Orphans In Russia™ - Help Us Reach Children At Risk in Russia!

Understanding what it means to be an orphan in Russia is hard to grasp at first. When I first came to Russia to work with orphans, I just felt sorry that they had to live under such poor conditions in overcrowded orphanages. However, the more familiar I became with the hardships Russian orphans face, the more I realized the scope of the problem.

Many orphans in Russia today exibit severe emotional disorders such as Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) to an extent that is unheard of in other countries. Thousands of children in Russia are abandoned every year, and from the day they are born they are subject to levels of neglect that negatively affect their development.

Upon "graduating" from Russian orphanages between the ages of 16 and 18, only 10-20% of orphans "survive" the next two years. the rest end up addicted to drugs, involved in prostitution, arrested and put in jail, or committing suicide.

I have come to realize that any plan to help Russian orphans must include the whole family.

Why is the number of Russian orphans still growing every year?

Over the last century, we have seen a breakdown of the family unit in Russia. It is difficult to say exactly how and when this problem began; we simply see the results of this absence of family values. The problem was caused in part by the great number of Russian men that died during 20th century wars leaving many families fatherless. Following this, the fall of communism brought freedom to the Russian people; however, it also brought a freedom from all the old moral restraints, resulting in a rejection of any standard of moral value. Since that time alcoholism and drug addiction have become the hallmark of many Russian people. Today, in the typical Russian family, one or both parents are severely alcoholic, and the father is often absent altogether. As a result, more and more children are growing up in orphanages or on the streets making Russian children an extremely at-risk group. In recent years this problem has become so acute that the government has decided to intervene and call 2008 “The Year of the Family.”

(To Be Continued...)