The theme of "a child in an orphanage" is very difficult and requires the most serious attention. The problem is often not fully understood by society. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of orphanages in our country every year more. Statistics say that the number of street children in Russia now reaches two million. And the number of inhabitants of orphanages is increasing by about 170,000 people a year.
In the last decade alone, there have been three times more such institutions than before. They live not only actual orphans, but also small disabled people abandoned by their parents, taken from alcoholics, drug addicts and prisoners. There are special closed institutions for those born with congenital defects, or such a form as an orphanage for mentally retarded children. Living and living conditions are not advertised there, and society prefers to turn a blind eye to this.
How do children live in orphanages
What is happening in such a confined space, according to eyewitnesses, does not resemble normal human conditions. Organizations, sponsors and simply indifferent people are trying to do everything in their power to help such children. They collect money, finance trips, organize charity concerts, and purchase furniture and appliances for orphaned institutions. But all these undoubtedly good deeds are aimed at improving the external conditions for the existence of orphans.
Meanwhile, the problem of children in orphanages is much more serious, deeper, and it lies in the fact that by creating human conditions for such inmates, feeding, heating and washing, we will not solve the main problems - the lack of love and personal individual communication with the mother and others relatives, close people.
State education - guarantees and problems
It is impossible to solve this problem only with money. As you know, children left without parents in our country fall under the care of the state. In Russia, the form of raising orphans mainly exists in the form of state-owned large orphanages, each of which is designed for the number of people living from 100 to 200. The advantage of the state support system is mainly in social guarantees - getting your own home after reaching adulthood, free second education and so on. This is a definite plus. But if we talk about the issue of education, then, by and large, the state is not capable of it.
Relentless statistics show that no more than a tenth of the graduates of orphanages, becoming adults, find their rightful place in society and lead a normal life. Almost half (about 40%) become alcoholics and drug addicts, as many commit crimes, and about 10% of graduates attempt suicide. Why such scary statistics? It seems that the whole thing is in serious flaws in the system of state education for orphans.
Orphanage - the age of children and the transition in the chain
Such a system was built on the principle of a conveyor. If the baby is left without parents, he is destined to travel the chain, moving sequentially to a number of institutions. Until three or four years old, small orphans are kept in children's homes, then they are sent to an orphanage, and after reaching the age of seven, a boarding school becomes the place of permanent residence of the pupil. Such an institution differs from the orphanage in the presence of its own educational institution.
Within the framework of the latter, there is often a division into primary school and high school. Both of them have their own teachers and educators, are located in different buildings. As a result, during the course of their life, orphanages at least three to four times change their teams, educators and their peers. They get used to the fact that the surrounding adults are temporary, and soon there will be others.
According to staffing standards for 10 children, there is only one educational rate, in the summer - one person for 15 children. Of course, the child does not receive any real supervision or real attention.
About everyday life
Another problem and characteristic feature is the isolation of the world of orphans. How do children live in orphanages? And they study and communicate, cooking around the clock in the midst of the same disadvantaged. In summer, the team is usually sent on vacation, where the children will have to contact representatives of other public institutions that are the same as themselves. As a result, the child does not see peers from normal, prosperous families and has no idea how to communicate in the real world.
Children from the orphanage do not get used to work since childhood, as happens in normal families. There is no one to teach them and explain the need to take care of themselves and loved ones, as a result, they cannot and do not want to work. They know that the state is obliged to ensure that the wards are dressed and fed. No need for own maintenance. Moreover, any work (for example, assistance in the kitchen) is prohibited under the rules of hygiene and safety.
The lack of basic household skills (to cook food, to tidy up a room, to sew clothes) gives rise to real dependency. And it’s not even a matter of banal laziness. This vicious practice is detrimental to the formation of personality and the ability to solve problems independently.
About independence
Limited, to the extent regulated communication with adults in a group setting does not stimulate the development of a child in an orphanage in terms of independence. The presence of a mandatory daily routine and adult control cuts off any need for self-discipline and the child’s planning of his own actions. Orphans from infancy get used only to follow the instructions of others.
As a result, graduates of public institutions are not adapted to life. Having received housing, they do not know how to live alone, independently take care of themselves in everyday life. Such children do not have the skill to buy food, prepare food, or spend money wisely. A normal family life for them is a mystery with seven seals. Such people are completely unaware of people, and as a result they very, very often end up in criminal structures or simply get drunk.
Sad result
Even in apparently prosperous orphanages where discipline is maintained, there are no flagrant cases of abuse, there is no one to instill moral ideals in children and give at least elementary concepts about life in society. Unfortunately, this alignment is generated by the very system of centralized state education for orphans.
Pedagogical tasks in orphanages often come down to the lack of emergency and publicity. Senior orphans are explained the rights of the child in the orphanage and on leaving it (for housing, allowance, free education). But this process only leads to the fact that they forget about all responsibilities and remember only that they owe everything, everything - from the state to the closest circle.
Many children from the orphanage who grew up without a spiritual and moral core are prone to egoism and degradation. It is almost impossible for them to become full members of society.
There is an alternative ...
The conclusions are sad: a large state orphanage as a form of raising orphans has completely and completely proved its inefficiency. But what can be offered in return? Among experts, it is believed that only adoption can be optimal for such children. Since only a family can give what a child in an orphanage is deprived of in a state-owned environment.
Those who know firsthand about life in foster families are firmly convinced of the need for state assistance to people who have decided on the feat of raising someone else's orphaned child. Such parents need the support of the state, society and the church, since foster parents with their difficult responsibilities always have a lot of problems and difficult issues.
There are foster families that can replace an orphanage. At the same time, the state pays parents a salary, and there is no secret of adoption - the orphan knows who he is and where he comes from. Otherwise, such a pupil is a full member of the family.
Another option
Another form of organizing the life of orphans is a family orphanage. Non-governmental institutions of this type often follow this path. The living quarters there can be divided into separate apartments, “families” consist of 6-8 children, a mother officially appointed to this position, and her assistant. Children are all together and in turn busy with groceries, cooking and all the necessary household chores. A child in an orphanage of this type feels like a member of a large friendly family.
Also interesting is the experience of SOS children's villages, in the device of which a model for educating a teacher from Austria is implemented. There are three such villages in our country. Their goal is also to bring as close as possible the living conditions of the pupils to the family ones.
In addition, there are small-type orphanages. They are arranged in the image and likeness of a regular public institution, but the number of children there is much smaller - sometimes no more than 20 or 30 people. On such a scale, the situation is much easier to make home than in a huge boarding school. A child in an orphanage of this type attends an ordinary school and communicates with peers from normal families.
Will the Orthodox Church save?
Many educators and public figures believe that representatives of the church should be involved in work in state children's institutions, because everyone needs food for the soul, the presence of moral ideals and the formation of moral principles. Orphans, deprived of parental warmth, need this twice.
That is why Orthodox orphanages could be an island of salvation for such children in the modern world of spirituality and the absence of any guidelines. A similar institution of upbringing created at the church has another important advantage - the church community is in some way able to replace an absent family for the orphanage. In the parish, the pupils make friends, strengthen spiritual and social ties.
Not so simple
Why is such a form as an Orthodox children's home still not widespread? The problem is the presence of many difficulties of a very different nature - legal, material, and a shortage of educational personnel. Financial problems - first of all, in the absence of the necessary premises. Even the most modest shelter will require a separate building or part of it.
Philanthropists are also not too eager to allocate funds to finance such projects. But even if sponsors are located, bureaucratic difficulties in registering such shelters are practically insurmountable. Numerous commissions, on the decision of which obtaining permission depends, find fault with the slightest deviations from the existing formal instructions, despite the fact that most state-sponsored large orphanages exist against the backdrop of a great many serious violations, including legal ones.
It turns out that a church orphanage is possible only in conditions of illegal existence. The state does not provide for any legal acts capable of regulating the upbringing of orphans by the church, and, accordingly, it does not allocate money for this. Without central funding (only with sponsor money) it is difficult to exist for an orphanage - it’s almost impossible.
About the money issue
In our country, only state institutions are financed, in which, according to the Law on Education, education must be secular. That is, the arrangement of temples is prohibited, teaching children faith is not allowed.
How cost-effective are children's homes? Keeping children in a public institution costs a pretty penny. Not a single family spends the amount allocated for it in an orphanage for children's upbringing. It is about 60,000 rubles. annually. Practice shows that this money is not spent very efficiently. In the same foster family, where this figure is three times lower, children receive everything they need and, moreover, the care and guardianship of their adoptive parents that they need so much.
On the moral and ethical side of things
Another serious problem of orphanages is the lack of qualified and responsible educators. Such work requires a huge amount of mental and physical strength. In the literal sense of the word, it involves selfless service, because the salaries of teachers are simply ridiculous.
Often random people go to work in orphanages, by and large. They have neither love for the wards, nor a reserve of patience, which is so necessary in working with disadvantaged orphans. The impunity of educators in a closed orphanage system leads to the temptation to command uncontrollably, reveling in their own power. Sometimes it comes to extreme cases, which, from time to time, get into the press and the media.
A very difficult question is about corporal punishment, which is officially prohibited, but their existence and, moreover, the widespread practice of applying it in reality is no secret to anyone. However, this problem is characteristic not only for orphanages - this is a headache for the entire modern educational system.