[5]The Assistance to Russian Orphans (ARO) Program, was a multi-phase project that improved the lives of thousands of Russian children by developing innovative health and social services, promoting child welfare reform, and training healthcare and social welfare specialists.
IREX and its primary partner, the National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NFPCC) made tremendous headway in reforming Russia’s child welfare sector and advancing child welfare policy dialogue on federal and regional levels. ARO was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)*.
ARO aimed to stop the unprecedented growth in child abandonment in the Russian Federation by providing each child with access to education, the opportunity to live in a stable family, and the ability to become a productive member of society. Even following a boom in Russia’s economy in recent years, child abandonment has remained a major problem, with over 730,000 orphaned and abandoned children reported by UNICEF in 2007. The Russian government has devoted more attention to this issue over the past several years, encouraging an enabling environment for reforms and increased support from federal and local governments.
This project is now closed.
*ARO was a multi-phase program that included ARO1 (1999-2002), ARO2 (2002-2006) and ARO3 (2006-2010). IREX and primary partner NFPCC implemented ARO2 and ARO3 from 2002 to 2010.
• Promote sustainable change in the Russian child welfare system through support for government reform initiatives
• Support family-based care programs for orphans and abandoned children
• Standardize and institutionalize innovative services and programs for at-risk families and children
Partnership building between government and child welfare NGOs. ARO built partnerships between child welfare NGOs and local government to leverage scarce resources, improve social services, and bring transparency and urgency to legislative initiatives, as well as to ensure local ownership of these activities.
Promotion of effective social service assistance for families and children at risk of abandonment. ARO specialists worked with communities to identify the causes of child abandonment at the local level, design and implement new social support services to meet the needs of at-risk children and families, and link service providers to create a comprehensive child welfare system.
Training and education of child welfare professionals and future social workers. ARO conducted comprehensive training for social welfare professionals on topics ranging from case management to the provision of emergency psychological assistance to at-risk youth by telephone. ARO also prepared the next generation of social welfare professionals by working with local universities to develop curricula that included best practices for schools of social work.
Public mobilization and advocacy to solve problems surrounding child abandonment, neglect, and abuse. ARO staff worked with local child welfare activists, government authorities, and community-based service providers to increase awareness of child welfare services and reprioritize government policies and funding away from institutional care and toward preventive and foster services.
Created over 900 new abandonment prevention and family-based services in target regions
Provided training and supervision for over 4,000 participants from government, child welfare and social support sectors
Engaged over 600 governmental and nongovernmental organizations in developing and reforming community-based abandonment prevention systems
Developed over 156 legal acts to improve the child welfare system and serve as the legal basis for social abandonment prevention systems