Sad Movie

In The Moscow Times...

Russian Orphans
19 May 2008
By Svetlana Osadchuk

According to data from the Health and Social Development Ministry, more than 730,000 children in Russia either have no parents or have been abandoned by their parents. About 200,000 of them live in orphanages and internats, or living facilities that include a school. In 2007, the state registered 123,000 new orphans, but 120,000 of them were able to be placed with extended family members, adopted or placed in foster homes.

When a child is abandoned by his parents, he is first taken to a temporary isolation center before being moved to one of the several different types of facilities for orphaned children. Children younger than five live in a dom rebyonka, a baby house. After that, they move to either a detsky dom, a children's house, where they live while attending an internat. There are also separate facilities for orphaned children with mental or physical disabilities.

Children living in orphanages receive a monthly allowance from the government, deposited directly into an account in their name that they can access as soon as they turn 18. Legally, these orphans are also entitled to an apartment when they turn 18 and can no longer live in an orphanage. Children can access the money in their accounts before turning 18 with permission from the director of the orphanage.

More than 160,000 names remain in the state database of children waiting to be adopted. Although recent legislation has complicated international adoption of Russian children, as of March 2007, 20 organizations accredited with the government to oversee international adoptions were operating in the country. In 2007, 9,000 Russian children were adopted by foreign families. More than 4,000 of these went to the United States.

Korbin had a bank account... it had like $8 in it! I sure hope they give the kids more than $1 per month!

Korbin was one of the 4,000 adopted to the US last year!

Orphan Statistics

It is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.)

The current population of the United States is just a little over 300 million… to give you an idea of the enormity of the numbers… (The current population of Russia is 141 million)

Every day 5,760 more children become orphans

2,102,400 more children become orphans every year in Africa alone

This figure is estimated to reach 18 million orphans in Africa alone by 2010 (only two and a half years away)

Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but…

Each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age sixteen

Each day 38,493 orphans age out

Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home

In Russia and the Ukraine, studies have shown that 10% - 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age eighteen

These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals

Another Russian study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless and 3,000 were in prison within three years…