By March 1, a package of bills will be submitted to the State Duma to encourage family placement of orphans in Russia. Earlier, President Vladimir Putin spoke about a whole range of measures to support foster families by the state. Journalist Stanislav Kucher reflects on why these measures will not solve the problem.

The ways in which Vladimir Putin came to decisions concerning human destinies are inscrutable. I look at the chain of events and state a fact: in order for the president to announce assistance to Russian adoptive parents in 2013, Sergei Magnitsky had to die in 2009. The fact that the government promptly presented a 40 billion plan to help adoptive parents is, of course, great. But where are at least the proposals for working with guardianship authorities - the very ones through whose fault already adopted children are so often returned to orphanages? Where did the figure of 100 thousand rubles come from? to help people who are ready to take in a disabled child? Why 100 and not 95 or 110? Is it really not clear that this money will not cure a serious illness, but it can easily become a bait for many who will later abandon their child? And, most importantly, where is the federal program, the goal of which is a Russia without orphans? There is no war now, and most children in orphanages have parents. Not everyone is a helpless alcoholic. You will say: “Well, this is a problem of the spiritual maturity of society. Raising parents is a task that will take more than a dozen years!” Agree.

But if the roots of the problem are here, and they are exactly here, when, in what new term will the “national leader” or any of the candidates for successor tell the people what they are going to do about these roots? Money alone cannot solve the problem of orphanhood.

And besides money, the authorities have nothing to offer either children or parents. And with money it’s not so simple. I understand, 100 thousand, and even more so 40 billion sounds impressive. But for some reason I immediately remember a sad anecdote about 10 million in poisoned banknotes that were allocated to an orphanage. Remember? "Seven deputies, one mayor, two tax officers and hundreds of intelligence officers were poisoned. Not a single child was harmed."

This whole story once again shows: at the beginning of the 21st century, the Kremlin takes on solving problems that are vital for the nation not consciously, but only when it confronts these problems head-on. Demography, the national question, the fight against corruption, military reform - everywhere the government plays the role of “catching up”.

Moreover, if he “catches up”, it is in such a way that he himself is not happy with the consequences of the “race”, as in the story with the appointment and dismissal of Serdyukov. It is simply dangerous to engage in such state-political masochism all your life. I sincerely hope that now the ruling elite is seriously concerned about the future of the country, finally realizing that it has to live and die in this future. But here’s the problem: these people seem to be unable to paint a picture of such a future.

“You can’t solve the problem of orphanhood with money alone, but the authorities have nothing but money”