Street Children and Orphans in Eastern Europe

1
Street Children and Orphansin Eastern Europe

• Tatiana Balachova, Ph.D.
• Barbara Bonner, Ph.D.
• University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
• Sheldon Levy, Ph.D.
• Brown University

2
Categories of Children Who are Not in Parental
Care

• Street/homeless children (UNICEF, 1986)
• Children on the street
• Children of the street
• Children in substitute care
• Institutionalized children

3
Definition of Street Children

• "Any girl or boy for whom the street has become
  his or her habitual abode and/or source of
  livelihood, and who is inadequately protected,
  supervised, or directed by responsible adults."
• (Ortiz et al., 1992)

4
Backgroundprior Perestroika

• No Street Children in Developed Soviet
  Societies
• State is taking excellent care of orphans
• No recognition of physical/sexual child abuse
• Severe child neglect recognized
• Data on negative issues were closed
• State control on parents response to a childs
  needs
• Medical care provided for all children by the
  state
• National newborn home visitation programs

5
Care for Orphans and Street Children in Soviet
Union

• Police Collection and Distribution Departments
  (Priemnic-Raspredelitel) in big cities
• Babys home (Dom Rebyenka) state orphanages for
  infants age 0-4
• Childrens home (Dyetskii Dom or Internat)
  state orphanages/institutions for children age
  5-17
• Boarding institution (Spets-Internat
  (Psychoneurological Internat) for physically or
  mentally disabled children age 5-17

6
Impact of the Transition

• Greater democracy and freedom
• Economic impact
• fall in wages and family income /37 of Russians
  income below living wage
• (Russian minister of Labor and Social
  Development
• report to the Duma/Parlament, Oct. 2000)
• rising unemployment
• extremes of income inequality
• gtgtgtgtPoverty
• Over 160 million people or 40 of the region
  population live in poverty (European Childrens
  Trust, Oct. 11, 2000)
• 50 million of them children
• 40 million of these children live in the former
  Soviet Union

7
Impact of the Transition

• Loss of social safety network
• Health crisis
• increase in mortality rates / nearly 25 of the
  population will not reach the age of 60 (European
  Childrens Trust, October 11, 2000)
• poor health
• disruption of health care system
• Education (schools and day care)
• lack of resources
• falling enrollment and attendance

8
Number of Street Children

• Romania
• Estimated up to 20,000 street children in Romania
• (beginning of 1999, 5.2 million children age
  0-17 in Romania)
• Russia
• Estimated from 1 to 4 million street children
• Estimated 50,000 children run away from their
  homes every year
• (beginning of 1999, 34.9 million children age
  0-17 in Russia)

9
Dynamics of the Numbers

• Russia
• - number of registered orphans between 1993 and
  1997 increased by 30
• - number residing in institutions increased by
  35
• - children in foster families (mostly relatives)
  46
• - number adopted was consistent, increased by 2
  
• Romania
• Abandonment of children in state institutions has
  increased between 1990 and 1995 by 26 percent
• (Child Hope)

10
Street Children, Children in Shelters and
Institutions Who are They?

• 90-95 of children in orphanages are social
  orphans who have a living parent (UNICEF, 1997)
• 98 children in shelters have a living parent
  (Balachova, 1994)

11
Factors that Drive Children Away from
Home Alcohol Abuse

• Most children in shelters reported parents
  alcohol abuse (Balachova, 1994)
• Most children in state-run institutions had a
  parent who was either alcoholic or had legal
  problems with authorities (Gribanova, 1988)
• 82 of alcoholic fathers were found to be
  aggressive (verbally threatening and physically
  violent) toward their children (Christov
  Toteva, 1989)

12
Factors that Drive Children
Away from Home Physical Abuse and
Neglect

• 92 of street children reported that they had run
  away from their families or institutions because
  of physical or other abuse (Jhumki Basu, 1998)
• Preschool enrolment rates dropped between 1989
  and 1999 by 10 in Russia, 21 in Ukraine, 15 in
  Albania, and 29 in Moldova (UNISEF report, 8,
  2001)
• 5 of primary school students in Russia are out
  of school (UNISEF Report, 1999)

13
Children in State-Run Institutions

• Children in institutions are at significant risk
  of premature death (Ministry of Labor and Social
  Development)
• With higher death rates in Internats for mentally
  disabled children (UNICEF)
• Approximately 30 of children in special
  institutions for disabled die before they reach
  age 18 (Ukraine, 1996, Human Rights Watch)

14
Children in State-Run Institutions

• Mortality rate is due in part to crowding, poor
  hygiene, and low standards of care (UNICEF)
• Many children are at increased risk from their
  underlying conditions
• The incidence of malnutrition disorders, rickets,
  and anemia increased in Infants Homes by 75
  respectively between 1989-1994 (UNICEF)

15
Children in State-Run Institutions

• From 5 to 7 times more likely to have behavioral,
  cognitive, and communication problems than
  children in general population
• 65 have mental retardation or learning problems
• (Shipitsina, Ivanov, Vinogradova, 1997)

16
Children in State-Run Institutions Outcomes

• On graduation from a state institution for
  mentally disabled at age 18
• 18.3 became vagrants
• 10 involved in crime
• 10 committed suicide
• (Alternative Report on the Convention
  on the Rights of the Child, October 1998)

17
Elements of New System

• Shelters and social-rehabilitation centers have
  sprung up to provide a more humanistic system
• Alternatives to institutional care are in their
  infancy
• foster care
• family group homes
• family reunification programs

18
Recommendations Primary Prevention

• Public education to increase awareness of child
  abuse and neglect, and to alter public attitudes
  toward orphans
• Parenting programs for parents
• Training for primary health care child care
  professionals
• Reestablish after school community programs

19
Recommendations Secondary Prevention

• Services for children with special needs their
  families
• Services for single parents, multiple children
  families, and other families at risk
• Early intervention for families of alcoholics and
  drug addicts

20
Recommendations Tertiary Prevention

• Services for street children with interventions
  on different levels
• street work
• shelters
• foster families
• Establishing of child abuse reporting and
  investigation system
• System of short- and long- term substitute care
  with respect of childrens needs/rights
  deinstitutionalization
• Training on CAN for staff at institutions/shelters

21
Policy Recommendations

• Development of child protection laws procedures
• Definition of child abuse neglect
• Reporting laws
• Punishment for offenders
• Protection for victims
• Investigation procedures
• Mandatory treatment services