Participants of the meeting included representatives from various grassroots movements and NGOs, including mother of many children Yulia Shuldeshova, who takes in foster children, chairperson of the Russkaya Bereza charitable fund Oksana Garnaeva, board member of the Russian Children’s Fund Tatiana Shishova, coordinator of the Save the Family interregional NGO Anna Kislichenko, deputy director of the Public Centre for Legal Appraisal and Legislative Drafting Activities Elena Timoshina and others.
“This year is starting off with a great deal of government and public activity drawing attention to the fate of orphans. The country has a serious ‘social orphan’ problem: currently, 83.4 percent of children at orphanages have living relatives,” Pavel Astakhov stressed.
Russia Without Orphans Federal Targeted Programme for 2013–2020 was proposed by Pavel Astakhov to President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the end of 2012. The project is being presented for public discussion at the www.rfdeti.ru web portal.
Pavel Astakhov presented the initiative to implement the Russia Without Orphans Federal Targeted Programme in 2011. Prospects for this programme were discussed at the 5th Congress of Commissioners for Children’s Rights from Russian Regions, which was held in April 2012 in St Petersburg, and also became the subject of discussion by governors, experts, and dedicated specialists during Pavel Astakhov’s inspection visits to the regions.