Kazakhstan Orphan Statistics UPDATED

“Most of the children raised in orphanages in Kazakhstan turn to prostitution or crime, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Majilis deputy Dariga Nazarbayeva as saying at the joint meeting of the Parliament chambers.

“8 billion tenge ($53 million) were allocated for maintenance of orphanages in 2012. Around 100 thousand tenge ($667) are allocated monthly per one kid. And yet the orphanages are ineffective. We know that providing food, clothes and accommodation for a child means solving only a half the problem. The children that are raised in orphanages are not ready for the adult and independent life when they grow up and leave. The orphanages cripple their souls and make them even unhappier. 70 percent of the boys raised in this system end up in jail and 60 percent of girls turn to prostitution,” Nazarbayeva said.

In her view, Kazakhstan lacks a common social policy towards orphans and “the responsibility for protection of rights of such people is divided between different state authorities and has a formal and passive nature”.

1,600 children aged under 4 live in orphanages that report to the Healthcare Ministry, 800 physically challenged children are in the care of the Ministry of Labor and Social protection and around 9 thousand children are taken care of by the Ministry of Education and Science the MP said.

“We believe that the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection should be the one responsible for all such children,” Nazarbayeva said.

She noted that Kazakhstan residents adopt around 3 thousand children annually, “which certifies that our society is humane and good-hearted”.

“The system of adoption, guardianship and patronage should be granted support through development of the new forms of patronage. So-called professional foster families should be one of the forms. The international SOS Kinderdorf fund has been successfully operating in Kazakhstan for many years. They build the family-type orphanages and children villages. The fund does miracles with fairly modest funding. We should used their model and allocated the budget money for construction of such villages,” the deputy said.”

Most of children raised in Kazakhstan orphanages turn to prostitution or crime

[Tengri News 6/24/13 by Altynai Zhumzhumina ]

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Update:“66 Kazakhstani children have been adopted by foreigners since last year, Tengrinews reports citing the Children Protection Committee.

“Citizens of Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Canada and Switzerland have adopted 66 Kazakhstani children since 2013,” the Committee reported.

Meanwhile, there is no information on Kazakhstanis adopting children from abroad. According to the Committee, Kazakhstani citizens annually adopt around 3 thousand children. 1151 children have been adopted since the beginning of this year. During the same period last year, 1309 children were adopted.

Overall, 2.5 thousand applications for adoption have been filed by Kazakhstanis this year. The Committee explained that Kazakhstani parents-to-be usually want to adopt a healthy child of a particular gender and ethnicity who would potentially look like the adoptive parents. In addition, Kazakhstanis mostly want to adopt children that are over 1 y.o. “Only 10% of the potential adoptive families want to adopt a child over 6 y.o. The statistics shows that boys from 0 to 3 y.o. are adopted more often,” the Committee said.

“Adoptive parents have different occupations. They are engineers, teachers, doctors, businessmen, economists, accountants and etc. The average age of the adoptive parents is 35-45 years,” the Committee added.

The process of adoption, according to the the Children Protection Committee, has been significantly simplified. The prospective adoptive parents have to file an application to the local adoption authorities with a full dossier including identity documents, documents on martial status, health, proof of criminal background check, consent from relatives for adoption, housing availability and a financial statement. The adoption authorities will approve the family for adoption if their living conditions and all the other parameters meet the requirements. After choosing a child, the future adoptive parents are required to spend two weeks communicating with the child. The documents for adoption are filed only after a bond between the child and the family has been established. The final decision is delivered by the court.

Tengrinews has reported on several cases of illegal adoption of children in Kazakhstan. In response, the Committee said that the reason behind the increasing number of illegal adoptions in Kazakhstan is financial difficulties and unwanted or extramarital pregnancy. According to the Children Protection Committee, in the first 7 month of the year there were 20 criminal cases connected with illegal adoption.

Not all adoption cases end with a happily ever after motif, as annually around 10-15 children are returned to orphanages due to illnesses that were not determined before the adoption or difficult adaptation period for parents and children alike.”

Children Protection Committee unveils adoption statistic in Kazakhstan[Tengri News 9/15/14 by Aidana Ussupova and Gyuzel Kamalova]