Court Grants Parenthood To Russian Mother In Baby-Swap Case

The families involved in a baby mix-up (from left to right): Yulia Belyayeva, Irina Andrushchak, Nemat Iskandarov, Anya Iskanderova

A Russian court has granted parenthood to a Russian woman whose daughter was raised by a Tajik family after hospital workers gave two babies to the wrong families shortly after their birth some 13 years ago.

The court in Chelyabinsk Oblast recognized Yulia Belyayeva as the mother of her biological daughter Anna, meaning her name will appear on Anna's birth certificate.

Belyayeva discovered last year that she has been raising a daughter who wasn't her biological child after her former husband allegedly contested his fatherhood.

DNA tests showed that neither was a parent of the girl.

Investigators subsequently determined that Belyayeva's biological daughter was being raised by a Tajik family in Chelyabinsk.

Both sets of parents have won a financial settlement from the hospital over the 1998 switch.

With AFP and Ria Novosti reports