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International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid to Russian OrphanagesDear Colleagues:
The attached paper was presented at the ARNOVA 26th Annual Conference in
Indianapolis, IN in 1997. It could be used for reference or your on-line
library. I can also send you graphs and HTML file for this article.
I'm also interested in joining your group of experts. Here is my info:
Mikhael Airumian, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Chekhov Foundation,
a nonprofit organization working with at-risk populations in Eurasia,
particularly orphans, orphanage graduates and the disability community.
Fields of expertise include NGO management, public health, disability
advocacy, displaced peoples and humanitarian assistance issues.
Best regards,
Mikhael Airumian
mikael@airumian.com
Phone/Fax: +1 301 270-8455
International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid to Russian Orphanages
J. Susie Baker, Director, Information Center for Aid to Russian Children
Mikhael Airumian, MD, PhD, Program Director, Russian Orphanage
Association
ARNOVA
The foundation of our paper is based on a survey of Russian baby
orphanages, jointly conducted by the Information Center for Aid to
Russian Children and the Russian Orphanage Association. The purpose was
to create a central database including demographic information about
each baby orphanage, financial status, material and personnel needs and
information about humanitarian aid received. In 1996 these surveys were
sent out to the 257 baby orphanages in Russia. 86 of them or 33%
responded. Before I begin talking about humanitarian aid and
international cooperation, I would like to back up a little and explain
what exactly a "Russian baby orphanage" is and give you a little bit of
historical background. An large number of orphanage facilities are still
operating in the Russian Federation, a legacy passed on from the Soviet
era. The number of orphans is continually rising, mostly due to the
ever-lowering standard of living, the country's economy and government
infrastructure. The number of ethnic minorities in orphanages is on the
rise as well, probably in part due to instability and war in various
parts of the former Soviet Union. The different types of orphanages fall
under government administration overseen by three different Ministries,
with a few exceptions. Family children's homes, something similar in
principle to American foster homes, appeared in Russia after the breakup
of the Soviet Union according to a new law that went into effect in July
of 1992. Such homes were established in only a few regions, mostly in
the area surrounding Moscow, and are overseen by the Ministry of
Education. It has not become a widespread solution because of problems
with government and lack of funding. Legally, the family children's
homes fall under government jurisdiction, but functionally the families
are on their own. Many of these families did receive large houses (as
opposed to apartments) and large cars or minivans as a form of
assistance, but government regulation and follow-on support never
materialized. The foster parents receive a monthly stipend for each
child but inflation has made the stipend almost worthless. The orphanage
system is divided into three sections depending on the age of the child
and according to disabilities, if any. You can see that a child who
becomes an orphan from birth goes through a minimum of three separate
orphanage facilities, each answering to a separate Ministry under the
government.
First a baby orphanage, then a children's home and finally a
school-internat. If a child is disabled, he or she is usually sent to a
special orphanage and segregated according to disability. The system is
based on segregation and doesn't consider the basic rights of children
as set down by the United Nations, which Russia has agreed to on paper.
Imagine this scenario: Four siblings separated in age by 2 to 5 years,
one of whom has Cerebral Palsy. In this situation the kids would each
live in different institutions. Within a single institution children are
also segregated by age group. The child with CP would be sent to a
special orphanage only for kids with CP.
Now I would like to turn your attention to the facts, which characterize
the Russian orphanage system:
There are currently around 500,000 orphans from birth to age 18. Clearly
there is no unanimous agreement on this statistic. Our information comes
from data published by the Moscow Center for the Rights of Children in
March of 1997 and our own count.
In each baby orphanage there are 50 to 200 children with an average of
100.
There are various reasons why a child might live in an orphanage. 95%
are social orphans which means their parents are alive, but either gave
up their child to an orphanage or have had their parental rights revoked
which is the case for 40% of social orphans. Usually parental rights are
revoked due to alcoholism or jail sentences. Only 5% are true orphans.
On average, every 100th child born is sent to an orphanage directly from
the maternity hospital.
70% of baby orphanages are specialized for children with disabilities
and chronic illnesses.
Financing of baby orphanages is the responsibility of the local
government. The cost to sustain one child in an orphanage is 20-40%
higher than in a family children's home and is much higher than the
average Russian family spends per child.
According to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, international adoptions of
Russian children have increased every year as follows: 1992-324;
'93-746; '94-1,087; '95-1,894; '96-2,432.
Information regarding orphans with disabilities:
80% of orphans are considered mentally disabled (includes learning
disorders). 20% of this group are severely mentally disabled.
An international commission led by Baroness Caroline Cox of the British
NGO Christian Solidarity International audited the diagnoses of that 80%
who were considered mentally disabled. After their investigation they
recommended that most of the diagnoses be amended or even reversed.
Doctors have historically encouraged mothers to give up their child if
there is the slightest indication that the child might not be considered
normal.
90% of orphans with disabilities are capable only of studying in special
education schools because of the sub-standard education they receive,
and their actual or perceived disabilities.
Obviously there are many reasons why an orphanage director or a system
of orphanages would turn to donor organizations. Since their money comes
from the local governmental budget, their financial status is by
definition unstable. Most orphanages don't receive all the money
allotted, and they may receive nothing. Money is budgeted only for food,
medicines and salaries, so there is no investment in development,
continuing education of staff, or even toys. This is not to say that
orphanages themselves are not responsible for becoming cost-efficient.
Reforms must come both from above and within the orphanage system. Any
orphanage could save a significant amount of money if it was run like a
private business as opposed to a government entity. As in any
government-run facility there is much waste and unnecessary personnel,
but they are reluctant to give up anything they already have. In
general, western government-funded aid organizations have not really
focused on implementing programs solving social problems. The focus up
to this year has been mostly on development of small business,
agriculture and natural resources; environmental protection; and various
other types of technical aid. Within Soviet society, orphans have always
been an isolated subgroup. They have been isolated to the point that
according to the Soviet government, orphanages didn't exist, although
they have always received funding by the government. Even today there
have been no steps toward integration, and people in general are not
opposed to status quo. Incorrect diagnoses of mental disabilities and a
lack of support systems for at-risk families have contributed to the
high numbers of social orphans and to the general disdain towards
them. Each of the facts and figures indicates that the research we have
begun, so far only with baby orphanages, exposes only the tip of the
iceberg of problems, disorganization, and inefficiency of the Russian
orphanage system. A goal of our research is to expose the rest of the
iceberg and help domestic and international donor organizations
understand how they can best help orphanages. So how does all this relate
to international cooperation and humanitarian aid for Russian
orphanages?
Donor organizations can look at the survey results and give aid
according to need instead of randomly giving out aid that may or may not
be needed. It is important to note that the last three categories
indicate a new and positive tendency. If we had conducted our survey 5
years ago in the period of difficult economic restructuring, we would
have expected a 100% need for the first 5 categories, with no perceived
need of the last 3. The survey results are as follows: 40% of baby
orphanages have never received any international humanitarian aid, 60%
have received aid but not on a regular basis. Only one baby orphanage
receives international aid regularly. The term "regularly" in the survey
doesn't necessarily mean that the orphanage will receive the same amount
of aid at the same time every year. An example of what it may mean is
the following: The orphanage might know that a Organization A will bring
them aid, say, on Christmas and Easter in two minivans and that they can
send a list beforehand so the organization can bring them what they
need. Organization B may send them clothing in the amount and sizes
necessary. Medical supplies might come from Organization C, an adoption
agency that has facilitated adoptions with this orphanage in the
past. Regarding domestic aid, 43% have never received aid from Russian
sponsors, and 57% receive aid but not regularly. According to our
observations, orphanages could and should cultivate relationships with
their communities, domestic and international aid organizations and
private donors. They are as much to blame for the lack of cooperation
and inefficiency as the government. Orphanage staff have not been
trained in fundraising or community connections, they don't know how to
do publicity, how to work with donor organizations or how to keep
contact with them. In fact, most people in Russia would not even think
to do any of these things on their own. The third goal of our research
project is to connect orphanages with appropriate training programs for
professional development and skillbuilding. One of the things orphanages
can do is find out which countries are the aid givers and find out how
to make contacts with organizations in these countries:
Interestingly enough, the distribution of aid roughly follows a
geographic guideline by donor country. The basic principle at work is
that the aid recipient and donor country are located near each other.
For example, in the Russian Far East, Japan leads in aid giving, in
Northern Russia, Sweden is the main aid-giver, International Aid
Organizations focus on the major cities, notably Moscow and St.
Petersburg. For Germany and the United States, there is no regional
preference. And aid from New Zealand comes in the form of help to
certain orphanages, which have been involved in adoptions through one
particular agency. What are the fundamental problems that humanitarian
aid organizations face when attempting to assist orphanages?
More than anything else, it is a lack of even basic information about
the specific needs of and the number of children living in any given
orphanage, let alone the fact that there exist 257 baby orphanages which
are different from children's homes and internats. In other words, how
do you find them and once you have found them, what do you give them?
Unverifiable and false perceptions about the orphanage situation. It's
similar to the perception by westerners that there is no toilet paper in
Russia and tourists should bring lots of pairs of Levis to sell to
Russians desperate for style at any price. This is an outdated
perception as are most perceptions by westerners about Russia. Useful
and verifiable information is key. It is not unusual to read several
different articles with contain contradictory information without
citations of the sources. Again, the example of 90% of orphans landing
in prison or jail in the first few years after they leave the orphanage
system. According to data published in 1996 by the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, there were 150,000 orphans in school-internats and 30%, not
90%, of them ended up in jail in the first year after graduation from
the internat. 3,000 of these children did not have a place to live and
1,500 committed suicide. But we must consider the source when using
statistics published by the Russian government. They are not known for
their accuracy in reporting.
One major complaint from the recipients of foreign aid is that the food
and clothes they receive are old, and medical supplies are expired.
Distribution of aid is at best unreliable and at worst corrupt. In some,
but not all, cases the dishonesty of Russian partner organizations and
orphanage staff often results in the orphans receiving nothing. However,
there is an overwhelming feeling by many donor organizations that the
bunny slippers meant for the 200 children at Orphanage X are on exhibit
atop the television sets of local officials and friends of orphanage
employees as a symbol of their self-importance. This actually happened.
Orphanages need to keep their integrity, cut down and/or assist with
bureaucracy, and prove to donors that the aid is being used
appropriately.
Russian customs. Often it is with great persistence and difficulty that
humanitarian aid makes it through Russian customs. Unreasonable
taxation, official documents with stamps and signatures, ever-changing
laws, and bribes are all part of the process. There was one case where
doctors from the U.S. voluntarily came to St. Petersburg to do heart
operations and all their equipment was stuck in customs for the entire
duration of their stay. It seems that Russian society itself does not
want to help Russian orphans.
How can these problems be solved?
First the hunger for information must be fed. We have published our data
and distributed it to donor organizations, but this is only a start. The
next step is to collect and publish needs assessments of all facilities
in the orphanage system.
Establishment of an incentive and support system for orphanages which
are only beginning to follow the trend toward development, efficiency
and self-sustainability. The orphanage itself must understand the need
to improve professionally and that regular seminars and conferences with
participation by foreign specialists are also a form of humanitarian aid
that can be cultivated.
Form a network of NGOs to support orphanage development. This should be
a cooperative effort including the Russian Orphanage Association and one
that would offer as many inexpensive training programs on pertinent
issues as possible.
Development of crisis centers and parental training for at-risk families
to reduce the number of social orphans; and sexual health centers and
community centers to educate teens in order and reduce the number of
social orphans giving birth to social orphans and to improve orphans'
social skills.
And it is absolutely necessary that the Russian Orphanage Association
and all branches of the orphanage system work with the government on
reforms, learn how to lobby for their best interests, especially
concerning the passage of laws affecting them.
Tasks:
Use database as a tool for information distribution to aid donors,
recruit potential donors, lobby for reasonable customs, oversee
distribution, follow-up site visits, improve relationship between
community (possible donors, volunteerism) and orphanages, model training
center after business programs to teach self-improvement (dishonesty may
stem from inferiority complexes, entitlement issues, poverty), move from
goods to education & implementation.
Selected Resources: Christian Solidarity International conference
proceedings: "Orphans of Russia: Problems, Hopes, Future," U.S. Embassy,
Moscow, "Prava rebenka" publication by the Moscow Research Center for
Human Rights, St. Petersburg Times.
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