The Child in Care: Results of the Living and Parenting Conditions’ Monitoring of Children in Care and Their Subjective Well-Being in Orphanages

Abstract

The article is based on an analysis of the results of monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation (formerly the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia) between 2018 and 2020: 1 — Monitoring on the compliance of organizations for orphans and children left without parental care with the requirements of Russian Federation Government Resolution No. 481 of 24 May 2014 On the activities of organizations for orphans and children left without parental care and the placement of children in them; 2 — Evaluation of the welfare of children in organizations for children left without parental care. It is shown that in three years there have been significant changes both in the environment external to the foster child and in the sphere of psychological well-being. Unfortunately, the introduction of a lockdown in the children’s home system due to the COVID-19 pandemic does not allow for the ‘net’ impact of the new living and parenting environment on children’s subjective well-being to be identified. Monitoring has made it possible to obtain annual information on the number of orphanages of all types and the number of children in them, which the current official system for collecting information (statistical form D-13) does not allow for. The data obtained made it possible to conduct a comparative analysis of current problems (abuse, bullying, consideration of the child’s opinion, etc.) from the perspective of the administration and the children themselves. The study involved: 443 pre-schoolers, 1825 children aged 7—12, 3398 teenagers over the age of 12. The verified instrument was a psychodiagnostic complex assessing the subjective well-being of orphans. The results of the analysis of the monitoring data revealed objective factors of well-being related to “the duration of children’s stay in the institution”; “creation of favorable conditions of stay close to the family”; “assistance in social adaptation for graduates of organizations for orphans”; “specifics of education and care of orphans and children without parental care, with disabilities” as well as subjective factors related to child satisfaction with their health, safety, well-being in the organization, self-esteem. The significant discrepancies in the formal assessment and subjective opinion of the children obtained allow adjustments to be made to the monitoring toolkit.