Orphanage Reform

From the Moscow Times:

"Russia Struggles to Reform Soviet-Era Orphanages"

Twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, about 371,700 children are growing up in state institutions, according to figures that the Russian government presented to the United Nations in 2011. Russia’s orphan population is as large as that of some of its provincial cities. And along with other former communist countries, it has one of the highest rates in the world. Only 30 percent of these “orphans” have no parents. Many fall into the system when their parents, often fighting a losing battle with alcohol or drugs, are denied their parental rights or give up their child. Almost half in this “orphan city” have disabilities or special needs, and their parents are encouraged to send them to an institution. In 2006, then-President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to cut the number of children living in institutions, delivering a speech that evoked unease about population decline and foreigners adopting Russian children. As Putin prepares to return to the presidency, the birth rate has started to creep up, but the number of children in institutions remains stubbornly high. Children with Down syndrome are still being dismissed as ineducable, and their parents are advised to hand them over to an institution, said Sergei Koloskov, founder of the Down Syndrome Association, which he started in 1993 after refusing to give up his daughter. “There are practically no alternatives for disabled children,” he said. Disabled children have scarcely been included in the deinstitutionalization effort and are far less likely to be adopted.

^ I have never visited a Russian orphanage, but did visit an instution for disabled children in Yaroslavl. My Russian teacher didn't want me to go and even encouraged me to forget the idea as she was scared to go into the building. Nevertheless I wanted to see it for myself and so went. I toured the run-down building and met some of the children. Most had mild mental retardation (I was told those with severe disabilities go to other institutions in Siberia.) Some of the children had parents or grandparents, but very few ever had visitors. The woman I spoke to there said that it is in the Russian nature to view the disabled as a curse and to place them in State instutions and forget about them - out of sight out of mind. I found that very disgusting. When I told the woman that I had worked at an overnight summer camp for the mentally and physically disabled for 4 summers she just couldn't believe that the disabled were allowed outside the institution - even for a week at camp. I found it very disgusting the way these children were treated (I never saw any abuse or anything like that when I was there, but the idea that because they were disabled and discarded made me upset.)

The system needs to be fixed from the top-down. The disabled need to be in separate group homes according to their disbaility and level of understanding and taught to the best of their ability. The orphans (and Russians should note that an orphan is a child up to 18 years old that has NO PARENTS!) should be put in an orphanage and given the same education as children in public school, The children with parents that can't keep them should be put in their own group home and also taught the same as in public school. The whole idea is to treat them like the human-beings they are and to get them ready for when they are adults, leave the group homes and can contribute to society in a positive way. Right now it seems the Russians are simply throwing all of them together and giving them the bare basics and hoping the problem just disappears - that hasn't worked in the part 20+ years since the Soviet Union collapsed and it's not going to change until the Russian Government and people work to make the conditions better for these children. ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-struggles-to-reform-soviet-era-orphanages/455659.html