Russian orphanages

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When considering adopting a child, it is important to the parents to know the circumstances that the child is coming from. For many parents, adopting a child living in less than favorable conditions and being able to offer him or her a better life is a motivating factor. In Russia , the problem of children without homes and the deplorable state of many orphanages is a huge one. While it is important to recognize that some orphanages are better than others, and that many hard-working and caring people are doing their best to remedy the situation, the overall condition of orphanages is a very sad one. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union , there has been more access to facts about Russian orphanages.

The Ministry of Education estimates that Russia has over 650,000 orphans, and only about 1 in 100 of these children will ever be adopted. It is estimated that around 113,000 children are abandoned to the state each year. What is shocking to discover is that 95% of these children still have at least one living parent.

Because of the long-depressed economy in Russia , it has become more socially acceptable to relinquish children to the state than it would be in more affluent countries. The financial and social problems of the country have made it difficult for many parents to raise their children.

Not only are the social and economic factors that lead to such a high rate of abandoned children a problem, but the system in place for handling orphans is extremely flawed as well. Once an infant or child is placed into care of the state, a process of labelling or "diagnosing" him or her is used that can be disastrous for the child. First of all, the stigma of being an orphan in itself is a life-long stigma that will make it very hard for the child to be accepted into Russian society once he is grown. But within the orphanages, the labelling is even more severe. Despite International Human Rights laws forbidding the discrimination of a person due to their birth or social status, this is often what happens. Children or infants that would normally be viewed as "at-risk" due to certain circumstances, are automatically given diagnoses, such as "encephalopathic", even though this may not be true. According to Human Rights Watch, children who are orphans will automatically be classed as mentally deficient, and even one physical malformation (such as a harelip or speech defect) will make them be viewed as "subnormal" by Russian doctors.

Once they are labeled as "defective" in some way, these children are considered worthless cases and often live in horrible conditions. There is very little chance for re-assessment later in the system, and so once the label is there, it sticks, whether or not it is something that could have been corrected or may never have developed to begin with. As one over-burdened doctor, working in a large orphanage stated, "it is true that the state medical commission is often too quick to diagnose a child as "retarded" or "disabled". Resources are stretched to the limit, and we have no staff to bring up all these children properly. The easy way is just to say nothing can be done with them, and that's what happens all too frequently." Often these diagnoses become self-fulfilling, because as a child is forced to live in inadequate physical and emotional conditions, their growth does become delayed and faulty. For example, an easily fixed condition such as cleft palate, when left untreated can leave a child unable to eat or speak properly.

Infants who are abandoned live in what are called "dom rebyonka" or "baby houses," until they are four years old. At five years old, those who are labeled retarded are considered "ineducable" and are sent to psycho neurological internaty, where some of the worst neglect occurs. Those who are considered "educable" go on to the "dyetskii dom" or "children's home," where they usually attend Russian public schools or are educated within the home itself.

It must be remembered that there is variation within the orphanages, but the overall problem is that there are not enough resources, and they are not allocated in the right way, to ensure that all children have a decent life in the orphanage without their basic human rights being violated. Often times the lack of correct physical and emotional care and nurturing leaves the children with physical and social mal-developments. Children who leave the orphanages at to enter society as adults often have these strikes against them, along with the social stigmatization of being an orphan. The result is that 1/3 of these people become homeless upon leaving the orphanage, and 1/5 resort to committing crimes just to survive.

There are attempts being made to reform the situation. Suggestions have been made to help families learn to cope for children with disabilities, as well as to stop doctors from pressuring parents to give them up. Also helpful would be the re-allocation of funds to support foster care rather than institutions for the children. For example, in an experimental attempt, half the children from Children's House 19 were given to foster families. As a doctor from the facility says, "We pay professional foster parents, often unemployed women, to do what we cannot; give the children some sort of normal family life." Just the simple acts of individual attention, touch, being talked to, warmth, and proper nutrition has been shown to do wonders for these children.

For parents looking to adopt, providing a home for a child from a Russian orphanage is an opportunity to make an incredible difference in a child's life. Despite the conditions they endure in the orphanage, most parents find that their adopted children are extremely resilient and are able to make up for any physical or emotional delays given a healthy and loving environment. Given the crisis of abandoned children and over-burdened institutions in Russia , adopting a child from these orphanages is one of the best things a parent could do.