Orphans and Orphanages in Russia
This short article is not intended to be a complete survey on the history and circumstances of orphans and orphanages in Russia. It is instead a summary of some key aspects of the subject, and an indication of sources for further reading.
Charity and neglect
Fear and revolution
The loyal children of the state
Orphans in contemporary Russia
Sources
Other resources
Charity and neglect
The early history of the treatment of orphans in Russia follows broadly similar paths to the general approaches of European states and societies. The late mediaeval period following the Tartar invasions sees the beginnings of an organised charitable approach, with the first decrees concerning the care of orphans dating from the late 17th century (Firsov, 2005, p.56)
Peter the Great was responsible for developing the state care of orphans and abandoned children, with a series of decrees in the first decades of the 18th century. These reforms were developed later in that century under Catherine the Great, with the founding of orphanages in the regions and a protective 'Orphan's Court'. Gradual reforms continued throughout the Tsarist period (ibid., pp.56-9).
However, despite the regulation of care for orphans the conditions in the institutions were often terrible - late 18th century reports put the mortality rate in children's homes at up to 89%. The key reason was financial stringency, leading to problems with organisation, nutrition and sanitation. These problems were greatly exacerbated by overcrowding, with numbers in excess of 20 times the planned capacity of orphanage buildings. One response to this situation was to put children out for fostering with peasant families - a system termed patronat (ibid., p.58-9).
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Fear and revolution
The state approach to orphans shifts radically in the early Soviet period, mainly due to the social crises that followed from the revolution, civil war and the subsequent decades of upheaval.
In the immediate aftermath of the revolution (1917-18) the numbers of children abandoned or homeless (besprizornost’) has been estimated at up to 7 million (approx. 6 percent of the population of the country). These children often formed gangs and struggled for survival through criminality and delinquency. The numbers fall to around 1 million in 1924 after efforts to build a network of orphanages, as well as the gradual restabilisation of the country (Iarskaia-Smirnova & Romanov, 2005, p.91-2). However, conditions for many children under state care were still often appalling, with Iarskaia-Smirnova & Romanov (2005) quoting mortality figures in state orphanages of up to 50% of those admitted.
Subsequent social upheaval in the years of collectivisation and Stalinist political repression resulted in more children leaving or losing their families, in many cases simply to live on the streets. This was accompanied by an upsurge in child gangs and petty crime. The eventual response was a shift in policy from the mid 1930s to the 1940s, with child delinquents no longer seen as innocents forced to criminality due to adverse circumstances. Instead children were to be subject to the full rigor of the adult criminal code (Kelly, 2007, p.230). The result was large scale incarceration in labour colonies and correctional institutions. This reinforced a dominant attitude of the general population to orphans: that they be either feared or forgotten. Indeed the former orphan was stigmatised for life and would be viewed with suspicion or active hostility if discovered to have come from such a background (Ball, 1996, p.188).
Institutional and educational reform was influenced in this period by the work of A. S. Makarenko (1888-1939). His ideas of collective and self-governing education underpinned by strict discipline pioneered a socialist and integrated approach. This came to be applied to children of all backgrounds as a model of Soviet society, but was initially developed with orphans and street children in the aftermath of the revolution (Kelly, 2007, p.207). A key idea was that education and upbringing should 'make as many demands as possible on a man, and at the same time show him as much respect as possible' (quoted in Filonov, 1994).
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The loyal children of the state
Orphans were a specific byproduct of the Stalinist terror, being produced on an industrial scale as a result of the campaigns to eliminate the 'enemies of the people' (Figes, 2007, p.335; Kelly, 2007, pp.237-242). Many children from such families were moved to special camps and orphanages run by the NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs - the state security service of the 1920s-30s), where they were inculcated into the official ideology. Some then sought with great vigour to become accepted as part of the same state machinery that had been the instrument of their parents' oppression:
Becoming a Soviet activist was a common survival strategy among children of 'enemies of the people'. It both deflected political suspicions from their vulnerability and enabled them to overcome their fear. (Figes, 2007, p.349)
In some cases the self-protection process went beyond seeking acceptance through joining the Komsomol (Communist Youth League). The orphanages were also one of the prime recruiting grounds for the NKVD and later the KGB (Figes, 2007, p.341). As a result an additional overlay of suspicion might attract to orphans, since after the rigours of their state upbringing they might have no loyalty to any father and mother other than the state itself.
The later Soviet period saw the introduction of the internat system. This was a new type of orphanage, generally with integrated schools. In the internat the children were no longer so segregated from wider society, allowing them to sustain some contact with other non-orphaned children (Firsov, op. cit., p.60; Kelly, 2007, p.262).
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Orphans in contemporary Russia
The post-Soviet era began with catastrophic economic collapse and social disintegration. Children were particularly vulnerable to the effects with large numbers losing parents or becoming 'social orphans' in the 1990s, increasing to over 120,000 per year by 2000 (Holm-Hansen et al, 2003, p.21). This period also saw a return to the street gangs of children that had been a feature of the early years of the Soviet Union. The numbers of children estimated to be living on the streets in the large cities remains high, with estimates of 30 - 50,000 in Moscow in 2002 (Balachova et al, 2009, pp.29-30).
The term 'social orphan' refers to children for whom one or both parents are still alive but have been deprived of parental rights. This follows from parental alcoholism, drug use, criminality or poor health, as a consequence of which parents are no longer willing, able or permitted to act as carers for their children (Mardakhaev, 2005). These currently form by the far the largest portion of children in institutional care, up to 90% of those admitted (Holm-Hansen et al, 2003, p.21). In the late 1990s new legislation defined such children as having 'difficult life situations', a shift in the perception of the causes and responsibilites of their orphanhood (Holm-Hansen et al, 2005, pp.72-3).
Several studies comment on the struggle of orphanage staff to reform the state care system in the post communist era, despite often very limited resources (see for example, Balachova et al, 2009, p.33; Schmidt, 2009; Vinkov, 2009). At times (and more so in recent years) state aid has been more forthcoming to enable such reform (Schmidt, 2009). However, commentators still descibe the character of Russian child-care institutions as 'scientific', in the manner characteristic of the Soviet era (Holm-Hansen et al, 2005, p.68).
There has also been a renewal of interest in the patronat system and efforts to expand the options for permanent adoption, with increasing recognition of the need to avoid the damaging effects of long-term institutionalisation (Holm-Hansen et al, 2003, pp.87-104; Schmidt, 2009). Whether state and popular support for these initatives will continue to develop is far from certain.
Studies of the prospects of leavers from state care give pessimistic results. Up to one fifth develop a 'criminal career', but perhaps one third can be defined as 'doing well' within 3 years of leaving (Holm-Hansen et al, 2003, pp.82-3).
To supplement the account above, the interactive documentary material of this project attempts to present some direct and first person accounts of the contemporary experiences of orphans and of their carers.
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Sources
Balachova TN et al. (2009), Street children in Russia: steps to prevention. International Journal of Social Welfare 2009: 18: pp.27–44
Ball, A. M. (1996), And Now My Soul is Hardened: Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918-1930, University of California Press
Cox, C. and Christian Solidarity International (1997), Research, Reform and New Hope for Russian Orphans and Abandoned Children. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health: 7: pp.111–116
Figes, O. (2007), The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia, Allen Lane / Penguin
Filonov, G. N. (1994), Anton Makarenko. In: Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education, Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, vol. XXIV, no. 1/2, pp.77-91.
Firsov, M.V. (2005), Help and support to orphans in Russia: The historical path. In: Holm-Hansen, J. (ed) (2005), Placement of Orphans: Russian and Nordic experiences, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, pp.55-61.
Holm-Hansen, J. et al (eds) (2003), Orphans in Russia: Policies for family-like alternatives, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research
Holm-Hansen, J. (ed) (2005), Placement of Orphans: Russian and Nordic experiences, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research
Iarskaia-Smirnova E., Romanov P.(2005), Institutional child care in Soviet Russia. Everyday life in the children’s home ‘Krasnyi Gorodok’ in Saratov, 1920s-1940. In: Kurt Schilde, Dagmar Schulte (eds) Need and Care – Glimpses into the Beginnings of Eastern Europe’s Professional Welfare. Opladen and Bloomfield Hills: Barbara Budrich Publishers, pp.91-122.
Kelly, C. (2007), Children's world: Growing up in Russia, 1890-1991, Yale University Press
Kluyeva, N. V.and Kozlov, V. V. (2004), The Social and Psychological Adaptation of the Children of Yaroslavl Orphanages, Yaroslavl: Yaroslavl Regional Charitable Organization (YARBOO) Friends of Russian Orphans
Mardakhaev, L. V. (2005), Sources of social orphanage at the turn of the millenium. In: Holm-Hansen, J. (ed) (2005), Placement of Orphans: Russian and Nordic experiences, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, pp.52-54.
Schmidt, V. (2009), Orphan Care in Russia. Social Work & Society: 7 [1] [online]. Available from: http://www.socwork.net/2009/1/special_issue/schmidt [accessed 21.09.09]
Vinkov S.V. (2009), Housing in Life Strategy of Orphanage Leavers [online], Moscow, Moscow State Lomonosov University. Available from:
http://www.lomonosov-msu.ru/archive/Lomonosov_2009/21_11.pdf [accessed 23.09.09]
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Other resources
The BEARR Trust: UK based organisation 'to support and promote health and social welfare and help strengthen civil society in Russia and Eurasia, especially through cooperation between NGOs and other organisations with similar interests'.
http://www.bearr.org/en/home
Detskie Domiki: Information on orphanages in Russia (in Russian) .
http://www.detskiedomiki.ru/
Friends of Russian Orphans: US based charity (now subsumed into RWCS - see below).
http://www.russian-orphans.org/
Russian Children's Welfare Society (RWCS): US based charity.
http://www.rcws.org/
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Peter Dukes
Date of revision: 10.11.09
