Report on Russia’s child abandonment prevention system
The results of a statewide inspection of the child abandonment prevention system have been published in a report.
The report provides up-to-date information on the organisation of the country’s prevention system.
26.06.2025
Article published on the ASI website.
The child abandonment prevention system is “a combination of state bodies, civil society institutions, socially responsible business, scientific, expert and parental communities, as well as their work to protect and restore the right of children to live and be brought up in their own families, including in situations where minors lose parental care and custody, and where children are placed in institutions when one or both parents are alive”.
The publication of the report was announced by the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, on her Telegram channel.
In early June, the commissioner presented a special report to the Russian president.
“The document provides an updated picture of how the prevention system is organised today, what discrepancies exist, and where additional solutions and changes are required. We have reflected on the key points: from legal regulation and financing to interagency co-operation,” Lvova-Belova said.
For example, the report states that child protection services in Russia often adopt a formal approach to the preparation of documents on the termination or restriction of parental rights, using template conclusions. And the materials submitted to the court ‘predetermine whether there are grounds for the termination or restriction of rights’.
The commissioner’s team analysed 923 documents, including lawsuits and court decisions. And only 341 of these families have a chance of getting their children back if preventive work is carried out with the parents on an individual basis. This would affect 682 children.
The main initiators of reinstatement of parental rights after a termination order are organisations focused on preventing family separation for orphaned children. The report notes that the process of returning a child requires considerable effort and resources, but there are cases when, even if the parents have shown good conduct, the child protection services still conclude that there are no grounds for returning the child to the family. For example, because of child support debts. Despite there being no prohibition to do so in the legislation.
The report also presents proposals for the development of the child abandonment prevention system at national and regional levels. For example:
- amend the legislation;
- develop interagency cooperation;
- raise the status of specialists in social work with families;
- develop different forms of services for families with children;
- develop human rights activities in the courts;
- involve non-profit organisations and socially responsible businesses.
Update from 09.07.2025, 13:16: The main theses of the report has been added.
