From Canada With Love
From Canada With Love is a non-for-profit charity organized with one simple intention - to make the lives of orphans a little better. All of the monetary donations will go towards purchasing various items, primarily clothes, which with the help of our supporters, will be shipped directly to specific orphanages in St. Petersburg.
We are currently working on setting up a blog where we will be posting frequent updates on the progress of the charity, as well as the photos of the items that were purchased.
Some facts about Orphans in Russia
There are over 4 million orphans and homeless children in Russia and Ukraine. Officially, there are 730,000 orphans living in Russia alone. That means that Russia has more orphans today than after World War II! Statistics show that only one out of ten Russian orphans becomes a functional member of society. The others are lost to drugs, crime and suicide. Millions of Russian children are on the run living on the streets or in underground sewers desperately needing basic food, medicine and clothes.
According to data from the Health and Social Development Ministry, more than 730,000 children in Russia either have no parents or have been abandoned by their parents. Of this number about 200,000 of them live in orphanages and internats. In 2007, 123,000 new orphans were registered by the state with 120,000 of them being placed with extended family members, adopted or placed in foster homes. More than 160,000 children are waiting to be adopted according to the state database. International adoptions have been hampered by recent legislation. As of March 2007, only 20 organizations had received accreditation from the government to oversee international adoptions. In 2007, 9,000 Russian children were adopted by foreign families. More than 4,000 of these went to the United States.
More facts:
After leaving their orphanages:
50% - fall into a high-risk category
40% - become drug users
40% - commit crimes
10% - commit suicide
Orphans in Russia - of whom 95 percent still have a living parent - are exposed to shocking levels of cruelty and neglect. Infants classified as disabled are segregated into "lying-down" rooms, where they are changed and fed but are bereft of stimulation and lacking in medical care.
Of a total of more than 600,000 children classified as being "without parental care", as many as one-third reside in institutions, while the rest are placed with a variety of guardians. Thousands more are temporarily quartered in various public shelters and institutions under police jurisdiction simply waiting for an available space in an orphanage.
Thousands of children are abandoned to the state at a rate of 113,000 a year for the past two years, up dramatically from 67,286 in 1992. The evidence gathered reveals several systematic disadvantages imposed on young Russian orphans, which violate their fundamental rights to survival and development, and place them in a underclass.
