18.01.2022

The survey involved 928 people. 66% of respondents were from cities of more than a million inhabitants and 91% were women aged 25-59. 19% had previous experience in fostering children, 59% had some relation to fostering in one way or another and 11% worked directly in the field of supporting foster families.

“Most people understand that each child needs a family. But there is still a common lack of understanding as to how and why children end up in a children’s home, what impact this can have on development, why people become foster parents and why they need special training and support to do so,” writes the charity Volunteers to Support Orphaned Children.

Foster children

96% of respondents believed that children do not belong in children’s homes and each child needs their own family. ‘They compared me to a dog’, is a film that addresses the social issues faced by orphaned children.

25% of respondents believed that children in children’s home will have bad genetic backgrounds. 37% agreed that children who have been orphaned have a low chance of becoming successful in the future.

15% saw foster children as a source of problems and inconvenience for others. And 6% stated that it was impossible to re-educate an adopted child.

Foster parents

34% of respondents did not agree, or at least doubted, that raising an adopted child is more difficult than a birth child. 33% disagreed or doubted that foster parents need specialised training.

14% believed that the main reason for fostering or adopting a child is for material gain.

Some believed that foster parents are fully responsible for any situations that may arise with the child, 9% would place blame on the foster family if problems were to arise, and 12% do not think parents should be offered any form of help, as it was ultimately their decision to take on the child.

The full study can be found on the charity’s website.

Source: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2022/01/18/96-rossiyan-schitayut-chto-detyam-ne-mesto-v-detskih-domah/