Survey of Russian Perceptions

Survey of Public Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Children in Russia’s Orphanages

Commissioned by Kidsave International
Conducted by CSR Market Research Company
With funding from the James R. Greenbaum, Jr. Family Foundation
Distribution and publication support provided by IREX and the Gorbachev Foundation
January 2004 

The following is an excerpt from the Executive Summary:

• Russians believe the problems of Russian institutionalized children are urgent. The biggest concern is the future of orphans after being emancipated from the orphanages – the issues of housing, support systems, jobs, and education.
• While Russians exhibit great empathy toward the children, most (92%) believe the government is responsible for their care. Eight of ten Russians have never considered raising an orphan.
• The people who may be making the greatest difference in orphans' lives are the four percent (4%) who currently have some involvement with the children.
• When considering adoption, Russians prefer to adopt babies or toddlers and "true" orphans. However, the vast majority (95%) of children in Russia’s orphanages are social orphans and most of them are older children.
• Time and money are Russians' greatest concerns about personally being able to help an orphan. Confusion regarding current adoption law is also an issue.

Government, business and nonprofit organizations must work together to create opportunities and incentives encouraging citizens to provide the type of help that will allow orphaned children to grow into productive members of society.

The complete Executive Summary (approx. 50 kb) is available online at
ftp://annex.kidsave.org/pub/Survey_Russian_Orphans.doc.