Irina.

Two of Irina«s sons have serious diagnoses. One boy has a congenital heart defect, and the other has fourth-degree scoliosis. The woman was accused of not taking care of the children»s health either. Later, it turned out that Irina«s eldest son is also ill. But he does not live with the family; he lives alone.

Meanwhile, in the studio, Irina categorically disagreed with the accusations against her family and stated that she and her children have faced harassment from the residents.

«As soon as we bought a new house, that was it, we immediately started bothering everyone. The harassment began. Allegedly, I»m a bad mother, my children are homeless, bandits. They just don«t let me live. Lately, the children have been staying at home. They»re even afraid to go outside. They take a step, and they«re reported on,» says Irina. «We have a household, a garden. The children aren»t starving. Everything is fine with us, but there is one problem: two of the children have very serious diagnoses.«

«We lived normally, even excellently. But after six months, everything changed. They started driving us out, like, we took something without permission, we beat someone up. They are slandering us on purpose,» says one of Irina«s sons.

There were also those who defended the woman. According to postwoman Marina, residents are simply jealous of her due to the large benefits she receives.

«I can»t say anything bad about her. No one ever stole anything. There is envy that she gets money.«

One of the residents stated that two more of Irina«s children are in an orphanage. Previously, two other children died. The woman did not deny this, although at the beginning of the show she said she had seven children.

«The two children who died, did you kill them, or did they fall out of the crib, or did you smother them with your breast, and two are in an orphanage? How many children do you have? Why are you silent?» asks a neighbor.

The head of the education department, school staff, and the settlement head reported that they have not received mass complaints about this family. They have not come to the attention of the Juvenile Affairs Division (PDN) and guardianship authorities.

«There is undoubtedly a problem, but we are solving it at the school level. I don»t think the problem needs to be taken to a global level. She has mostly boys. All boys fight, not just hers. It«s just personal animosity between mothers,» said one of the school staff.

The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has taken an interest in the large family and ordered a report on everything about the progress of the criminal case under the article «Negligence.»