Undertaken as per the President’s instructions, the Nationwide Inspection of the Social Orphanhood Prevention System focuses on accessing efforts to prevent social orphanage at the regional level and explore best practices in this sector.
The Commissioner for Children’s Rights brought her team to the Primorye Territory, where they inspected 16 state institutions. Maria Lvova-Belova had a meeting with the region’s Governor, Oleg Kozhemyako, during which she outlined her preliminary recommendations resulting from the inspection.
In Vladivostok, Maria Lvova-Belova took part in a forum titled Family First: Effective Ways for Preventing Social Orphanhood. Held for the first time, it is part of the Nationwide Inspection of the Social Orphanhood Prevention System.
The forum brought together about 500 specialists from across the country, and featured presentations on improving the legal framework, offering parents suffering from alcohol and substance abuse all-round support, expanding the Children in Families services and daycare for children with disabilities and impairments, and creating Resilient Family clubs.
In her remarks at the forum, Maria Lvova-Belova said that her team had already visited 20 regions as part of this review effort, including 188 social institutions, 62 child protection, guardianship and custodianship offices, 75 educational institutions, 66 medical facilities, and 52 non-profit organisations. They have been following 822 cases, and have already returned 107 children into their families, while 25 children were placed under the care of their relatives.
The Children’s Rights Commissioner went on to say that she would submit a report on improving the social orphanage prevention system to the President on June 1, 2025.
In addition to this, Maria Lvova-Belova visited several regional institutions for children during her working trip, including the Zhivaya Nadezhda (Hope Alive) crisis centre, Parus Nadezhdy (Sails of Hope) rehabilitation centre, and an Infant Orphanage. She also had personal meetings with local residents to discuss their concerns on this topic.