MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. American foster parents, who are seeking to cancel adoption of their Russian children on the grounds they knew nothing about the children’s health condition, did know their diagnoses, since they had a complete dossier on each child, Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov told TASS on Monday.

A US couple is demanding court cancel adoption of two Russian children who they claim are mentally ill. The foster parents claim that they learnt that their adopted children were not siblings only after the adoption whereas the adoption agencies said they were.

“They want not merely to surrender the children, they are seeking to cancel adoption, alleging the children’s diagnoses were somehow concealed from them. This is utter nonsense,” Astakhov said, adding that the American foster parents had a complete dossier on each child and had a right to consult any doctor. Moreover, they had a right to ask additional medical information before the adoption.

The children were adopted in April 2008 through two US agencies — Spence-Chapin and Cradle of Hope. The couple, residing near New York, claims the agencies described the children, who were six and eight at that time, as healthy and socially adapted. But shortly after the adoption, they say, it became evident that the children had serious health and mental problems. They even claim the children threatened to kill them more than once.

Since mid-2012, the children, who are now 12 and 14, have been staying at a mental hospital in the State of New York. If court cancels the adoption, the children will be placed under guardianship of the state and either will remain in the medical establishment or will be adopted again. An open trial on that case is expected to begin later in October in Mineola, New York.