The forum brought together over 500 adoptive families from all over Russia. At its opening, Anna Kuznetsova read a message of greetings from the President of Russia, in which he said, in part, that ”education and protection of the rights and interests of children left without parental care is a serious and highly important goal. We must create every condition to make sure that every child receives proper care, can find friends and family, and enjoys the warmth and comfort of home. The way these problems are resolved will determine the fate of the children and the spiritual and moral well-being of society.“
The Children’s Rights Commissioner noted the positive trends forming in Russia with increasing numbers of adoptive families with three to four children; increasing numbers of children with special needs who now have families (a 60 percent increase over five years); and the number of prospective adoptive and adoptive parents growing by more than 2.5 times (from 12,000 in 2011 to 31,000 in 2015).
Anna Kuznetsova pointed out that not all the problems have been resolved yet. The number of adoptive children who returned to orphanages in 2015 amounted to 5,700; the quality of training and support for substitute families needs to be improved; the motivation of the parents also needs to be enhanced; and housing provision remains a sensitive issue.
According to Anna Kuznetsova, expert and public councils are currently being formed under the Children's Rights Commissioner, which will include representatives of the associations of adoptive families, and non-profit organisations.