The largest family in Russia: 74 adopted children and a sea of love

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Sorokin family is the record holder for the number of adopted children in Russia. Sometime around Christmas, the girl Tanya had a wedding for herself and a lot of kids. That year she really went down the aisle and gave birth to her first daughter, and a little later - a son. The fate was such that, in addition to their tomboys, Tatyana and her husband Mikhail began to take children from dysfunctional families, babies with serious illnesses and problems of intellectual development into their home … In total, the Sorokins have 76 pupils, each of whom lovingly calls them mother and dad.

Tatiana and Mikhail Sorokin are a unique family. In their youth, they did not think about adoptive children, but by chance, living in a hostel, they looked after a one-year-old girl, whose mother had left to arrange her fate. The woman returned after five years. Instead of taking her daughter to her, she placed her in an orphanage. Over the years, Tatyana has become so attached to the baby with her heart that she immediately applied for adoption.

The Sorokins have two children of their own, the daughter was born healthy, but the son was disabled, now he is almost completely blind. Perhaps that is why Tatiana and Mikhail never refused to adopt children with various diseases. They were one of the first to adopt two boys with a hare lip. At first, their appearance frightened Tatiana, but after consulting the doctors, she learned that the deformity is treated with plastic surgery. Tatiana decided to take care of both boys, despite the fact that in the orphanage they asked to take at least one into the family. In addition, Tatiana and Mikhail nursed children with cerebral palsy, gastrointestinal tract problems, pathologies of the genitourinary system … Before the Sorokins in the Rostov region, no one dared to adopt children with special needs.

The Sorokins have been looking for the correct model of relations with children for a long time. At first, they were afraid that their biological parents would be looking for them, they changed the names of the pupils, and then they realized that no one was looking for anyone. In adolescence, children are necessarily offered to meet with their parents by blood, at 13-14 years old, adolescents already want to know who they are. However, such meetings are rarely happy, because such parents often live in poverty, get drunk and show no interest in their matured children …

There have been many difficult cases in the history of the Sorokin family. So, the 74th adopted child turned out to be "twice a refusenik". The boy was abandoned by his own mother, and then by his adoptive mother, because she could not cope with his hyperactivity. In the Rostov region, the Sorokins are known in all boarding schools and orphanages, so in especially difficult cases they immediately call them with a proposal to take a replenishment into the family.

There was also an absolutely incredible story: the Sorokins adopted a boy, nicknamed Mowgli. The child was born while his mother was in prison. When she was released, he had already grown a little. His mother took him with her to harvest fruits and vegetables, where she got a job for the summer. However, having received the first salary, she ran away, and the child remained in the field. As a result, he lived like this for almost a month, joining a pack of dogs, wandering through the fields, hiding from people.

They found him on a melon, he was emaciated and run wild. At first, the boy was given to be raised by an elderly couple who had already raised their children. However, they could not find a common language with a child whose vocabulary was limited to a few words. For several years spent in the Sorokin family, the Mowgli child learned a lot, began to speak and caught up with his peers in development.

The Sorokins' pupils, for the most part, are doing well in life: they get an education, build their families (by the way, Tatiana and Mikhail already have more than 6 grandchildren). But there are those whose fate was unfavorable: three children were serving sentences in prison for robbery, several boys could not overcome the craving for alcohol. When they try to reproach Tatyana for this, she replies that anything can happen in life, and not everyone manages to overcome genetics, the addiction of parents. Although dry statistics testify: the vast majority of pupils are honest, hardworking and disciplined people.

Today Tatyana is raising children alone, her husband Mikhail died in 2013. It is difficult to manage the household, but the older sons and daughters help. At the same time, about 20 people live in the house. They buy food in bulk (after all, at least 15 loaves of bread are eaten per day, and borscht is cooked in a 5-liter saucepan), stationery (now there are 12 schoolchildren in the family), household chemicals.

Tatiana is an active public figure. She did a lot to popularize the idea of creating family orphanages, and now in the Rostov region there are more than 20 such houses with a total number of about 150 pupils.

The story of another Russian - Anton Kudryavtsev - also did not leave our readers indifferent, because single father of six kids found a life partnerwho became their mother.