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In Russia, approximately 130,000 children are registered as orphans annually due to death or abandonment by their parents, or because they have been removed from their homes for their own protection. While some are moved to the care of relatives, nearly 200,000 orphans are currently growing up without families in state institutions.
In 2001, Kidsave launched its first in-country program in the Smolensk region of Russia, connecting Russian orphans with Russian families who hosted them during the summer, holidays and weekends. Today our programs are operating in Moscow, Smolensk, St. Petersburg, and on Sakhalin Island. To date, nearly 1500 children have participated in our three primary programs.
Family Visit Programs – Connecting orphans and caring adults
Our family visit programs in Russia connect orphans with caring host families for summer, holiday and weekend visits. These visits allow the children to experience family life, and give host families the chance to get to know the children in a comfortable environment. As a result of our program in Smolensk, more than 1000 orphaned children have moved out of orphanages or have long term connections with caring mentors. On Sakhalin Island, after just two years in operation, 177 children had moved to families and three orphanages were able to be closed as a result of our efforts. Currently our Sakhalin group is working with children as soon as they enter local shelters to connect children back into families at the earliest possible date.
Malenkaya Mama (Teen Mother) – Breaking the cycle of child abandonment
 Each year, thousands of children are born in Russia to teenage mothers, many of whom are orphans themselves. These children are often abandoned by their mothers who have no parenting skills, no way to care for these infants, and no caring adult to offer help and advice. Thus the cycle of abandonment and orphaned youth continues.
In 2004, Kidsave introduced the Malenkaya Mama ("Teen Mother") program in St. Petersburg, designed to teach teenage mothers and orphaned pregnant teens how to care for their babies. Young mothers work with trained social workers and psychologists who assist them in establishing strong, healthy parent-child relationships, and work with them to obtain access to government benefits and find housing and jobs. To date, 54 young women have participated in the program and all are continuing to live with the babies and not place them in state care.
School of Life – Preparing orphaned children for independent living
 As in many countries around the world, Russian orphans are emancipated from the child welfare system at age 18. Most leave the orphanage without a high school education, unable to support themselves and with no caring adult to support them.
Kidsave's School of Life program helps prepare older youth for young adulthood and independent living. In the School of Life program, older orphans are taught how to write a resume and find a job, create a budget, shop wisely, and what their rights are with regard to housing and government subsidies. Once emancipated, youth continue to meet on weekends in a therapeutic "School of Life" Club, receiving the ongoing support they need to transition into healthy adulthood. The program has served hundreds of youth and continues to grow.
Advocacy
For 10 years with the Russian non-governmental organization Right of Child, Kidsave has advocated with government and in the media for the rights of orphaned and abandoned children growing up in institutions, and for the need for permanency for all children. Through publicity, workshops and seminars, we work to change attitudes and reduce legislative and policy barriers so that more Russian children will have the opportunity to grow up in family-based care with connections to caring adults.
Training the Trainers (TOT) – Expanding our Reach
As Kidsave programs in Russia have demonstrated success, the goal is for these programs to become sustainable by being adopted by their local government child welfare systems. In mid 2008, Kidsave's Smolensk program become sustainable, integrated in the child welfare structure in the region. The Smolensk NGO created and supported by Kidsave now receives the majority of its funding from the Russian Federal and local administrative governments. On Sakhalin Island, after only two years, the Department of Education integrated Kidsave's family placement program into the government system and has also created a Regional Center for Family Placement. As of January 2009, Kidsave’s representative office in Sakhalin achieved independent status as a Russian non-profit organization, Kidsave Sakhalin, thus expanding the reach and sustainability of Kidsave programs in Russia.
So that our successes can be replicated in other places, Kidsave has developed educational materials and seminars to train child welfare professionals (social workers, psychologists, etc.) who work with orphans in permanency and family-based care models. Once trained, these professionals can go on to engage and train orphaned children, families and mentors to participate in family visit programs, and provide selection, pre-placement evaluation and family matching and post-placement support and monitoring. To date, Kidsave has trained more than 450 child welfare professionals in Russia and continues to focus on regional training and capacity-building. Over the next five years, these professionals have the potential to change the lives of more than 125,000 Russian orphans.
For more information about Kidsave's programs in Russia, please contact Tatiana Stafford, Russian Program Director at Tatiana@kidsave.org, or Olga Pastushenko, Development Director and Head of the Representative Office at olga@kidsave.org.
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