Shegrew up in an orphanage in the city of. When she was a baby, her mother passed away. Nobody really knew who the girl’s father was. Her grandmother couldn’t take her in because it was difficult for her to care for a sick child.
Zoya Kukushkina was taken into foster families several times, but then returned because she constantly required labor-intensive and expensive treatment.
For a week, the spouses continued to talk about in their family. They read about her illnesses on the internet, talked to specialists, and other adoptive mothers who had children with similar diagnoses. In the end, their affection for this little girl overcame their fear.
“We called the regional operator again, informed them that we would come to Zoya, bought tickets to the region. I sent scans of the tickets to the guardianship authorities so that they knew we were coming and didn’t issue a direction specifically for this child,” Tatiana recalls. At that time, she couldn’t fly immediately to Zoya—she was in the hospital with her younger son, who was undergoing another course of treatment. Denis and Tatiana were sure that Zoya would wait for them.
“The day before our flight, they called us from and said that a woman from had arrived, took a direction to meet Zoya. The guardianship authorities couldn’t refuse her acquaintance with the girl, as the direction is given only in person,” recalls. “As a result, a day before our departure, Zoya was taken by a woman I didn’t know and taken to Moscow! I was inconsolable. All this time, I imagined how we and Zoya and our children would live together. And then—such a blow.”
However, couldn’t change anything. She was left with her grief. She says it was very difficult to forget: “At first, there was a clear understanding that no one else was needed from the children, and we wouldn’t consider anyone else. Then I looked through the profiles of other children again, trying to fall in love with another child like I did with Zoya, but nothing worked.”
The state of complete despair was unexpectedly interrupted by a phone call. The girl introduced herself to Tatiana as the regional operator and said that two months ago, Tatiana’s and Zoya’s story deeply touched her. So, as a precaution, the regional operator recorded the phone number of the unfulfilled adoptive mother. And a little later, news came from Moscow to Kemerovo that the guardian was returning Zoya back to the orphanage.
Tatiana says she didn’t even ask why Zoya was being returned: “Such a strange feeling came over me, as if a distraught mother had waited for her son from the war, and it didn’t matter what condition he came back in—sick, crippled—the main thing was that he was alive and home!” At that time, Denis was on a business trip in Moscow. Tatiana managed to urgently pass the documents to her husband so that he flew from Moscow not home but straight to , for his daughter!
After the first meeting with and the chief doctor of the children’s home, Denis called Tatiana, worriedly told her about the girl’s diagnoses, said that he was truly scared. Denis was given a large package of medications, a scheme for their intake, and he was in complete horror at the hopelessness of it all. He took Zoya, a bag of medicines, and went to the airport.
“Imagine a man and a child seeing each other for the first time. They looked very suspicious on the plane!” Tatiana says. “Zoya was jumping, running, having fun, asking Denis if he was really her dad and who her mom was. My husband didn’t know how to settle her down. Thank God, they flew without incident.”
At the airport, Denis showed Zoya where Tatiana, who was meeting them, was standing, and the girl ran towards her screaming, “Mommy!”
**Medical history:**
Zoya Kukushkina was born weak and sickly. Speaking about her diagnoses, her mother doesn’t go into details. It is only known that the girl is in the 4th health group. This group includes children suffering from congenital and chronic diseases, by adulthood, they often become disabled.
According to , Zoya has a very kind and calm character, and there were no difficulties with adaptation: “The girl easily blends into any environment and any circumstances. At first, she always asked us who among us was her mom and who was her dad? And she always confused us anyway. We found it amusing.”
