Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Improving Institutional Care to Enhance Outcomes for Care Leavers in Russia

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Young People Transitioning from Out-of-Home Care

Abstract

There is a considerable body of research that associates successful outcomes for care leavers with the skills and experiences they developed while residing in out-of-home care (Courtney, Use of secondary data to understand the experiences of care leavers. In Stein M, Munro E (eds) Young people’s transitions from care to adulthood: international comparisons and perspectives. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, p 279–288, 2008; Dixon, Child Fam Soc Work 13:207–217, 2008). In Russia, however, the nature of existing institutional care provision makes it challenging, and in some cases impossible, to ensure good life chances for care leavers. This chapter examines the views of 15 Russian caregivers and 45 Russian care leavers regarding their institutional experiences, and explores a range of critical factors associated with care leavers’ transition to adulthood. This survey-based account explores caregivers’ experiences of looking after children and young people, with a focus on young people’s preparation for independent living. Furthermore, young people’s reflections on how institutional care can be improved are presented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In a patronat family, the responsibility for guardianship is shared between an institution and a family, (Schmidt 2009).

  2. 2.

    Some of the participants became independent before they reached the age of 16 to go to vocational education.

References

  • ACS-NYU Children’s Trauma Institute. (2012). Addressing secondary traumatic stress among child welfare staff: A practice brief. New York: NYU Langone Medical Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, A., & Levine, K. (2001). Surveying the social world. Principles and practice is survey research. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altshuler, B. (2010). Children in care: The Russian orphan industry. Open democracy Russia. Available at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/boris-altshuler/children-in-care-russian-orphan-industry. Accessed 11 July 2012.

  • Altshuler, B. (2013). Russian orphans are the means of business for local authorities [Rossijskie siroti–eto bizness dlya sistemi opeki]. Gazeta.ru. Available at: http://www.gazeta.ru/video/predmetnyi_razgovor/altshuler.shtml. Accessed 14 May 2012.

  • Anghel, R. (2011). Transition within transition: How young people learn to leave behind institutional care whilst their careers are stuck in neutral. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 2526–2531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Astoyanc, M. (2005). Analysis of living experiences in the institutional environment [Analiz zhiznennix praktik v usloviyax internatnogo uchezhdenija]. Sociologicheskie Issledovanija, 3, 54–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Astoyanc, M. (2006). Social orphanhood. [Social’noe sirotstvo: usloviya, mexanizmy i dinami-ka e’ksklyuzii (sociokul’turnaya interpretaciya)]. Rostov-na-Donu.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berridge, D., & Brodie, I. (1998). Children’s homes revisited. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berridge, D., Biehal, N., & Henry, L. (2010). Living in children’s residential homes. London: Department for Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowling, A. (2005). Mode of questionnaire administration can have serious effects on data quality. Journal of Public Health, 27(3), 281–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinduk, E. (2012). Establishment of military classes within boarding schools as a after care support service of social adaptation for care leavers [Sozdanie kadetskix klassov v internatnom uchrezhdenii, kak sposob socialnok adpatacii vipusknikov]. Available at: http://www.zavuch.info/methodlib/53/78706/. Accessed 12 Feb 2015.

  • Courtney, M. (2008). Use of secondary data to understand the experiences of care leavers. In M. Stein & E. Munro (Eds.), Young people’s transitions from care to adulthood: International comparisons and perspectives (pp. 279–288). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, J. (2008). Young people leaving care: Health, well-being and outcomes. Child and Family Social Work, 13, 207–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, J., & Stein, M. (2003). Leaving care in Scotland: The residential experience. Scottish Journal of Residential Child, 2(2), 7–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dovzhik, L. & Archakova, T. (2015). Socialization of care leavers from children’s homes [Socializacija vipusknikov detskix domov]. Available at: http://psypress.ru/articles/25184.shtml. Accessed 22 Oct 2015.

  • Downside Up. (2008). Change life of people with Down syndrome to the better [Menjaem k luchshemu zhizn ludej s sindromom dauna v Rossii]. Available at: http://www.downsideup.org/. Accessed 10 Oct 2015.

  • Dzugaeva, A. (2013). Press-conference ‘Supporting the social orphans and developing the family-based model care’ [Realisacija modeli profilaktiki socialnogo sirotstva I razvitie semejnogo ustrojstva detej, ostavshixsja bex popechenija roditelej’]. Moscow: Russian Ministry for Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emond, R. (2003). Putting the care into residential care. The role of young people. Journal of Social Work, 3, 321–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • English, D., Kouidou-Giles, S., & Plocke, M. (1994). Readiness for independence: A study of youth in foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 16(3/4), 147–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forrester, D. (2008). Is the care system failing children? The Political Quarterly, 79(2), 206–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groark, C., Muhamedrahimov, R., Palmov, O., Nikiforova, N., & McCall, R. (2008). The effects of early social-emotional and relationship experience on the development of young orphanage children, Author manuscript, Monograph social research child development. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellinckx, W. (2002). Residential care: Last resort or vital link in child welfare? International Journal of Child and Family Welfare, 3, 75–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, S. (2009). Listening to children in care: A review of methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding looked after children’s perspectives. Children and Society, 23, 226–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights Watch. (1998). Abandoned to the state: Cruelty and neglect in Russian orphanages. New York: Human Rights Watch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ireland, L., & Holloway, I. (1996). Qualitative health research with children. Children and Society, 10, 155–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khlinovskaya Rockhill, E. (2010). Lost to the state: Family discontinuity, social orphanhood and residential care in the Russian Far East. Oxford: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerch, V., & Stein, M. (2010). Aging out of care. From care to adulthood in European and Central Asian societies. Innsbruck: SOS Children’s Villages International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, M., Kohm, A., & Thompson, R. (2005). The impact of residential placement on child development: Research and policy implications. International Journal of Social Welfare, 14, 200–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mensitova, V. (2012). Characteristics of a children’s home as an educational and residential facility [Xarakteristika detskogo doma, kak obrazovatelno-vospitatel’nogo uchrezhdenija]. Psihologicheskie nauki: teorija i praktika. Moscow:Buki-Vedi, 2, 111–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millham, S., Bullock, R., Hosie, K., & Haak, M. (1986). Lost in care: The problems of maintaining links between children in care and their families. Aldershot: Gower.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulheir, G., Browne, K., Darabus, S., Misca, G., Pop, D., & Wilson, B. (2004). De-institutionalisation of children’s services in Romanian: A good practice guide. Bucharest: High Level Group for Romanian Children/UNICEF Romania office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nazarova, I. B. (2000). Adaptation and possible models of orphans welfare. Moscow: Moscow Scientific Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oakley, M. (2000). Children and young people and care proceedings. In A. Lewis & G. Lindsay (Eds.), Researching children’s perspectives (pp. 73–85). Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philanthropy. (2011). Orphans in Russia: Problems and suggested ways for improvement [Sirotstvo v Rossii: problemi i puti ix reshenija]. Moscow: Philanthropy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philanthropy. (2012). Houseparents in children’s homes: Charities never consult caregivers. [Vospitatel’ detdoma: Blagotvoritel’ nikogda ne sovetuetsja s vospitateljami]. Moscow: Philanthropy. Available at: http://philanthropy.ru/intervyu/2012/05/12/7692/#.VlQ8XF7MBtQ. Accessed on 24 Nov 15.

  • Philanthropy. (2015). A children’s home is an amputation of future. [Detskij dom-amputacija budushego]. Moscow: Philanthropy. Available at: http://philanthropy.ru/news/2015/11/09/30667/#.VlRptl7MBtR. Accessed on 20 Nov 15.

  • Podolskaya, N., & Vendina, O. (2008). Social adaptation of care leavers [Socialnaya adaptacija vipusknikov]. Kompleksnoe izuchnie cheloveka. Sbornik statey, 94, 397–406.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prisyazhnaya, N. (2007). Orphans as a social group of Russian society. Conference paper, Moscow State University of Sociology, Moscow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ridley, J., & McCluskey, S. (2003). Exploring the perception of young people in care and care leavers of their health needs. Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, 2, 55–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Safonova, T. (2005). Rehabilitation of children in children’s homes. Moscow: Nauka.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sellick, C. (1998). The use of institutional care for children across Europe. European Journal of Social Work, 1(3), 301–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, V. (2009). Orphan care in Russia. Social Work and Society, 7(1), 58–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schofield, G. (2005). The voice of the child in family placement decision-making: A developmental model. Adoption and Fostering, 19(1), 29–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, M. (2004). What works for young people leaving care? Barkingside: Barnardo’s.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, M., & Verweijen-Slamnescu, R. (Eds.) (2012). When care ends: Lessons from peer research insights from young people on leaving care in Albania, The Czech Republic, Finland and Poland. Innsbruck: SOS Children’s Villages International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stepanova, E., & Hackett, S. (2014). Understanding care leavers in Russia: Young people’s experiences of institutionalisation. Australian Social Work, 67(1), 118–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C. (2006). Young people in care and criminal behaviour. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, H., Skuse, T., & Munro, E. R. (2005). The best of times, the worst of times’ young people’s views of care and accommodation. Adoption and Fostering, 29(1), 8–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yarskaya-Smirnova, E., & Antonova, E. (2009). Social policy and childhood world in contemporary Russia, [Socialnaya politika I mir detstva v sovremennoj Rossii]. Moscow: Variant.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhuravleva, M. (2013). Girls physically abuse younger residents of a boarding school. Dozhd, from 19.05.2013. Available at: http://tvrain.ru. Accessed 25 May 2013.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Gateshead, UK

    Evgenia Stepanova & Simon Hackett

Authors
  1. Evgenia Stepanova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Simon Hackett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Victoria, Australia

    Philip Mendes

  2. Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia

    Pamela Snow

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Stepanova, E., Hackett, S. (2016). Improving Institutional Care to Enhance Outcomes for Care Leavers in Russia. In: Mendes, P., Snow, P. (eds) Young People Transitioning from Out-of-Home Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55639-4_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55639-4_18

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55638-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55639-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation