State Duma passes bill allowing Russians with HIV to adopt children already living with them

Russia’s State Duma has approved the third and final reading of a bill that allows people with HIV, hepatitis C, and other viruses to adopt children who are already living with them.

Russia’s ban on adoption from state-approved facilities for individuals with certain conditions will largely remain in place, but the new bill will allow judges to make exceptions for “already formed family relationships” in which the adoptive parent and the child live together. The legal change was prompted by a Constitutional Court decision that found the country’s ban on adoption for HIV-positive individuals partially unconstitutional.