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MOSCOW, July 18, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The Russian government’s Investigative Committee says it’s launching an unprecedented criminal case against social workers in Moscow for placing two children in a same-sex home.

Russia bans same-sex couples who “married” in other countries from adopting but has no specific law on homosexual adoption because it doesn’t recognize same-sex unions in the first place, AFP reported. But investigators say the 2010 adoption in question violates a 2013 law banning homosexual propaganda, as the children will be brought up with “distorted ideas about family values, harming their health and moral and spiritual growth.”

“Nothing like this has happened before,” Maksim Olenichev, an attorney with the St. Petersburg-based group Vykhod (“Coming Out”), which may take up the case, told AFP. “We think we need to defend this family from the actions of the state.”

For the moment, investigators are focused solely on the social workers, who may be punished with fines or community service. But Vykhod fears that taking the kids from the home could follow. “It could give the state the opportunity to demand the annulment of the adoption,” Olenichev said. “We think this is unacceptable as the family is established.”

A variety of social science literature supports the view that children are best served by homes with both a mother and a father, as men and women bring distinct strengths and emphases to parenting, and children require guardians and role models of both sexes for development and socialization. Further, numerous individuals raised in same-sex homes have attested that the experience was harmful.

Despite its hardline stanes on LGBT issues, however, Russia is far from a model of pro-family governance. On top of its authoritarian rule, the country is one of the world leaders in abortions per capita and allows surrogacy for profit to run rampant.