November 2004
The number of forsaken children in Kazakhstan is growing every year on 3-4 thousand. More than 73,000 children are in the orphanages that are more than a hundred in the country. There are also private shelters for kids, but in this case the government cannot check on them. According to the ministrys data there are 14 private orphanages in the RK. And there are about 1,000 children there. And what the conditions the children live in nobody knows. There was a private orphanage in Temirtau called Sion. It was opened in 2000. The church of Baptist-Evangelists took care of the orphanage. Akim of Temirtau agreed for the orphanage to be opened. The orphanage had to be registered but they didnt do it. There were 30 children aged from 2 to 17.
When the orphanage was checked by the prosecutor they saw dirty uncomfortable rooms where the children were kept. Bible was used as the only educational and pedagogical mean. Nobody knows what the children were fed with as when the checked the kitchen all the products were kept insanitation. There were two women in the shelter to look after children that day. They didnt have any education and experience working with children.
The shelter was closed. The church says that it is because they preached there. But the prosecutor answers that if the shelter goes through all the documents of registration and etc. they will open it again. 19 children from that orphanage are in other orphanages now. 11 are still in the shelter. The founder of the fund is their guardian.
According to Kazakhstan law the guardian can be anybody who is a citizen of Kazakhstan, has a good health. The number of children is not limited. It is not required a certificate form the work of the payment. Half of the orphanages in Kazakhstan are of the family kind. According to some researchers 50% of the orphans after leaving the orphanage get into criminal influence. 15,000 orphans leave the orphanages every year. 10% of them try to commit suicide the very first year of their adult life. Nobody knows the number of deaths after their suicide attempts.
For the last 5 years there were 10,000 orphans adopted. 3,000 were adopted by foreigners. And its still an opened question on the foreign adoption.
Right now there are patronage (foster) parents. They appeared first in Astana and now there are some in Karaganda. These parents get from 15,000 to 20,000 tenge for a child. It depends on childs age and number of children taken from the orphanage. This year the Karaganda Region is sponsored for 50 children and 30 parents. 36 children live with patronage parents nowadays. This month patronage parents are getting their first payment. Most of the patronage parents are the relatives who were visiting those children in the orphanages. August 2004. Karaganda, Kazakhstan. There was a seminar at the orphanage of family type Asem lately. Thats what journalists say about this orphanage. Children live their as a big friendly family.
Asem is one of the first family like orphanages in Karaganda. Children in the other orphanages live in the groups but here they live as in the families. In 1999 they started and had 33 kids. The children who came were from very poor families where parents drank, where they didnt get enough food and care. These children were very reserved and would run away from their parents. Now they changed because of care and tenderness of the teachers, supervisors, nurses. There are three families in the orphanage. Every family has 25 kids. Each family live in a different house. Almost all the time kids spend in their house where they watch TV, play, prepare their home assignment. Children have a Mom in each house. She teaches them how to cook, knit, do pickles, end etc. Vegetables and fruits come from dacha (summer house) where children go under their moms care. They plant and take care of their garden themselves. They also celebrate all the birthdays together where the adult girls bake a cake. They have three constant sponsors who help them.
Children come to Asem from rehabilitation center. They stay in that center for 40 days where teachers and psychologists work with them. Then they go to the orphanage where they stay until they get 16. After that girls can get into a youth house named Zharkyn where they live an adult life. The children get a benefit from the government if they are orphans. The director of that orphanage opens a bank account for each of them and then when the children are 16 they can use this money. Every summer the children go to the camp Salut. They like it there. This year they had a chance to go to the camp in Almaty for the first time in their life they saw mountains there. ++++++++++++++++ great news ++++++++++++++++++++++
July 2004. Childrens village in Temirtau. There are 12 cottages there. Six of the cottages are already occupied. The cottages are a little different from ones in Uralsk: there two floors there. On the first floor there is a hall, a kitchen, a sitting room and a closet; on the second there are bed rooms and bathrooms. Windows and heating are made according European standards.
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