The meeting was attended by representatives from the Presidential Executive Office, the Department of Education, Higher Education, and Science of the Russian Government, the Federal Treasury, the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Healthcare, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Interior Ministry, and other stakeholder agencies.
In 2022, Maria Lvova-Belova initiated the strategic Children in Families programme which includes the Zero-Four project aimed at reducing the number of infants in orphanages. Within a year, the number of children under four years in fixed-site institutions in 14 pilot regions decreased by nearly 25 percent.
According to the children’s commissioner, achieving this outcome in other regions and for children of different age groups is quite realistic. Maria Lvova-Belova noted that there is no single practice or approach to preventing social orphanhood across the Russian regions. She said that in some areas, interaction with families is often limited to conversations and fines and provision of a minimal set of social services and support. Parents whose children are kept at institutions are not always aware of the available support and ways to overcome difficulties.
The national inspection for social orphanhood prevention system aims to develop family-preserving practices, and ultimately to reduce the number of children in fixed-site institutions nationwide. The inspection in each region assesses the availability of state programmes for preventing social orphanhood and studies the hierarchy and distribution of children institutions.
Maria Lvova-Belova outlined measures to improve the social orphanhood prevention system and to implement family-preserving approaches for the regions which include establishing an interagency commission to evaluate the justified placement of children with the institutions, appointing an adviser or coordinator on preventing social orphanhood and family-preserving technologies at the regional level, assigning staff to oversee cases at institutions, adjusting indicators of state programmes and municipal tasks, and designating an NPO as a region’s leading operator in supporting families.
The children’s commissioner said that, in cooperation with ministries and agencies, several social orphanhood prevention system tasks will need to be addressed, including the training of professionals for social work with families and organising work with parents affected by alcohol addiction. The commissioner’s office has already started promoting comprehensive alcohol rehabilitation programmes in pilot regions.
Maria Lvova-Belova underscored the importance of ensuring children’s safety in remote and highly isolated institutions and the importance of reallocating funds to focus on family support and reducing the number of institutional placements. Additionally, she turned the spotlight on the corruption schemes used in a number of institutions.
The participants stressed the importance of a systematic approach to preventing social orphanhood.