Golodets: 118 thousand orphans in Russia are looking for parents

In Russia, 118 thousand orphans need a family home, said Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs Olga Golodets during government hour in the State Duma.

Golodets provided the deputies with fresh statistics: in 2012 there were more orphans than in 2011, namely 74.4 thousand children, while 44 thousand had living parents.

Golodets named the asocial lifestyle of parents and the lack of family traditions as the main reasons for the high level of orphanhood. Golodets also said that the level of family placement of children still remains quite low: in 2012, 61 thousand children were taken into guardianship, and only 6.5 thousand were adopted by Russians and 2 thousand by foreigners. At the same time, 4.5 thousand children placed in families were returned back to the orphanage, and the number of potential adoptive parents and guardians standing in line decreased in 2012 from 18 thousand to 16.5 thousand.

The greatest difficulties for guardianship authorities arise in the family arrangement of three categories of children: disabled children (38 children were adopted in 2011, 29 in 2012, according to Golodets), older children, and children with brothers and sisters (according to the law of brothers and sisters cannot be separated).

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the government has taken measures to simplify the adoption procedure. Now the minimum period for completing the necessary documents has been reduced from 70 to 59 days, and the adoption procedure has been simplified for blood relatives of children and those who previously adopted a child.