By Vestnik Kavkaza
The problem of orphaned children in the Caucasus is absent, or almost absent. “In the context of following traditions, relations to family values and the notion of “family” in general, the North Caucasus stands apart, as the number of orphaned children is minimal every year. The number is a bit bigger in North Ossetia than in other republics, but no more than 200 children. In Dagestan it is always about 100. In Karachai-Cherkessia it is also less than 100. In Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia it is even less. It depends on the various ethnic groups living in a republic. Their feature is that in the Caucasus they love children for being children. That’s all,” Pavel Astakhov, the Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation says.
He emphasized Chechnya’s experience: “The developments happening in Chechnya today are a unique social phenomenon. Not everyone is able to recover a republic and to invest every cent which was allocated into certain projects in favour of the residents. They can infinitely state: “We are feeding the Caucasus”, but I can set several regions, sponsored by the federal government, which have similar budgets. And you will see that the effectiveness of using resources is absolutely different. Of course, this is the leadership’s achievement.”
“In 2010 we inspected all the republics of the North Caucasus, including the Chechen Republic, and found several serious problems. For example, the number of disabled children was 250% higher in Chechnya than the national average. We tried to understand why this is so. We were told that it was a consequence of the war. But that wasn’t the only reason, there were many other peculiarities. For example, there was no rehabilitation center. After our inspection, after of recommendations and requests to the Chechen authorities, one of the best modern rehabilitation centers for disabled children was constructed. It is a family center, as children live there together with their parents. Later, the Healthcare Ministry commission tried to find out what the reason for the disabilities was and what the problem was. All these issues were settled,” Astakhov says.
“Even though they [in Chechnya] stated in 2010 that they had no orphans, we found 107 orphaned children; but all of them were adopted. There are no cases of a baby being abandoned in the course of five years. However, orphaned children appear. Last year we found about 35 orphaned children. Not only Chechens live in the republic, but also other ethnic groups, there is migration, children are abandoned and taken away. There is only one orphanage. Children go in for sports there – football, boxing, wrestling, weight-lifting, i.e. they are occupied all day long, 24 hours a day, but all of them are being adopted.”
As for adoption of children from other regions by Chechen residents, Astakhov stated: “Today residents of Krasnodar come to Moscow to adopt children. They come to Novgorod. Development of foster families is very active in Krasnodar. The administration of the Territory pays serious sums to foster families. The same situation is in the Chechen Republic. We shouldn’t restrict anyone. We let foreigners come and adopt our children, why should we restrict residents of the North Caucasus?”
