The theme "child in an orphanage" is very difficult andrequires the most serious attention. The problem is often not fully understood by society. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of orphanages in our country every year more and more. Statistics claim that the number of homeless children in Russia now reaches two million. And the number of inhabitants of orphanages is increasing by about 170,000 people per year.
Only in the last decade of such institutionshas become three times more than before. They are inhabited not only by actual orphans, but also by small disabled people abandoned by their parents, taken from alcoholics, drug addicts and convicts. There are special closed institutions for those born with congenital malformations, or such a form as a children's home for mentally retarded children. Living conditions and content there are not advertised, and society prefers to close their eyes to this.
How children live in orphanages
What is happening in such a closedspace, according to eyewitnesses, little resembles normal human conditions. Organizations, sponsors and just caring people are trying to do everything in their power to help these children. They collect money, finance trips, organize charity concerts, buy furniture and household appliances for orphan institutions. But all these, undoubtedly, good deeds are aimed at improving the external living conditions of orphans.
Meanwhile, the problem of children in orphanagesmuch more serious, deeper, and it lies in the fact that by creating such conditions for the children, feeding, heating and washing, we will not solve the main problems - the lack of love and personal communication with the mother and other relatives and close people.
State education - guarantees and problems
To solve this problem only with money is impossible.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 residents from 100 to 200. The advantage of the state security system lies mainly in social guarantees - getting your own home after reaching the age of majority, free education and so on. This is a definite plus. But if we talk about the upbringing, then, by and large, the state is not capable of it.
Relentless statistics shows - no moreOne tenth of graduates of orphanages, having become adults, find a worthy 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 terrible statistics? It seems that the whole thing is in serious flaws in the system of state education of orphans.
Children's home - the age of children and the transition to the chain
Built such a system on the principle of the conveyor.If the baby was left without parents, he was destined to travel the chain, moving successively to a number of institutions. Up to three or four years old, small orphans are kept in children's homes, then they are sent to an orphanage, and on reaching the age of seven, the boarding school becomes their permanent residence. Such an institution differs from an orphanage by having its own educational institution.
Within the latter also often existsdivision into elementary school and high school. Both those and others have their own teachers and educators, located in different buildings. As a result, in the course of their life, orphanage children change their teams, educators, and peer environment at least three or four times. They get used to the fact that surrounding adults are temporary, and soon there will be others.
According to the standard standards for 10 childrenonly one educational rate, in the summer - one person for 15 children. The child in the orphanage, of course, does not receive any real supervision or real attention.
About everyday life
Another problem and characteristic feature isisolation of the world of orphans. How do children live in orphanages? And they learn, and communicate, cooking around the clock among the same disadvantaged. In the summer, the team is usually sent on vacation, where children will have to contact with representatives of other state institutions, like 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.
Дети из детского дома не привыкают к труду с childhood, as happens in normal families. There is no one to teach them and explain the need to take care of themselves and their loved ones; as a result, they cannot and do not want to work. They know that the state is obliged to ensure that the charges are clothed and fed. There is no need for own maintenance. Moreover, any work (for example, help in the kitchen) is prohibited by hygiene and safety regulations.
Lack of basic everyday skills(to cook food, to tidy up the room, to sew up clothes) gives rise to the real dependency. And it's not even banal laziness. This vicious practice detrimental effect on the formation of personality and the ability to solve problems on their own.
About independence
Limited, to the limit of the regulatedcommunication with adults in a group does not stimulate the development of a child in an orphanage in terms of independence. The presence of a mandatory daily routine and control by adults cuts off any need for self-discipline and planning a child’s own actions. Orphanage children from infancy get used only to carry out other people's instructions.
As a result, graduates of state institutions tolife is not adapted. Having received housing, they do not know how to live alone, to take care of themselves in everyday life. These children do not have the skill of buying food, cooking, spending money. Normal family life for them - the secret behind seven seals. Such graduates do not understand the people at all, and as a result they very often fall into criminal structures or simply drink themselves together.
Sad result
Даже во внешне благополучных детских домах, где discipline is maintained, no egregious cases of ill-treatment are noted, children have no one to inculcate moral ideals and give at least elementary notions about life in society. Such a disposition, unfortunately, is generated by the system of centralized state education of orphans.
Педагогические задачи в детских домах чаще всего boil down to the lack of emergency and wide publicity. High-school orphans explain the rights of the child in the orphanage and to get out of it (for housing, allowance, free education). But this process only leads to the fact that they forget about all sorts of responsibilities and only remember that they all have to, from the state to the closest environment.
Many children from the orphanage, who grew up without a spiritual and moral core, are prone to selfishness and degradation. Becoming full members of society is almost impossible for them.
There is an alternative ...
The conclusions are sad:a large state orphanage as a form of orphans education has fully proved its inefficiency. But what can be offered in return? Among specialists, it is considered that only adoption can become optimal for such children. Since only the family can give what the child in the orphanage is deprived of in the official environment.
Those who know firsthand about life in foster carethey firmly believe in the need for state assistance to people who have decided to exploit the upbringing of 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 complex issues.
There are patronage families that can replaceorphanage At the same time, the state pays a salary to parents, 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 organization of life for orphans is familyOrphanage. This path is often followed by non-state institutions of this type. 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 all together and in turn are busy buying 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, indevice which implemented a model of education teacher from Austria. In our country there are three similar villages. Their goal is also to bring as much as possible the living conditions of the pupils to the family ones.
In addition, there are children's homessmall type. They are set up in the image and likeness of a usual state-owned institution, but the number of children there is much less - sometimes not more than 20 or 30 people. On such a scale, it is much easier to make a home environment than in a huge boarding school. A child in an orphanage of this type attends an ordinary school and communicates with his peers from normal families.
Will the Orthodox Church save?
Many educators and community leadersThey believe that representatives of the church should be involved in working in public institutions, because everyone needs food for the soul, the existence of moral ideals and the formation of moral principles. Orphans deprived of parental heat need it twice.
That is why Orthodox orphanages couldprove to be an island of salvation for such children in the modern world of lack of spirituality and the absence of any guidelines. A similar institution of upbringing created at the temple has another important advantage — the church community is in some way capable of replacing an absent family with an orphanage. In the parish, pupils make friends, strengthen spiritual and social ties.
Not so simple
Why is such a form as an Orthodox children'shouse still not widespread? The problem is in the presence of a multitude of difficulties of a very different nature - legal, material, lack of educational personnel. Financial problems - above all, in the absence of the necessary facilities. Even the most modest shelter will require a separate building or part of it.
Philanthropists are also not too eagerfunds to finance such projects. But even if sponsors are found, bureaucratic difficulties in registering such shelters are almost insurmountable. Numerous commissions, on the decision of which permission is obtained, find fault with the slightest deviations from the existing formal instructions, while the majority of state-funded large orphanages exist against the background 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 envisage any legal acts capable of regulating the upbringing of orphans by the church, and, accordingly, it does not allocate money for this. Without a centralized funding (only for sponsors' money), it is difficult for an orphanage to exist - it is practically unrealistic.
About the money issue
Funded in our country onlypublic institutions in which, according to the Law on Education, education must be secular. That is, the construction of temples is prohibited, teaching children to faith is not allowed.
Насколько экономически эффективны детские дома?Keeping children in a public institution costs a pretty penny. No family spends on child education the amount that is allocated to him in the orphanage. It is about 60,000 rubles. annually. Practice shows that this money is spent not too effectively. In the same patronage family, where this figure is three times less, children get everything they need and, moreover, the care and custody of their adoptive parents they need.
On the moral and ethical side of things
Another serious problem of orphanages -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 implies selfless service, because teachers' salaries are ridiculous.
Often go to work in children's homes, largelycount, random people. They have neither the love of the wards, nor the amount of patience that is so necessary in working with underprivileged orphans. Impunity of educators in a closed children's home system leads to the temptation to command uncontrollably, reveling in their own power. Sometimes it comes to extreme cases, which, from time to time, go to the press and the media.
The very difficult question of corporal punishmentwhich are officially banned, but their existence and, moreover, the widespread practice of applying is in fact not a secret to anyone. However, this problem is characteristic not only for orphanages - it is a headache of the whole modern educational system.
