Olesya, 13 years, Moscow region.

Ran away from an orphanage several times together with her twin

brother. Has a stepfather, mother and grandmother. The mother is an

ex-alcoholic with a criminal record. The girl reports having been

abused by the parents, her brother confirms that. The mother says she

only disciplines her when the girl runs away from home and that her

disciplining involves no physical abuse (just grounding).

With the help of the elder brother, we managed to convince the girl

to return home. A week later, she was again seen at Kursky railway

station (without her brother). Quickly joined a baud of older boys.

Thinks of them as her brothers, obviously looking lor parental attitude.

Both the girl and her family require long term psychological guidance.

12 M(ISI (IVV s KVIIVV W sI VIK IN CHILDREN

"WORKING WITH YOUTH AT RISK" series. Issue 10

WHAT NEXT?

Who is working with the railway stations' children?

During their field assignments, our social workers did come across

other non-government organizations helping homeless children:

The Salvation Army regularly dispenses food and clothing. It also

runs a weekend summer camp immensely popular with the kids.

The MSF is involved in pedagogical and psychological activity

aimed at teenagers' adaptation. Active Assistance to Children provides

food, tries to motivate the children to seek assistance and refers them

to orphanages and clinics.

The Russian Orthodox Church provides a special "social bus service"

to dispense food and provide medical assistance.

There's a rumor of a certain individual, an ex-street kid himself,

who has become a rich businessman. This person reportedly provides

lood for Moscow's homeless children on a regular basis. Since we have

never met him personally, there's no evidence confirming the existence

of this person.

We also have information that Monar, a Polish charity organization,

acting jointly with the organization called Active Assistance to

Children is planning to set up a Moscow-based low-threshold center

for supporting homeless children. We have met with representatives of

these organizations and agreed to cooperate in the future.

According to the Health Care Department, apart from the already

mentioned clinics (DGKB # 2 1, Tushino Children's Municipal Clinic

and Morozovskaya Children's Municipal Clinic), the department

operates 6 specialized mobile teams whose task is dealing with homeless

children. However, social workers from the NAN Foundation

have never seen any of these mobile teams; probably they are involved

in transporting the children from police stations to hospitals and from

hospitals to orphanages.

According to the I lealth Care Department, in 2005, the Moscowbased

medical institutions have treated 7517 homeless and neglected

children. Of these, 6565 were hospitalized. Geographically, these children

came from:
• Moscow - 28.5"о

• Moscow region - 13.9°,,

• Other Russian regions — 22.8%

• CIS and other foreign countries — 34.8%

After medical examination and treatment, the children were sent to:

Custody institutions — 44.8"<>

• To their parents (in accordance with the established procedure) —

50.5%

To specialized medical institutions (tuberculosis and narcological

dispensaries, surgical and infectious hospitals) — 4.7%

Problems. Change in needs

The main problem encountered during the study of street children

was their initial reluctance to communicate with someone they don't

know (people from the NAN foundation). It took some time before the

children got accustomed to the Foundation's social workers so that

they could conduct their survey with more efficiency.

Other problems emerged when, upon leaving the MSI'daytime center,

the children were forwarded to the NDA Foundation's shelter and

rehabilitation center. The first cases of the children (who had consented

to receiving rehab assistance) sent to the Foundation's child care institutions

indicated that the children have trouble coming to terms with the

local conditions and tend to leave after the first conflict. The reasons were

identified after a review of the situation conducted jointly with the MSF

experts: the children had not received enough information on the internal

regulations in force at the Foundation's institutions. Accustomed to freedom,

they were not ready to comply with the regulations, were hying to

set their own rules. It was decided that the children have to receive more

information on the Foundation's child care institutions (the shelter and

rehabilitation center) before their admittance from the Foundation's

workers who would then accompany the kids to the institution. It was

also decided that the Foundation's social workers would organize psychotherapeutic

sessions for the railway children attending the.MSI'daytime

center. This would be an additional motivation loi the ehildren and

ensure trust between the kids and the Foundation's social workers. The

1 1 Ml >si i)VV S IOIIVV W s I VI К l\ CHILDREN

WORKING WITH YOUTH AT RISK" series. Issue III

latest events (behavior of the children recently admitted to Kvartal rehabilitation

center) indicated that the situation has changed for the better.

External factors

During field assignments at the railway stations and adjacent territories,

we did not anticipate that the police would gladly cooperate

with the social workers. However, neither the police nor the railway

stations' staff never caused any problem and ensured our free passage

to the territory (upon presentation of social worker ID cards issued by

the Foundation).

The police normally chase homeless children off their beat or book

I hem in case of any obvious misdemeanor.

Bottom line: none of existing government or поп-government organizations

are in a systemic way addressing the issue of homeless children.

What next?

Violation oi children's rights is a most pressing issue for Russia.

This violation and the lack of the right's protection mechanism are the

primary cause for the emergence of street children. While this topic

юн which the NAN Foundation has been working since 1002) falls

outside the scope of this document, it should be noted that at present

we continue working on restoration of Russia's juvenile justice system

and have already made considerable progress.

An Extract from the 2005 MSF Report

"hi recent years, a sufficient number of social shelters ready to

lake care ol homeless and neglected children have been established in

Moscow. In addition, there emerged a system (the police — the hospilal

— the shelter) responsible for provision of assistance and children's

distribution to social institutions. However, the results of the MSFlimded

program for assisting homeless children and teenagers that

has been in operation since 2003 indicate that some of the children living

on the street fall outside the scope of the activities carried out by

the Moscow City Government. This can be explained by the absence

ol a systematic street work (regular 2-3 week field assignments normally

performed by teachers college undergraduates on a vocational

practice can not achieve the desired effect). Homeless children are
unable or unwilling to make contact with the adult world. In addition,

they are frequently unaware of the opportunities they have regarding

medical and social assistance.

There exists a network of well-equipped and operating social shelters

for homeless and neglected children, there are hospitals providing

medical examinations and treatment. BUT this infrastructure has NO

outreach to the street children. The only link between the children and

these institutions is provided by the police whose basic job is dealing

with crime rather than doing social work.

Street work has proved its effectiveness in many countries, including

Russia. Most often, social projects are initiated by N(i()s and supported

by the government. As of today, the government bodies are

unable to carry out permanent social work since the position of a street

social worker is yet to be included into the official payroll list.

Moscow's first project — Moscow Street Children — was launched in

1997 by the NAN Foundation and the Humanitarian Association

Fquilibre (France) with the.support of UNICEF. Despite positive outputs,

the project was discontinued in 1998 due to reasons beyond the

organizers' control.

The MSF experience in Moscow shows that if the work with

homeless children starts within their environment (on the street) and

is continued at the Daytime Center, the re-socialization process can

encompass older teenagers currently untended by the social workers

(more than 7 5% of all homeless children admitted to Moscow's institutions

are under 15 years old. At the same time, up to 81)",, of all

street veterans are senior teenagers aged 15-17 years).

The program's outputs enhance the efficiency of measures aimed

at prevention of children neglect and homelessness, criminalization

and drug abuse among minors.

This program prepares factual basis (model) for s e l l i n g up a system

(systematic street work and Daytime Center), providing an outreach

to the homeless child and a link to his relatives, s o c i a l (medical)

institutions and society in general".

We appreciate the dedication and support s h o w n by all MSF staff

in the course of the project's implementation and h o p e that o u r partner

relationship will be continued.

Hi: iN i IIII.DREN

WORKING WITH YOl "I'll AT RISK" M I L S K M,, - III

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS