The number of orphans in Russia has more than tripled over 10 years: from 187 thousand to 51.8 thousand. Experts note that healthy babies There are practically none left in orphanages. However, over the past three years, there have been fewer disabled people in orphanages, including those with such serious diagnoses as cerebral palsy and Down syndrome.
According to information from the federal data bank on orphans and children left without parental care, there are now 51.8 thousand children in Russia who are not placed in a family. This is 4.2% less than in October 2016. In just the last ten years, the number of orphans has decreased by more than three times (from 187 thousand people in 2006). The head of the Usynovite.ru portal (online version of the state data bank about children), Armen Popov, told Izvestia about this.
He clarified that in seven months of this year, 29.9 thousand orphans and children left without parental care were identified, and 42.6 thousand were placed in families. That is, one and a half times more children were found in families than hers. lost.
The trend toward a reduction in the number of children in orphanages began five years ago. For example, from 2013 to 2014, the database of children became smaller by 12.4 thousand people.
According to Armen Popov, this result was achieved thanks to targeted government policy and a change in society’s attitude towards foster families. He noted that there are more and more families who are ready to take in a child even with such a diagnosis as cerebral palsy (CP). For example, the Moscow Knyagin family is raising seven adopted children, among whom is a child with cerebral palsy. This year she became one of the laureates of the Moscow city award “Wings of the Stork”, which was established by the capital’s Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population for her contribution to the development of the family structure of orphans.
Armen Popov said that in the Moscow data bank 55% of children are disabled, and 75% are teenagers 16–17 years old. But in last years There is a persistent trend - disabled children are increasingly leaving orphanages and ending up in families. Thus, in the capital, from 2013 to 2016, the number of children with disabilities placed in families increased from 58 to 211 people.
We notice that foster families are increasingly taking in children with Down syndrome. This was a question for me, but in the process of communicating with my parents, I understood why they do this. These are children who are especially “giving” emotionally, so to speak. If you do good to them, they pay them back in kind. It’s not for nothing that they are called “sunny” children,” explained Armen Popov.
According to the federal data bank on orphans, in 2016, 1,863 children with disabilities were adopted or taken into care. And according to Rosstat, the number of disabled children raised in orphanages began to decrease in 2013 (minus 11.6%). In the next two years, the decline rates were 20.6% and 13.5%. And in 2016 - 3.9%.
The first deputy chairman of the commission for the support of family, motherhood and childhood of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Yulia Zimova, told Izvestia that most disabled children are adopted and taken into care by residents of large cities. The infrastructure here is better developed, and payments and benefits for foster families are higher. There are also many foster parents in the south of the country - among people living in private houses with their own plots of land.
According to the president of the Volunteers to Help Orphans Foundation, Elena Alshanskaya, there are fewer orphanage residents in Russia, as deprivation of parental rights occurs less and less often. According to Rosstat, from 2009 to 2016, the number of mothers and fathers whose children were taken from them decreased from 72 thousand to 41.3 thousand people.
Guardianship employees began to behave more carefully. But this is not enough, says Elena Alshanskaya. “Unfortunately, they do not have professional training, are based on a subjective decision and do not cooperate with organizations that could offer assistance to the family.
In addition, the number of abandoned babies in maternity hospitals is decreasing. The creation of regional services for the prevention of newborn abandonment plays a role here. According to statistics from Usynovite.ru, from 2013 to 2015, the number of children abandoned by their mothers at birth decreased from 5.8 thousand to 4.4 thousand.
02/08/2019 The Ministry of Education will submit a bill on changing the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government .
February 8 in the Public Chamber Russian Federation Hearings were held on the bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Protection of Children’s Rights.” The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation T. Yu. Sinyugina.
During her speech, T. Yu. Sinyugina said that the department is ready to submit a bill to change the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government.
We have met with you several times over the course of six months. And the reason for our meetings was an interested and caring conversation and work on a bill, which today is ready for us to submit to the Government,” said T. Yu. Sinyugina.
For information
In December 2018, members of the Interdepartmental Working Group under the Ministry of Education of Russia prepared a bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Protection of Children’s Rights.” The bill was posted on the federal portal of draft regulations for wide public discussion.
The bill contains new approaches to the transfer of orphans to families that will develop the institution of guardianship and improve the conditions for training people who want to take an orphan into their family.
For the first time, the bill proposes to introduce the concept of “escort” into federal legislation. It is planned that this authority will be vested in authorized regional authorities and organizations, including non-profit organizations.
The document pays special attention to the adoption procedure; a provision has been added on the procedure for reinstating adoptive parents in the responsibilities of parents if they were previously deprived of this opportunity.
Grisha is the fourth child of Sakhaya Ivanova. When the baby was four months old, it turned out that he was seriously ill. It was not possible to make a diagnosis at the place of residence in Yakutsk. But I managed to send him to Moscow to the world-famous Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology named after Dima Rogachev.
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Dynamics of orphanhood since 2000
Currently, various ministries, departments and state statistics bodies collect a significant amount of statistical and analytical information regarding orphanhood and family dysfunction. However, much of this data is not publicly available, making it difficult to analyze and publicly discuss. However, even on the basis of available statistical data, it is possible to assess the current situation in the field of orphanhood, as well as to trace the direction of the dynamics of ongoing processes.
In Russia, from the 1990s until the middle of the last decade, the number of orphans and children left without parental care, as well as the number of orphans identified annually, increased (Fig. 2). This is explained, on the one hand, by the significant deterioration in living standards that occurred as a result of the economic crises of the 1990s, which led to the marginalization of certain segments of the population. And on the other hand, the development of a system for identifying families and children in disadvantaged conditions during the same period. However, as can be seen from Fig. 2, starting from the mid-2000s, these indicators in absolute terms have been gradually decreasing. Thus, if in 2004 the number of orphans and children left without parental care was 726.9 thousand, then in 2005-2006 it decreased to 726.6 thousand, by 2010 - to 682.9, by 2011 - up to 664.5, and by 2012 - up to 649.6 thousand.
Figure 2. Number of orphans and children left without parental care
Source: data from the collections “Russian Statistical Yearbook”, forms 103-RIK
The reduction in absolute indicators of the number of orphans and children left without parental care observed from 2005-2007, however, is not associated with the positive effects of the policy implemented in the field of orphanhood, but with the ongoing reduction in the total number of children in Russia as a whole. This is evidenced by the dynamics of the share of orphans and children left without parental care in the total number of children in Russia aged 0 to 17 years. As can be seen from Fig. 2, this figure increased until 2009, when it reached 2.8%, and only after that it began to gradually decline.
When calculating the total number of orphans and children left without parental care, Rosstat includes in its consideration children given up for adoption, as well as those transferred to all types of family placements. This approach is not entirely correct. When placed for adoption, children lose their orphan status, are legally fully equal to their own children and lose all connection with the system of institutional structure and state support for orphans. The situation of children placed in various forms of guardianship and trusteeship, in foster families or family-type children's homes, also differs from the status of those living in institutional institutions - primarily in terms of living conditions, psychological and emotional comfort, opportunities for socialization and adaptation to independent life.
The dynamics of the number of orphans and children left without parental care, minus those given up for adoption and those placed in family placements, in comparison with the total number of orphans, is shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen that the absolute number of orphans and children left without parental care living in institutional institutions has been gradually declining since 2004, while the other two indicators have shown a downward trend only since 2007. Probably, this ratio of indicators can be considered as evidence of gradual institutional changes in the system of placement of orphans that have been taking place over recent years, aimed primarily at the spread of family forms of placement.
Figure 3. Number of orphans and children left without parental care, taking into account various forms of placement
Source: Russian statistical yearbook for different years.
A distinctive feature of Russian orphanhood is its “social face”. The share of biological orphans in the total number of orphans and children left without parental care still remains below 20% (Fig. 4). From the mid-2000s to 2009, the share of biological orphans in the total number of identified orphans decreased, and at the same time their absolute number decreased. Since 2009, against the backdrop of a continuing trend in the dynamics of the absolute number of biological orphans, there has been an increase in their share in the total number of orphans and children left without parental care. This situation is explained by the drop in the total number of orphans noted above. The combination of dynamics of absolute and relative indicators observed in recent years may generally indicate the presence of positive changes in the system for identifying families in crisis, the gradual emergence of primary preventive work with families and the prevention of the removal of children.
Figure 4. Share of biological orphans and children younger ages in the total number of orphans and children left without parental care identified annually
Source: Form 103-RIK data.
How many orphans and disabled children are there in Russia? What forms of adoption are there? What reforms should there be in the prevention of orphanhood? What are the stereotypes of how an orphan is perceived? What to do to adopt a child? Figures and facts.
Walter Langley, The Orphan (1889).
There are about 650 thousand orphans and children left without parental care in Russia. At the same time, as of September 2013, there were about 100 thousand children in Russian orphanages (the majority of orphans - more than 500 thousand - are being raised in families).
In Russia, there is a trend towards a decrease in the number of children left without parental care identified in one year. During 2012, 74 thousand 724 such children were identified (in 2011 - more than 82 thousand).
At the same time, there is a steady trend towards a reduction in the number of children placed in families for upbringing. In 2012, 58.8 thousand children were transferred to family placements (in 2011 - 67.5 thousand, in 2009 - 86.6 thousand). On the one hand, this is due to a reduction in the number of children identified annually as being left without parental care, as well as a reduction in the number of pupils in organizations for orphans and children left without parental care. On the other hand, this may be explained by the fact that there are many disabled children, teenagers or children with a strong attachment to their birth family left in orphanages. It is difficult to place these categories of children in families (for comparison: in Ukraine the number of children transferred to family forms of education is growing every year).
Today in Russia, about 85% of orphans are social orphans, that is, children with living parents (5 years ago this figure was less than 75%). In Russia, a system of working with a child’s birth family and preventing social orphanhood has not yet been built. IN Lately in Moscow and large cities the first steps are being taken in this direction (for example, the Moscow Department of Social Protection in 2013 developed and adopted the Concept of a model for the prevention of social orphanhood, which, however, has not yet begun to work). Until now, guardianship and trusteeship authorities operate within the framework of a binary paradigm: leave or take a child from the birth family. A system of social services and family support in difficult times has not been developed. life situation. There is still a shortage of NGOs that are capable of taking on the functions of helping a specific family.
Among the orphans in orphanages there are 17.5 thousand disabled people. In total there are 576 thousand disabled children in Russia. In most cases, these children are disabled with mental disorders. Although in 2013 the allowance for a disabled child was increased, and the amount of a lump sum payment for those parents who accept disabled children for adoption was increased, state support does not cover even one tenth of the needs of such families.
In Russia, the secondary education system does not meet the needs of disabled children; there is a lack of qualified rehabilitation and health care, such children are deprived of further social and educational prospects. Disabled people with mild mental or mental disorders cannot get a job (whereas in developed countries, for example, people with Down syndrome are required to be hired simple work). Many potential adoptive parents are stopped by the fact that after the death of the adoptive parents (in most cases, the adoptive parents are people of middle and older age), the disabled person is doomed to social death - placement in a psychoneurological boarding school, where he will be isolated from society for the rest of his life and will certainly lose all acquired social skills. A way out of the situation could be the organization of training apartments, private houses for people with disabilities to live together under supervision healthy people etc.
In connection with the so-called Dima Yakovlev law (a ban on the adoption of Russian children in the United States), the topic of orphans and their adoption in Russia received wide publicity and attention.
By 2018, the Russian government has set a goal to halve the number of orphanages. Over the past four years, the number of state orphanages has decreased from 1,770 to 1,344 (data as of May 2013). In Moscow in 2013, state orphanages were focused on placing children in families: each orphanage received the appropriate order, the fulfillment of which determines the salary and further employment of the directors of the institutions. Over the course of several years, it is planned to maintain two types of orphanages in Moscow: small-scale (less than 30 people) and family-type orphanages. In accordance with the presidential decree of December 28, 2012, an item on the proportion of children left without parental care was added to the list of indicators for assessing the effectiveness of the executive authorities of the country’s constituent entities.
In 2012, Russia adopted the “School of Adoptive Parents” program, within the framework of which targeted work began with those families who intend to adopt a child. Currently, there are about 50 such schools in Moscow, and they are also open in other regions.
In 2013, a reform of the system of orphanages began in Moscow, where an infant left without parental care is forced to stay for up to 5 years. During this time, the child loses significant development due to lack of attention, communication and, in fact, through the efforts of the state system, is forcibly protected from all needs except vital ones. In Moscow, 7 orphanages have been closed; starting from 2014, it is planned to transfer the remaining 10 institutions to the jurisdiction of the social protection department (previously they were under the jurisdiction of the health care department) and establish a process for the prompt transfer of children to families there. Unlike Moscow, the problem of orphanages is still relevant for other Russian regions.
In order to avoid a situation where the child remains in a medical institution without attention and supervision, it is necessary to think through a mechanism for the prompt transfer of newborn children to professional foster families. While the issue of the rights of the birth parents is being resolved, the child must live in a professional foster family, which, if necessary (returning their rights to the birth parents), will be obliged to return the child to the birth family.
Photo from the site http://fishki.net/anti
The procedure for placing a child in a family
In Russia, there are 5 forms of family placement for orphans and children left without parental care:
— adoption;
— guardianship (trusteeship);
- creating a foster family;
- temporary placement of children with families;
- creation of a foster family.
Adoption assumes that all the rights and responsibilities of an adopted child are equal to the rights and responsibilities of natural children. In most cases, this form is used when we're talking about about babies.
Guardianship- a form of placement of minor citizens under 14 years of age (from 14 to 18 years of age - guardianship), in which the corresponding duties are performed, as a rule, free of charge. Most often, guardianship of the ward is established by his relatives.
Adoptive family- guardianship or trusteeship of a child or children, which is carried out under a foster family agreement concluded between the guardianship and trusteeship authority and the foster parents or foster parent, for the period specified in this agreement. The guardianship authorities undertake to check and help the adoptive family. Adoptive parents receive a monthly remuneration and funds to support the child.
Temporary placement of children with families– transfer of children to families during holidays, weekends or non-working periods holidays and in other cases for a period of no more than 1 month. As a rule, it is used in emergency cases while relatives are collecting documents for guardianship or foster care.
Patron form of the device- is currently almost not used. The difference between foster care and guardianship and adoption is, first of all, that this form allows for the selection of families, professional training and support of the family after the adoption of the child.
Basic requirements for adoptive parents:
- adulthood;
— no cases of restriction of parental rights, removal from duties of a guardian, foster parent, or adoptive parent;
— legal capacity;
— no criminal record;
— absence of medical contraindications;
— permanent place of residence that meets sanitary standards;
- income that provides the child with a standard of living not lower than the subsistence level;
- undergoing preparation for adoption.
Steps to Adoption:
— Obtaining the status of a candidate for adoptive parents
— consultation with guardianship and trusteeship authorities;
— training at school for foster parents;
- collection necessary documents;
— obtaining a conclusion on the possibility of becoming an adoptive parent;
— registration with the guardianship authorities.
— Selection and introduction to the child
— acquaintance with the general database of children left without parental care;
— receiving referrals for acquaintance and getting to know the child;
- making a decision on adoption.
— Judgment
— obtaining a conclusion from the guardianship authorities on the advisability of adoption;
- the court's decision;
- preparation of documents.
Problems of placing children in a family
Despite a number of positive changes, the country still does not have a system of assessment and qualified control over foster families. Schools of foster parents are limited in their powers and in fact cannot issue negative conclusions about the possibility of placing a child in a family, and guardianship and trusteeship authorities are very often not competent enough to adequately resolve this issue. In addition, a system for training specialists in the school of foster parents has not been developed.
As before, many orphanages, especially homes for disabled children, are semi-closed institutions where access for volunteers and public organizations is difficult (the exception is Moscow, where government institutions are required to admit volunteers). Many state-run orphanages still house more than 100-200 children, undermining the idea of individual care and attention for each child.
In the process of adoption The interests of the potential adoptive parent, rather than the child, are put at the forefront. The official website, where the federal database on children left without parental care is published, literally involves selecting a child by eye color, hair color, etc. The system is built on the principle of a store and is based on an attempt to persuade potential parents to take a child, whereas in world practice it is not the parent who is matched with the child, but rather the opposite – the parent is matched to the child. In order to change this approach, it is necessary to rebuild the system and create a database of adoptive parents. A parent must be selected for a particular child depending on individual qualities child and his characteristics.
Not many people in Russia decide to take orphans into their families. This is often associated with stereotypes: a negative attitude towards the fact of adopting a child, the desire of parents for the mandatory success of their (adopted) child. For various reasons, having an adopted child in Russia is considered shameful. Foster parents in most cases wish to adopt blue-eyed, beautiful babies whom they hope to raise as their own children. TO real situation(most children are teenagers over 10 years old with their own sad childhood history or disabled) many are not ready.
In Russia, the number of children of labor migrants, mostly of non-Slavic origin, is growing every year. Due to problems with documents, parents of such children do not apply to government agencies, while there is an obvious shortage of non-state institutions to help migrant children.
Statistical information taken from open sources (website usinovite.ru, RIA Novosti, statements by P.A. Astakhov, O.Yu. Golodets, etc.)
I ask everyone to read this article - regardless of your attitude towards Vladimir Putin and the opposition, regardless of your attitude towards the Dima Yakovlev Law. And please read to the end. Because this article gives only facts - without emotions.
There is another reason for my request. After the large-scale event, amazing information began to appear on the Internet. Supporters of Putin and the Dima Yakovlev Law report an exorbitant number of orphans in the United States (they cite the figure as 600 thousand and at the same time sarcastically ask: why, in this case, do not Americans adopt their children?). Also, information has surfaced from somewhere that only 5% of adopted orphans are alive - and the rest are used for organs... In short, Putin’s supporters are trying to convince people that Americans are allowing Russian orphans for organs, eating children and doing other bad things. ..
Let's look at the situation.
Number of orphans in the US
First of all, it should be noted that any talk about the exact number of orphans in the United States is pure fantasy. For no one has such data - and it can’t be. For one simple reason: currently in the USA (as, by the way, in other developed countries), there are no orphanages . There are temporary shelters for children until the child is placed in a foster family, I don’t argue. But there are no orphanages at all. And that's why.
Of course, in the United States (as in any country) there are many children left without parental care. But the fact is that the modern American system of helping children left without parental care is structured not like in Russia, but fundamentally differently.
200 years ago in the 19th century, the first orphanages were created in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. But nowadays they simply don’t exist anymore. The basis of American assistance to orphans is foster families (from the English term to foster - to raise children).
What is a foster family? ? A foster family is a form of temporary placement into a family of children who find themselves in a difficult life situation, with the purpose of rehabilitation, changing the situation in the blood family, and, if impossible, transferring them for adoption. The purpose of this form is to realize the priority right of the child to live and be raised in a family, proclaimed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Foster family is an alternative form of placement used in cases where, due to objective reasons, it is impossible to use such priority forms of placement of children as adoption or guardianship. A child is transferred to a foster family on the basis of a civil contract; in some countries, an employment contract is additionally concluded between the foster teacher and the child placement service(source - monograph by Manzhula E.V. “Civil regulation of the activities of family educational groups”, Publishing House “Academy of Natural Sciences”, 2010, ISBN 978-5-91327-092-4).
If a child finds himself in a difficult life situation (parents have died or are in prison, etc.), then by court decision he can be transferred to a foster family. It happens like this: first, the child is placed in a special institution awaiting transfer to foster families, where he stays for several days. During this time, a foster family is selected for him. When handing over a child who finds himself in a difficult life situation without adult care, it is initially assumed that he will not stay in the foster family for long: no more than a few months. During this time, the guardianship authorities are looking for a permanent home for the child and are looking for relatives who are ready to take him in for upbringing.
But in practice everything turns out to be more complicated. As a rule, it is not possible to resolve the situation quickly. And most children stay in foster families for a long time. After some time, the child may end up in another foster family, then in a third, etc. Some children grow up in foster families without finding their own home.
Many children in the United States are adopted. Most often, it is the foster parents themselves. But the fact is that this is often impossible. And that's why.
According to American laws, biological American parents have enormous rights to the child, and therefore can, after some time, return the child to themselves through the courts. Therefore, it is not so easy to hand over such American children for adoption - especially if the child’s parents are not deprived of parental rights and the child is placed in a foster family for a while (for example, if the parents are in prison). According to American statistics, only 20% of children living in foster families can theoretically be adopted.
According to Wikipedia, at the end of 2010 there were 408 thousand children in foster care families in the United States. 48% of them (194 thousand children) lived with non-relative foster parents, 26% (103 thousand) - in foster families of relatives, 6% (25 thousand) - in group homes, 9% (37 thousand) - in waiting institutions transfers to foster families. 50-60% of children from the foster care system return to their parents. About 100 thousand children from the foster care system are awaiting adoption.
In addition, it should be noted that the process of adopting American children in the United States is very complex. This is why the vast majority of Americans choose to adopt abroad!
Comparative statistics for the USA and Russia
As already mentioned, at the beginning of 2011, 408 thousand children were registered in foster families in the United States. As for the Russian Federation, according to official statistics, the total number of children left without parental care registered at the end of 2011 was 654,355 children.
Let's make a comparison table:
conclusions
From all of the above it follows:
- It is simply impossible to compare head-on the system of assistance to children without parental care in the United States and Russia: they are fundamentally different.
- The relative number of children left without care in Russia is three times higher.
- Americans adopt children abroad because it is very difficult, and often almost impossible, to adopt an American child in the United States.
PS. Appeal to Putin's supporters
Gentlemen, I assure you that there is not the slightest gloating in my words and conclusions. I'm just simply stating the facts. And one fact - you are being deceived. You have become a victim of deception.
From a purely human perspective, I understand you perfectly: it’s unpleasant for you that Putin and his entourage - that is, the people you trusted and sympathized with - turned out to be deceivers. Believe me, I know from myself: this is extremely unpleasant (and that’s putting it mildly)! But it's better to know the truth.
And when you know the truth, you can draw conclusions.
