Orphans in Eastern Europe
Conditions in Orphanages Have Improved Little Since the Soviet Era
Jun 11, 2007
Orphans in E. Europe
The plight of orphans in Eastern Europe is a sad and disturbing one. Orphanages in Eastern Europe are often poorly equipped, overcrowded, under-funded, under-staffed, and unimportant to officials. An incident in a Yekaterinburg hospital even saw orphaned infants gagged to keep them from crying.
During the era of the Soviet Union, many children were institutionalized because they had birth defects, contracted diseases, had special needs, were unwanted, or their parents were imprisoned or lacked the resources to care for them. This practice continues still today. As one Russian-American described, “When I was growing up in Moscow, I didn’t see people with disabilities on the streets. They were shut away. When I came to the States when I was 10 years old, I didn’t know how to react to these people. Now, of course, I understand, but my fear was indicative of the mentality of people in the Soviet Union towards anyone who was different.”
Today, orphanages are still places for these children – but they have little hope for normal futures. Some orphans in Eastern Europe, like those in regions of Ukraine, have severe physical and mental disabilities that result from their parents’ exposure to fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 (visit Ukraine Orphans to help). Others are children born with fetal alcohol syndrome into a system that is insufficiently equipped to care for them. Still others are abandoned by parents who have AIDS. Children who are without disabilities can often be scarred emotionally by their time in Eastern European orphanages: infants may not be properly socialized, care may not be shown by staff, or orphans may not get the attention necessary to help them grow into confident adults who can function successfully in society.
Orphans in Eastern Europe have few opportunities to be adopted. Some countries, like Russia and Romania, have closed their orphanages to international adoptions. Other countries still have corrupt infrastructures that make even would-be parents with the best intentions face so many obstacles that Eastern European adoption may be impossible.
The ratio of parents ready to adopt to children needing homes is unbalanced. There are many more Eastern European orphans than there are homes able to take them in. Most parents seek infants without disabilities – older children or children with special needs often spend their entire youths in Eastern European orphanages. There is little provision made for them when they must face society as adults, and many of children who grow up in orphanages end up in prison, lacking parental guidance or relatives to care for them.
