About four thousand children in the Angara region are left without parental care every year

In Irkutsk they discussed the results of the guardianship and trusteeship reform and aligning regional laws with federal norms. At the round table they noted that the number of children found without parental care in 2008 fell by 20 percent for the first time in several years, and adoptions rose by 37.4 percent. Special attention was given to foster care development, after amendments payments to foster parents will increase, and there are already more than 200 such families in the region.

Every year, about four thousand children in the Angara region are left without parental care. These figures were announced yesterday in Irkutsk at a roundtable meeting on “The Exercise of Guardianship and Trusteeship Powers in Accordance with Federal Legislation,” dedicated to the results of 2008. The participants discussed whether the Angara region’s guardianship and trusteeship legislation complies with federal documents.
Since 2008, the guardianship and trusteeship system has begun to be reformed in accordance with the new federal laws. First of all, all powers were transferred to a state authority — the Department of Family and Demographic Policy. A clear system of interdepartmental relations was established.
The meeting was organized by the Health Care and Social Protection Committee of the Legislative Assembly. Every year, more than 4,000 children in the region are left without parental care. The deputy minister of social development, guardianship and trusteeship of the region, Tatyana Pletan, noted that the rate of identification of such children in 2008 fell for the first time in several years by 20%. The number of adopted children in 2008 increased by 37.4% compared with 2007. At the same time, the number of Russian citizens who adopted children increased by 83.7%.
The roundtable participants concluded that the laws of the Irkutsk Region on foster care and guardianship need to be brought into line with federal laws. After the amendments are adopted, the amount of allowances for foster parents will increase from 2.4 thousand rubles per month for one child to 3.5 thousand rubles in the southern districts and 3.7 thousand rubles in the northern districts.
The roundtable participants recommended that the government of the Irkutsk Region introduce the necessary amendments to the laws “On the Foster Care Arrangement for Children Left Without Parental Care in the Irkutsk Region” and “On the Organization and Implementation of Guardianship and Trusteeship Activities” in the first quarter.
In 2009, legislators will have to develop more than one bill. For example, on the development of foster care. At present, more than 200 people in the region “work” as foster parents. The same number of children found their foster parents last year, who adopted them or took them under guardianship.
Despite the positive trend, Tatyana Pletan notes, many children still end up in orphanages because their parents have been deprived of parental rights. Thus, at Orphanage No. 1, 120 children are currently being raised. 45 of them are full orphans.