Social orphanhood in society is an inevitable phenomenon for all social structures. Those children who for some reason were left without parental care fall under the category of social orphans. The low standard of living in Russia and the asocial behavior of people lead to the fact that in some families, children are recognized as orphans, even with their parents alive. In order to influence the situation, the state is implementing a program to prevent neglect and social orphanhood. You can read more about it in this article.
Social orphanhood
What is social orphanhood? This concept has two definitions. The first implies a phenomenon in which there are children in society who are left without parental care. The reasons can be different - death, deprivation of parental rights or serious illness. A social orphan is a child who has living parents, but they do not take part in his upbringing. As a rule, this is due to material or physical impossibility to care for a child. However, they often deprive the rights of parents with severe dependencies. In this case, the guardianship authorities decide to isolate the child from his parents for his benefit.
Where did social orphanage come from? The concept of "baby house" first appeared during the Soviet Union. But such institutions appeared much earlier. Just when people lived in communities, children without parental care were entrusted to one of its members. Unfortunately, in the 21st century the situation has changed significantly. A number of economic and political crises, the destruction of the institution of the family led to the fact that the number of refuseniks began to increase rapidly. Despite all efforts to reduce orphans, the situation continues to be sad.
Causes
According to the UN Convention, the development of the child most fully occurs in the family. A sense of security and affection for significant adults are essential for harmonious development. In orphanages, children inevitably receive psychological trauma, almost all have a developmental delay and subsequently experience difficulties with socialization and independent living. What are the main factors of social orphanhood?
- Population aging. Caring for a rapidly aging older generation lies with middle-aged people. Long exhausting care for their elderly parents leaves no time for creating their own family.
- Decrease in the number of official marriages. As the institution of the family gradually breaks up, often single fathers or mothers find themselves unable to raise their children due to financial or other difficulties.
- Generation gap. Previously, grandmothers and great-grandmothers helped raise the younger generation, but now mothers are left alone with their problems. This contributes to an increase in social orphans.
- Cases of severe birth defects. Children who are sick from birth are often abandoned even in the hospital.
- Childbearing age too early.
- Lack of an effective adoption program for orphans.
- Child abuse.
- The growth of alcohol and drug addiction.
Children are the future of the whole world, therefore the state should first of all take care of their well-being. Therefore, in Russia there is a program for the prevention of social orphanage and family problems, which is aimed at reducing the number of refuseniks.
Which government agencies are responsible for prevention?
Unfortunately, in Russia there is no comprehensive system for combating and preventing orphans. Neither common goals nor common approaches have been developed. There is no coordination between the various program executors. Often, individual programs are implemented only in large cities, and in the regions there are no structures at all. The main forces of the state are aimed at identifying cases of abuse in the family and at effective adoption. However, if you think about it, prevention of social orphanage could eliminate all these problems and save a significant part of the budget, allowing children to stay in the family.
The main role in the prevention of orphanage is played by guardianship authorities. But the small number of personnel does not allow covering all the problems that are in this area. Activities to prevent social orphanhood are also carried out by the Commission on Minors. The responsibilities of this organization actually duplicate the tasks of the guardianship authorities. As a result, this leads to a decrease in overall efficiency. Two organizations are “throwing” things to each other, which does not contribute to reducing the number of orphans. According to official documentation, the Ministry of Education is considered the main state agency responsible for orphans. At first glance, this does not look very logical, but most of the children's and baby's homes belong to this particular Ministry. It becomes clear that the state begins to struggle with orphanhood after the abandonment of children. It is not surprising that further measures do not bring much effect.
Prevention of social orphanhood
As we have already found out, at the moment there is no prevention of abandonment of children at the state level. The exceptions are programs that are held in large cities. No funds are allocated from the federal budget for these purposes. But many well-known experts have repeatedly devoted their time to the study of this problem and identified several tasks that can change the situation. The first thing to do is to start educating the public about awareness of the problem itself. Often people know only two types of struggle against orphanage - adoption and guardianship, but there are much more of them. Sexual education lessons in schools would help prevent unwanted pregnancies and, as a result, abandonment of children due to their young age and inability to raise them.
Psychological services could also provide considerable support. Indeed, often parents who refuse to have more choice and who, due to circumstances, are forced to do so, refuse children. At the moment, the only form of support in this area is the hotlines, calling on which people can get a little consultation. However, in the long run, more serious measures are required to improve the current situation.
Also, people rarely think about adoption. The society is dominated by negative views regarding orphans. Many are sure that only alcoholics and drug addicts leave their children, which means that normal members of society cannot turn out of them. However, these are only prejudices, and a great deal of work needs to be done to eliminate them.
Moscow program
A large social project to prevent social orphanage exists in Moscow. The program consists of the following actions:
- Accompanying needy families with specialized specialists.
- Identification of requests for assistance in the initial stages as an early prevention of social orphanage.
- Transformation of the network of boarding schools and orphanages into family assistance centers, which will consider the main task of placing the child in a loving family.
- Training of qualified specialists in the field of child protection.
- Material and social encouragement of adoptive parents.
- Collaboration with non-profit and charitable organizations.
The monitoring of the implemented programs is carried out by the Department of Social Protection. He monitors the work of local governments and coordinates their work. Such a model is quite effective and allows you to share useful experience and quickly achieve the intended results.
Program effectiveness
This program has made a number of changes to the current situation. According to the reporting documents, in several years it was possible to achieve the following goals:
- Reducing the number of street children.
- Reducing the number of expulsions of children from the family in case of threat to their life or health.
- Reducing the number of parents deprived of parental rights.
At the moment, most children without parents are in families under the guardianship of guardians. This is an incomplete form of custody. Only 20% of the total number of children placed in families were adopted. This only confirms that adoption is still little known in our country and many treat this type of guardianship with caution.
St. Petersburg Program
At the moment, in St. Petersburg there is no clear system for the prevention of social orphanhood. The custody of children without parental care is mainly provided by the homes of the child or baby. But activities to prevent orphanhood are carried out not only at the state, but also at the private level. One of these companies is the charity “Promotion”, the resources of which are aimed at supporting families in difficult situations. These are single mothers, young mothers, families with disabilities. The organization considers its main goal to preserve children in their own families. How does "Promotion" plan to achieve it?
- Identification and assistance to those women who are pregnant and at the same time are in a difficult situation.
- The work of volunteers under the guidance of specialists.
- Legal assistance to parents, for example, in obtaining housing or social benefits.
- Targeted assistance (food, medicine, clothing).
- Informing the project about the general public, social advertising.
Social Orphan Prevention Foundation “Strengthening the Family”
However, Progress is not the only charitable organization that deals with the problem of orphanhood in Russia. The Foundation for the Prevention of Social Orphans is the largest organization that runs a program called Strengthening the Family. The main feature of this program is that specialists work not only with the parents of the child, but also with other relatives. This allows you to establish a comfortable and friendly atmosphere in the family, to mitigate conflicts between generations.
Work on the prevention of social abandonment is carried out by various specialists. Currently, the organization’s staff includes:
- psychologists;
- social workers;
- lawyers;
- educators.
An integrated approach to strengthening families is carried out in those sections of society that are at risk. Parents in them for various reasons may lose their parental rights. To identify such families, the Fund works closely with guardianship authorities and performs part of its functions. In particular, work is being carried out with the following families:
- low-income families below the poverty line;
- families with an HIV-positive parent;
- families whose parents are registered with the drug treatment clinic;
- families with people with disabilities or mental illness;
- families whose members want to restore parental rights.
Currently, activities to prevent social orphanhood are carried out in the Moscow, Pskov, Vologda, Orel regions, as well as in Kazan and St. Petersburg.
Children's Village
One of the important projects of the Family Strengthening Foundation is Children's Villages. This is a community that includes 10-15 families and 5-7 children. A very curious and unusual project for the prevention of social orphanhood, which mainly involves children from orphanages or foster families. Foster parents or “temporary” mothers and fathers live in each house, who teach children socialization, independence and self-care. Each family in the Children's Village has its own budget and daily schedule. In order to make it easier for a child to adapt to such conditions, other, older peers help him. This project solves the problem of adapting graduates of orphanages in society. As a rule, their further life after graduation does not add up, since they do not receive the necessary socialization skills. During their stay in the Children's Village, children develop close relationships with many other residents. Children receive extracurricular education lessons and go to kindergarten or school.
