The All-Russian forum of graduates of orphanages “We need each other” has started in Moscow 
The II All-Russian forum of graduates of orphanages We need each other”. Organizers: All-Russian public organization “Commonwealth of graduates of orphanages” Children of the whole country “with the support of Rosmolodezh and the Ministry of Education of Russia.
At the forum in full-time and online formats, more than 300 graduates of organizations for orphans from all over the country, experts and guests discuss issues of socialization, post-boarding support, training, career guidance and employment of graduates.
First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Sergei Kirienko and Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin sent greetings to the participants and guests of the forum, noting the high social significance of the event and the work carried out by the graduates to socialize today's children in orphanages.
At the panel discussion, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy Artem Metelev spoke about the development of new measures to support orphans and graduates of orphanages, and also noted the positive dynamics in reducing the number of children who end up in orphanages – the number of foster families is increasing. At the same time, positive changes, in his opinion, are happening too slowly.
“In the summer, within the framework of the Approved project, we shot a documentary film“ Family instead of an orphanage ”, in which families who have found themselves in difficult life circumstances, about the work of guardianship services. It was a strong, emotionally difficult project, but it resulted in a number of concrete initiatives that, in my opinion, will allow us to make significant progress in solving key problems in the field of protecting orphans, ”Metelev added.
Among the initiatives were the following: placement of children without the status of orphans instead of temporary detention facilities in foster families; development of the institution of “professionally oriented families” that could replace orphanages; developing protocols for working with families to prevent the removal of a child from parents for far-fetched reasons.
In addition, according to Artem Metelev, it is necessary to change the approach to payments for the employment of graduates of the orphanage, since the existing system is ineffective. “A graduate receives an allowance from the labor exchange as a highly qualified specialist in the first six months – in Moscow it is more than 110 thousand rubles a month – and spends it on entertainment. And when the money runs out, no one is ready to go down and look for a job for 30 or 50 thousand. It is necessary to stimulate its search from the first month, and to make part of the payments already for the found job. ”
Artem Metelev noted that along with this, it is necessary to introduce additional incentives for employers who are ready to employ graduates of orphanages. The State Duma Committee on Youth Policy will work on these and other issues together with the expert community.
The forum will result in joint initiatives of youth and experts to improve the regulatory framework, organize educational activities in orphanages and further support graduates in adulthood.
Information about the Forum is posted on the official website of the Children of the Whole Country SVDD, as well as in the official VKontakte group.