MOSCOW, March 6 (RAPSI) – Parents of a 5-year old girl, who had lived in a perinatal medical center since her birth, challenged a court ruling ordering to foster the child to a protection service, the Moscow City Court’s press service told RAPSI on Friday.

Their appeal is expected to be heard on March 31.

In early February, Moscow’s Presnensky District Court put limits on parental rights of the girl’s parents. They were ordered to pay alimony in the amount of a quarter of their income. The child was fostered to the child protection services.

The parents, Yury Zinkin and Tatiana Maksimova were absent in the court; their lawyers attempted to prove that the child needs professional medical help despite the hospital’s opinion.

According to media reports, the 5-year girl has been living in the perinatal medical center Mother and Child since her birth because her mother believes her child is terminally ill. However, doctors have not confirmed diagnoses voiced by the mother.

In January, the perinatal hospital reportedly applied to the child protection services claiming that the girl may be discharged, but parents do not take her home.

Earlier, another Moscow court considered the matter and held that the girl should be released from the medical center and return home. However, the child protection services found no legal instrument to enforce the ruling; bailiffs failed to give the order of enforcement personally to the child’s parents.

The case sparked public outcry. Russia’s child rights commissioner Anna Kuznetsova also voiced fear in relation to the situation.