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How to Urge Russia to Change its Policies on Orphans
In the first instance, the plight of Russia's orphans must be addressed by the Russian government. Write to Russian government officials listed below, calling on them to take immediate steps to ensure that the rights of institutionalized children are respected and to implement policies aimed at the gradual de-institutionalization of children.
In urging government officials to address the plight of abandoned children in Russian state institutions, you may want to highlight the following concerns:
that many children now in institutions could be cared for better, more humanely, and at considerably less expense, at home or with foster families;
that abandoned children in Russian institutions are subject to unconscionable neglect and abuse stunting their development and depriving them of their right to develop to their full potential;
that abandoned children with severe disabilities are particularly stunted by their consignment to locked "psychoneurological internats," where they are denied education and access to necessary health care; and
that institutionalized children who are diagnosed by a state commission are diagnosed as "imbetsils" or "idiots" around the age of four are labeled as ineducable and transferred to a "psychoneurological internat" until the age of 17. Few children without parents can ever appeal or overturn that diagnosis.
that children who grow up in state institutions are stigmatized for life, and have great difficulty in securing jobs or leading normal lives.
Responsible Russian government officials include:
- President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
President of the Russian Federation
The Kremlin,
Moscow, 103073,
Russia
president@gov.ru
- Prime Minister Mikhail Mikhailovich Kas'ianov
Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
Krasnopresnenskaia nab., 2,
Moscow, 103274,
Russia
- Iurii Leonidovich Shevchenko
Minister of Health
Neglinnaia ul., 25,
Moscow, 101431,
Russia
Alexandr Petrovich Pochinok
Minister of Labor and Social Development
Birzhevaia pl., 1,
Moscow, 101999,
Russia
- Vladimir Mikhailovich Philippov
Minister of Education
Liusinovskaia ul., 51,
Moscow, M-93, GSP-8, 115998
Russia
What else you can do
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