Income sources

treatment, "helping" the children to survive and better familiarize

themselves with the asocial role of a homeless child and drug addict.

It can be seen from the Diagram that the six factors dragging the

child down the social ladder are countered by three factors of the opposite

direction. The first one is age. The younger the child, the less time

spent on the street, the less chance of indulgence in psychoactive sublances.

The second indication ol the child's normal social adaptability

is preference ol alcohol to other psychoactive substances. Occasional

drinking is tolerated by the law and society. Accordingly, drinking doesn't

stigmatize the children; it doesn't break their family relationships

nor makes them homeless. The third and the strongest factor encouraging

the child's socialization is the desire to obtain legal income i.e.

work or ask (as opposed to stealing) for money from their parents.

Mi ISCOWS RAILWAY STATION CHILDREN 5] vicious circle of de-socialization are closely interrelated with three

of them (namely, the law. state "help" and charity organizations)

being organized systems, the three above-mentioned factors are not

inter-related at all. being purely the matter of a personal character.

What we see is a face-off between the de-socialization system and a

lone personality with the forces being unequal. The conclusion: we

have to establish a system oriented to children's re-socialization, not

only their physical survival.

Straight arrows indicate positive correlations (where an increase in

one parameter brings about a similar increase in another).

Broken arrows indicate negative positive correlations (where an

increase in one parameter brings about a decrease in another

parameter).

The so-called vicious circle of de-socialization is marked grey.

Based on the derived criteria, we have assessed social adaptability

for each of the six groups of teenagers. The comparison was made

against the average value for the entire sample. Where the group indicator

differed from the average value by less than l()( )o. it was marked

as zero, if it characterized the group towards social adaptability — as

+ I, otherwise — as - 1 . The findings are shown in Table 3.

Two groups with a strong chemical dependency are pretty similar.

Both are totally asocial and three quarters of their members are homeless

teenagers with a prevailing age of 17-18 years. Re-socialization of

these teenagers is very difficult. Representatives of group I are unwilling

to change anything, they are tough and secretive. Their only problem

on the street is the police, while the most frequently named reason

lor being runaways is their desire to be free. Representatives of

group 4 declare their willingness to change something in their lives.

However, the highest degree of chemical dependence in this group

gives rise to doubts whether they would be capable of realizing these

desires and whether they were sincere in their representations.

Teenagers from groups 2 and 3 are socially adaptive. These groups

have the smallest percentage of orphans and homeless. Asocial elements

of their behavior mainly stem from their protest against their

parents. Behavior of group 2 teenagers is пине asocial: they suffer

5 2 M O M ow \ K U I W V I S T A T I O N < : I I I I . I ) R I - :N

"WORKING WUT I YOl IT I AT RISK" мм,-. I

Table 3. Degree of Socialization foi Six Groups ol It-onagers wit

Varying Chemical Dependency and Desire foi ( liange from chemical dependency; two thirds of them make their living by

stealing. While re-socialization lor these groups is not required, preventive

measures are hampered by the fact that these teenagers are

unwilling to change anything because their parents often shield them

from the consequences of their wrongdoing. Representatives of group

3 resemble normal kids of overly-anxious parents who insist on a

"treatment course" lor their children on the slightest evidence.

Groups 5 and 6 are not so socially adaptive as groups 2 and 3.

However, given that almost Г)()(,„ of these groups are homeless and that

5 7% of group 6 and 4 1 "<, of group 5 are orphans, it becomes obvious

that their level of social adaptability is nothing else but their personal

achievement. They want to change their lives. They are trying to defy

the system that is dragging them to the bottom (see above).

Conclusion: groups 6 and 5 have the best prospects for re-socialization. JUST A N O I N T R DAY

By: Gallina Komova (social worker)

It was a cold winter day with strong gusts of icy wind. We met as

usual at Kurskaya subway station in the center of the vestibule from

where we started our itinerary without any hope for successs. And

indeed, we saw nobody...

Coming back from Alekseevsksay subway station (the last stop

on our itinerary) in the pedestrian underpass we had a glimpse of

something painfully familiar right in the middle of the crowd of indifferent

passers-by. A confused boy in oversize boots and a thin shabby

windcheater.

I le was looking aroud in confusion, clutching to a large plastic bag

(with some toys, as we saw later).

We decided to talk to him. At first, he didn't answer and we

almost made our minds to leave the frightened kid alone. Finally, he

responded. It turned out that the boy had only a smattering of

Russian. We decided to buy him some food. I bought a kilo of tangerines,

a bottle of juice and a bagel. He put everything in the bag,

which somewhat surprised me.

We decided to see him "home". Along the way, the kid gradually

got accustomed to us and even somehow told us his story.

About five years ago he came to Moscow from Dagestan with his

elder brother. The brother found a job, married a local girl and the boy

was staying with him. When the brother died, his widow simply threw

the boy out. In order to survive, he found a job at an open market and

some dwelling in the outskirts of Moscow. Not every 9-year old would

have been capable of anything like this.

We got off at Rizhskaya and went through the market down the

winding, practically deserted road. That place almost scared me. But

it only was a shortcut to the railway platform. We got into the train to

get warm — toward the evening, the wind increased and was turning

into a snowstorm. The boy didn't want us to accompany him until the

end, but we agreed to meet on the next day at the market (of course. he didn't show up either forgetting or being undisposed, which is

probably not so important now).

We gol off feeling so sad. and our tears were slowly turning into

ice. A little boy all by himself in a huge world where nobody needs him,

with little hope of any assistance or even understanding from adults.

And all he owns is a yellow toy truck and a couple of tin men —

mementos from the so far away childhood that ended so abruptly. HOMELESS AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN IN RUSSIA:

A BRIEF SURVEY 01 VARIOUS APPROACHES

TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE

By: N.KIuinanus/iL'ili

The current status of the homeless and neglected children issue in

Russia is perceived by many government and non-government organizations

as nearly catastrophic.

Isolated data ((noted by officials representing government bodies

in charge of law enforcement, social protection, education, sociological

and statistical organizations clearly indicate the absence of precise

and reliable information on the number of homeless and neglected

children, not to mention an established systemic notion about the

principles, procedures and methods of working with these underprivileged

categories of population.

Depending on the source. I l k ' total number of homeless and neglected

children varies anywhere from 360 thousand1 to 2 and even 5

million2 .

It would be reasonable to assume that this kind of data variation

stems from the fact that the higher figure quoted approximately indicates

the number of neglected children, while the lower — the number

of homeless children.

At the same time, a lot is being done in many Russian regions to

assist both neglected and homeless children.

In accordance with the definition of Article I of the federal law

1 I'D-17 "On the Basic System for the Prevention of Juvenile

Delinquency and Neglect" dated June 24, 1999 :

"Neglected children are minors without no parental control due to

a failure to perform (or improper performance) of duties relating to the

According to I I K ' Ministry of the Interior, every year the police are booking approximately I million

minors for various delinquent activities, sonic 'МП) thousand teenagers arc registered by the police as

delinquents: http://www.mvdinform.ru/news/6587/.

Analytical Bulletin of the Federation Council # 201 I7ti). p. 35-36.

Collection of the Russian Federation laws. I «•«***. «L't>. p. 3177.

Ml • Social rehabilitation centers for minors - 13

• Centers for psychological and pedagogical assistance - 10

• (-enters providing integrated social services to the- population - 15

• Centers for assistance to orphans and parentless children — 5

• Telephone hotlines — .36

Consultancies — I 17

• Juvenile services — 2

• Public reception offices for children — 25".

The document's inconsistency is revealed by the fact that il simultaneously

reports an increased number of boarding schools and juvenile

services. It's obvious that if juvenile services are a sign of the

times, boarding schools are a clear anachronism.

1.5 The prospective program "Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency

and Neglect in the Mytischi district for 2001-2007" drafted by the

municipal authorities of the Mytischi district (Moscow region)

(http://www.mytyshi.ru/socio/committce/programme.php) reveals

that the municipality is poorly prepared for program implementation.

The document declares the following expected outputs from the

program implementation:

"Implementing the measures provided lor in the program will:

• Hnhance the effectiveness of social rehabilitation work with children

and teenagers finding themselves in difficult situations or

conflicting with the law;

Improve interaction between various bodies within the system for

the prevention of juvenile delinquency and children neglect;

• Create conditions for further reduction of offences and crime committed

by minors;

Reduce the number of homeless and neglected children and

teenagers;

It's obvious that all the above outputs with the exception of the last

one. can not be reliably measured or quantified.

1.6 Iл en when the authorities are ready to absorb innovative ideas

and research (as demonstrated by the interdepartmental program

"Prevention of Children Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency for 2004-

2006" adopted in the city of Magadan (blip: vvvv vv.cityadm.maga-

60 Ml ISl I 'W S К VII VV W STATU >N CHILDREN

"WORKING WITH VOUTII AT RISK" series. Issue H I

dan.ru/programm/beznadzornosl.php), that takes into account the

ideas implemented in the course of the ARO program

(http://www.aro.ru/), the document does not ensure a program

approach. For example, efficiency is to be assessed by the executing

party itself which can hardly assist in the actual (not the declared ) efficiency.

It is fair to say that the program also provides for active NGO

participation in its implementation.

1.7 In 2005, the Presidential Administration prepared a draft

Presidential Decree 'The Principles of Government Social Policy for

the Protection of Children until 2010" (the National Action Plan for

the protection of children)1 .

Public hearings held at the Presidential Council for the promotion

of civil institutions and human rights have demonstrated that Russia's

civic institutions are ready for fruitful and constructive cooperation

with the government authorities responsible for formulation and

implementation of government policies aiming to protect children's

interests, including the activities to combat children iieglecl and

homelessiiess-. However, as ol today the Russian Federation government

and competent authorities haven't even responded to the comments

made by a group of civic society experts'. The work on the final

version of the Plan has not been started and no clear interaction procedures

have been proposed to the NGOs that, acting in the children's

interests, had submitted their proposals on amendments to the

National Action Plan. The interaction is to be organized by newlyestablished

coordination bodies. I lowever, in reality this is not always

the case. For example, the Coordination Council for prevention of children

neglect and homelessiiess set up at the Russian Federation

Health Care and Social Development Ministry refused to perform

coordinating functions in the finalizing of the National Action Plan for

11Ю protection of children until 201 0 despite the authority delegated to

it by a ministerial decree1.