Children's homes behind high fences. Impact of coronavirus on orphans

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Emotional burnout occurred in 22% of Russians during the pandemic. People began to turn to psychologists several times more often. The number of cases of domestic violence increased 2.5 times. But the hardest part was for those who were in difficult life circumstances even without the virus. We will tell you how the pandemic affected orphanages, their pupils, guardians and educators.

How has the process of placing a child in a family changed?

Elena Alshanskaya, head of the "Volunteers to help orphans" charity foundation

I can only judge the current situation by those regions from which I have information. It's hard to paint a picture across the country. I know that there are regions where children are very actively taken to families. For the most part, this was done by the educators themselves. At the same time, there are regions where the transfer of children to families has dropped to almost zero, because in March the family device was frozen.

In order for a child to be transferred to the guardianship of parents, they must solve many issues - show housing, get to know the child, collect the necessary documents, undergo a medical examination and confirm it with a certificate not more than three months old. It is very difficult to do all this, when most of the institutions have actually not been working since April due to the coronavirus.

We knocked on the doors of regional and federal departments and ministries with this problem, when everything was just beginning, when there was a chance to do everything. At first, they tried to make it possible to introduce parents to their child in a short format via video link. But the ministries dragged out the approval of our initiative, so a month later the coronavirus came to the institution, including in the groups of those children whose family arrangements had slowed down (and we helped parents to overcome this freeze).

If the regional ministries did not get scared and did not pause the family device, but would allow the transfer of children immediately, they would reduce the risks for them

By mid-April, a letter from the Ministry of Education was issued, which, among other things, we initiated, stating that the family arrangement should not be stopped, that we should try to preserve it even during a pandemic. We began to negotiate that the children would be given to their parents at least under preliminary care, which, according to the law, does not require a medical examination.

Now this process has been started at the very least. We managed to agree with a number of regions on specific cases. But not everyone is ready for online dating. Many are simply afraid that in this way the child will be transferred to a family with which no contact has been established. When opportunities are limited, it is always more difficult.

As for the children themselves, then, of course, the guardianship authorities react to some emergency situations worse than usual. The permanent family arrangement is still on hiatus in many regions. And families receive less signals of violence or threats, only if the actual situation described is urgent, this is understandable. I know that in St. Petersburg they adopted a local act stating that social institutions are closed to receive children. Then, however, after the indignation of local NGOs, the document was canceled. But the number of takeaways, I'm sure, has decreased. I only know of three cases in the last two months. Usually we are contacted for more cases.

Of course, it is very difficult for all children in orphanages now. Closure leads to the fact that the psychological state of adolescents deteriorates. They may behave more aggressively. Unfortunately, we cannot yet grasp the criticality of the situation. Some orphanages tell us that children have become more anxious, there have been several cases of escapes. Other institutions say they are coping and see no change. I don’t know if they don’t see it or if it’s really not. It may well be that the caregivers have become more permanent (they work in shifts for 14 days), and this works, of course, in a plus.

How children in orphanages reacted to the pandemic

Ekaterina Lebedeva, Deputy Director for Development, Changes One Life CF

The quarantine, of course, influenced the work of our foundation. All orphanages were closed for visits, and the filming of video questionnaires for orphans, which we have been conducting since 2012, has stopped - for the first time in the history of the foundation. The family arrangement of the children also stopped almost completely.

It is sad that the children were left completely isolated, because they were no longer allowed out of the orphanage. If earlier the guys had the opportunity to go to school or to additional classes, to take time off to the store, now, of course, it is impossible to do this.

And the worst thing here is not even the fact that the guys spend all their time in front of the TV or at the computer, but the fact that they cannot communicate with their loved ones. For example, they stopped allowing blood relatives, potential guardians and volunteers, who became mentors for many children.

I know of cases when volunteers, at their own expense, even bought mobile phones for children in order to maintain at least some kind of connection with them.

An orphanage already presupposes a life of isolation. And now it only got worse

However, there are orphanages that managed to quickly respond to the quarantine situation and began to give children to foster parents on a guest regime. This is the name of the form of a family arrangement in which a child comes to a foster family for a while (for example, on weekends or vacations).

This form is suitable for children over 10 years old: it can already be explained to children at this age that their parents take them only for a while. And adolescents themselves often choose just this form of family arrangement.

For example, directors of some orphanages openly say to foster parents: "We are ready to help prepare documents faster so that there is no paperwork." At the same time, there are, alas, other examples. There are regions in which parents would like to take the child on a guest regime, but the guardianship authorities do not help to instantly draw up all the documents.

In addition, we at the foundation fear that, due to all the restrictions associated with the spread of the virus, cases of removal of children from blood families may become more frequent. Parents, who lived hard even before the quarantine, lose their jobs, and they simply have nothing to feed their children.

Of course, no one else has accurate statistics. It cannot exist yet. But we have already heard that in some regions the number of withdrawals of children from blood families has increased compared to previous months.

How caregivers' communication with children has changed

Nastya, guardian

When I was in my first year, the student council and I went to a charity trip to an orphanage. Then for the first time I found myself in such an institution, saw everything from the inside, talked with the children. I began to visit them more often, but over time I realized that this was not my story. Because it is impossible to calculate the strength in such a way as to devote time to each child of the institution, and they want it. You can't talk to one, but not to the other, bring a chocolate bar to someone, but not to someone.

Then a friend of mine told me about the mentoring program. You are assigned to the child to whom you become the guardian. But not in the status of a legal representative, but simply take him under your wing - you take him for a walk from the boarding school, solve some problems, buy the necessary things.

As soon as I turned 18, I took custody of a girl who was then 13. I am the youngest guardian in this program

My daughter's legal representative is her grandmother, with whom she does not maintain a relationship. Now my child is 18 years old. The state gave her an apartment, where we began to make repairs. We went shopping and chose furniture, but now everything is frozen due to the coronavirus. The guardianship authorities, registering the property, suspended their activities. She returned to the boarding school again.

All children from orphanages have now lost contact with society. If you and I can take a pass and go to visit friends, then they are "locked" in the same room. Together with my child, we are very worried about the fact that we were forbidden to see each other, because we are emotionally attached to each other. If at the beginning of the pandemic it was possible to approach the fence, talk through it, now this is strictly suppressed. We just have to correspond. But she sees advantages in all this. For example, the fact that there was some relaxation in my studies. Exams can now be taken in a more comfortable environment.

How volunteers keep in touch with pupils

Yulia, mother of many children, volunteer at the orphanage

When my own children grew up, and I had more free time, my husband and I decided that it would be nice to find something to do for the soul. Therefore, I became a volunteer. First, she helped children in the hospital who were lying without their parents. There I met a sweet boy Ilya, who "brought" me to an orphanage.

At first I came there to see Ilya, but over time I got to know the rest of the guys and the staff. I have developed a close relationship with two more boys - nine-year-old Dania and 19-year-old Ruslan, who graduated last year.

The most important thing for these children is communication. So that someone comes to them, listens, so that there is someone to walk with, collect puzzles, do some hobby

Because of this, it is especially difficult for them now, because the administration of the orphanage has taken unprecedented measures to ensure the safety of children: to walk at certain hours, not to cross different groups, not to let strangers in, not to go to school.

But we must not forget about the responsibility that fell on the educators. In order to eliminate the risks of infection, they now have a full shift lasts 14 days. They are responsible for everything that several people used to do - parents, volunteers, friends.

I see how teachers work hard every day. Ilya sends me a video where they shoot videos, arrange mini-concerts, dress up in costumes. All the time, while the distance learning lasted, the educators were there. Remember how parents from ordinary families moaned from all these changes.

Think about the online lessons in an orphanage, where 10 teenagers from different classes and schools live in one room

All of them need to get in touch with the teacher at about the same time, do their homework. Even now, when self-isolation has lasted not a month or two, children do not fully understand what is happening. It so happens that they get angry and write to me: “Oh, this virus! What it is! When will it end? When will you come to us? And it happens that they, on the contrary, begin to calm me down. Because I myself have had a coronavirus. Guys send me voice messages, endless emoticons, funny videos. It touches me to tears, because I really miss them.

But the virus has played into the hands of some children. The orphanage, where I am engaged in volunteering, tried to distribute the children to trusted people as soon as possible. This is very cool, because the administration itself collected the documents, treating society with great confidence.

For a long time, one girl from Dani's group could not be given custody to her grandmother. There was a lengthy paperwork. But the coronavirus has greatly accelerated the situation. The girl was sent to the family in just a week. It seems to me that this is a good example of the fact that today orphanages are doing everything possible for children.

How orphanages will come out of self-isolation

Ekaterina Lebedeva, Deputy Director for Development, Changes One Life CF

Probably no one knows when the orphanages will be reopened for visits. The situation is different in different regions - and it depends, of course, both on the decisions of local authorities and on the speed of the spread of the virus.

Employees of the guardianship authorities of 78 regions with which our foundation cooperates tell us different things. For example, somewhere they promise to take the children to children's camps in June, somewhere they postpone such trips until July.

As for the adoptive parents, it is not easy for them now either. It is not possible to call many regional operators to find out information about adopting a child into a family the first time. But we at the foundation urge everyone to keep calling: you will be added to the electronic queue to meet your child. If, of course, you have collected all the documents necessary to have the status of an adoptive parent.

We believe that our filming at the foundation will resume and we will continue to create short videos to help children find parents. Perhaps our film crews will work in masks. The main thing for us, of course, is not to harm the children and help them find a family and a home as soon as possible.

In addition, our foundation continues to operate online assistance programs for foster parents. On the foundation's website, you can sign up for a free consultation with a lawyer or psychologist. Specialists will help, for example, to cope with emotional burnout, which now can only intensify for many moms and dads, and also help to find answers to legal questions.

We also have a "Respite" program, in which a nanny comes to the foster family to relieve the parent at least a little. Now nannies work with children online, and this, of course, is a new format for everyone. But gradually everyone gets used to it.

While writing the text, we also wanted to talk with the children from orphanages themselves. They cannot comment without the consent of their legal representative. Unfortunately, none of the directors of the orphanages to which the letters were sent have answered so far.