Street children in Russia

Russia is the country which is focused on modernization and innovation in the economic sphere. Russia is a developing country, though it has a problem on the way to realize all the ambitious plans. It is street children.

There is no exact statistics about the homeless children in Russia, so the state departments operate different numbers. There are several reasons for that. Firstly, there is no clear definition for the street children. The statistics mentions different children groups: neglected children, children with no parents, social orphans and so on.  Secondly, it is difficult to estimate the number of the street children as they often hide from people’s eyes. Some official sources say there are 700 thousand of them; others say there are almost a million of the street children in the country. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs they represent 2,17 % of Russian children, while the total number of children in the country is 28 million. Thus, rate is two street children per every hundred children.

Some characteristics of the Russian street children:

•  Most of the Russian street children are social orphans. Usually they have parents but choose not to live with them. The reasons for such a decision can be different: the poverty, the family conflicts, physical and psychological punishment, alcohol or drug abuse, etc.

• Most of the Russian street children decide to leave home because of psychological conflicts they experience there. The research conducted by the Russian Science Academy provides the following information: 68,2 % of the street children have psychological conflicts in the family or in the orphanages. 74,8 % of the street children want to be back to the family or orphanages. 9,2% of the street boys have a desire to serve in the army. 10 % dream to have a normal life, to create their own families and to have a job. There are 29,2 % of boys and 47,7 % of girls among the street children who do not want to be back to their past. 74,7 % of children has the desire to work. Usually, they want to be a driver, a teacher, a doctor, a soldier or a fireman. Most of the children see a good life as a future possibility after they survive during their childhood.

• · The street children live in groups. The children who are not involved into any group and who live by themselves represent only 15 % of the Russian street children.  

 

It is necessary to mention here that there is a shift in the phenomenon of youth criminalization, which is becoming more organized. Nowadays 70% of homeless youth crimes are committed by groups. This negative trend leads to the increasing of staying in a prison. Also homeless youth involve young people who have families but spend a lot of time outside home. Another negative tendency here is the increasing participation of youth in grownups criminal activity. One third of youth crime is committed by grownups guidance. Also we face the increasing rate of the homeless children from the Former Soviet Union countries. All the negative tendencies exist in the world perspective but it is more “popular” in Russia, a country with a street crime mafia and rich history.

The phenomenon of the street children is connected to the increasing number of parents who are deprived of their parental rights. However, according to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs the significant part of homeless minors committing crime, comes from successful families without any financial problems. Their parents are not drug or alcohol abusers and they belong to a “normal” family type.

Most of the parents were grown up in the Soviet Union where financial success was a rarity. Now this generation spends much time and energy to give their children all they lacked themselves. However, while they are busy with the financial success they forget about other children needs. The lack of parental love and their participation in children’s life lead to children aggression and the desire to attract the attention by deviant behavior.

The transition to the capitalist system destroyed the old structure of socialization without creating a new one. As a result the number of free preschool institution, schools for children was reduced while the income level of the most families was not.  Now children have a limited access to public sport, music, draw, dance school and other children entertainment activity and recreation center which used to be a significant part in socialization. The secondary education turned to be optional and be the higher education became commercialized. It also effected in a negative way. Earlier it was obligatory to finish high school. Nowadays young people are required to study only nine years.  The last two years at high school are optional. Moreover, if the studying during these nine years was not successful for the child, he cannot continue the education. Meanwhile the institution of higher education requires to complete 11 years of high school. Quite many young people at their age of 15 do not continue their education nor do not work.

They do not need public education, the street gives them necessary for their  “unique” life: need something – take it no matter how. Unfortunately, this kind of education often leads to the sad future. It is a well-known fact that street children are the main reserve for the juvenile correction. According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs 60% of Russian street children became the criminal offenders.

There is a plenty of researches about homeless youth conducted by state and independent organizations (like UNISEF) as it is one of the main social problems in the country. Most of the recommendations are created to solve the problems and they can be divided into three groups: 

1.                  The improving interaction between organizations working with youth in the existing government system; the improving the law system and increasing the financial resources; the creating of special government body subordinated by President Administration and responsible for solving this problem.

2.                  The developing preventive methods.

I decided to tell about the Russian street children as it is the perfect way to illustrate how changing of the systems and values leads to the social problems. Russia transferred from socialism to the system of market relations because people were tired to be controlled by the government and they looked for a freedom to control their lives by themselves. Nowadays Russian people have more opportunities and possibilities than before, but they still expected the government to protect them from vulnerable groups of population. However, when people rely on the government, the obligation to concern children issues exists in every country.

It is often said in literature that street children exist in economically poor countries. However, the Russian example shows that it is not the key factor. According to the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, the government spends averagely 1,7 thousand dollars on one orphanage per month. Most of the Russian children living with their families do not have such financial resources.  Moreover, there are different special programs.  However, it does not help to improve the situation. The critics say that the problem is that children are not involved to anything but study. It makes them to have a consumer attitude toward the government.  

The Russian history analysis shows that the country had a better success to reduce the number of the street children after the Russian Civil War and World War II. The devastated country with poor financial resources used to solve all these problems. The specialists speak about schools and communities with much attention to the labor education. Education and labor became the principals for the process of decriminalization. Thus children had a clear idea in the mind that they have to work hard, to earn their own money to survive and rely on them.

Do you think the government is able to protect the children without participation of the society? What are the concrete steps for the government?