In recent years, the Republic of Buryatiya has seen a sharp increase in the number of at-risk families and children without parental support. In response to this phenomenon and to decrease the number of orphans throughout the region, the Republic of Buryatia’s regional government sought out experts in developing a system for prevention and care among these populations.
Located in Siberia, on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, the Buryatia region covers an area roughly the size of Germany and has a population of nearly one-million people. In late 2008, Buryatia’s regional government selected IREX partner the National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NFPCC) to launch a three-year project entitled “Developing a Republic-Wide System of Child Abandonment Prevention and Family Placement for Children in Need.” Based on an effective model developed by IREX as part of the Assistance to Russian Orphans Program (ARO) [7], the project is designed to address child abandonment and develop a system for family placement of children in need in three core stages. The project aims to develop a republic-wide intervention system for child abuse and neglect cases, while moving children from orphanages into family-based care; to establish a system of preventive services for families and children to reduce abuse and neglect; and to strengthen the institution of the family by promoting family values and healthy relationships.
Working in close collaboration with Buryatia’s Agency for Families and Children, as well as with local administrations in pilot sites, the NFPCC continues to be a leader in child welfare and family social services issues throughout Russia. As the selected implementer of several other projects with regional governments, such as in the Republic of Tatarstan, the NFPCC’s nationally recognized standards and expertise are visible in the sustainable child welfare reform it has implemented in recent years across Russia.
Larisa Sanhadova, head of the Buryatia’s Agency for Families and Children, notes, “We can talk a lot about prevention and social abandonment, but only now will specialists be trained on concrete technology that will have an impact.”
Such cooperation is an encouraging illustration of the willingness of governments to tackle such pressing social issues by working with experts to implement systems proven to improve the lives of children in Russia. Combining the commitment of local, regional and federal governments with the methods and models of the NFPCC, IREX and its partners have served over 80,000 children in the past few years through the Assistance to Russian Orphans Program. Through lasting and sustainable reforms, institutionalized systems for abandonment prevention and family-based care, and a cadre of recently trained child welfare professionals, thousands of children and youth across Russia will continue to have the opportunity for a better life.
ARO, supported by USAID, is working to stop the unprecedented growth in recent years of child abandonment in Russia, with the expertise and resources of IREX’s implementing partner, The National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NFPCC).