The Baby Houses and Orphanages of Kazakhstan

By Cindy Harding
Executive Director, World Partners Adoption, Inc.
www.worldpartnersadoption.org

Kazakhstan has an excellent reputation of caring for their children who live in their orphanage system. Often when the children leave the orphanage or baby house through adoption, there are many bittersweet tears from the staff and caregivers, since they love these children so dearly and will miss them- yet they only want them to have a happy life. When post placement reports are sent back and pictures of the children are given to the baby house, the caregivers remember each of the children by name and are delighted to see them thriving in their new homes. Many US doctors have commented on the good care of the children upon their arrival home, and one is even quoted as saying, "We aren't sure what Kazakhstan does right, or what other countries do wrong." They are amazed at how well the children look upon arrival home after being adopted, saying these children do not look like typical children who have lived in an orphanage setting.

There are multiple reasons that children are living in these institutionalized settings, called Baby houses in Kazakhstan, such as relinquishment or termination of parental rights, abandonment, death of birth parents, economic strife, unwed birth mothers, as well as a number of other reasons. When children are abandoned, either at birth or later, the custodianship and guardianship bodies of the local Departments of Education try to locate the child's birth parents, but often time the birth mother has left false information, making it impossible to locate her. In some regions, Hospital officials will go to the address that the birth mother gave at the time of admission, but often they are unsuccessful in finding the birth mother or any other family members. In the case of abandonment, the Akim, Hospital or Department of Health (Depending on the region) will write up an abandonment act which will allows the child to be placed into the Baby House. If a child is considered to be a "foundling" meaning literally "found" outside of the police station, hospital, park, etc. with no identifying information, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the Militia) will try to find the birth parents or some family member who can be responsible for the child. If they are unsuccessful in their attempts to find a family member, the child is placed for adoption. The children must be on the local registry for 3 months and then on the national registry for 3 more months before they can be adopted internationally. The youngest child to be adopted from Kazakhstan will be at least 6 months old. Not all of the children living in the orphanages are cleared for adoption because parents have written a letter or family comes to visit them from time to time.

All orphans from birth up to 3-4 years old are placed into the Baby Houses regardless of whether they were born in a maternity hospital, the children's hospitals, sent from the hospital or Center for "foundlings" which is regulated by the Ministry of Internal affairs, or directly from their homes where the parental rights have been terminated or relinquished. Once the children are 4 years old, they are moved to a Preschool Orphanage for children age 4-7. The children age 7-16 live in an Orphanage, which is sometimes called a Children's Home. The Baby Houses typically house 60-130 children at a time depending on the budget provided by the Department of Health. Some orphanages in the larger cities can have as many as 400 children residing.

The Baby Houses are unique due to their staff and daily routines with the children. The baby houses are staffed with doctors and nurses and specialists such as speech therapists, physical therapists, neurologists, massage therapists, music teachers, and nannies. It is similar to a residential medical facility. The children have three full meals per day along with 3 snacks per day. Infants, of course, are on their own feeding schedule. The children are divided into groups according to their ages. There are typically 8-12 children per group depending on their age and there is one primary caregiver per group and 2 nannies to care for them at all time. Each child is assigned a primary caregiver so the child is able to establish a bond with someone in the important early stages of brain development and attachment. The daily routine of the children, while a very strict schedule, allows them to engage in playtime with their friends, attend music lessons twice per week, learn dances and poems, and work with a speech therapist every day for up to 30 minutes! Children under one year of age work with a massage therapist and physical therapist routinely to
aid them in developing gross motor skills and muscle development. This interaction with these specialists provides stimulation, which allows them to learn musical patterns, sing memorized songs, enhance gross and fine motor skills, improve receptive and expressive language, and have interaction that will help them with their cognitive and emotional development. Around the holidays or special occasions the children wear costumes and will put on performances to a variety of audiences!

The Preschool Orphanages are much like the baby house in terms of staff, but there are more teachers because the children have a school like setting where they learn academic skills. There are many different activities that include things like arts and crafts, physical play, dance lessons, music lessons, and many other activities to keep the children engaged and well rounded. The children age 7-16 live in orphanages, or Children's Home. The children attend school starting at the age of 7. Up to Middle School, they have their own special school within their setting and do not attend regular school. For the few children who attend High School, they attend the local High School in the city where they live. In the orphanages, in addition to their school, the children also attend music lessons and dance, participate in competitions, participate in sports, and go on field trips.

The Baby Houses and Orphanages are often very stark in the outside appearance, however the inside walls are typically covered with colorful murals of animals and characters which creates a child friendly environment. The baby houses and orphanages are very clean and free of debris, and toys are neatly stored on shelves. The building is usually a two-story facility that has a full kitchen, laundry room, play rooms, therapy rooms, and bedrooms where the children are grouped by age. Several children sleep in the same room in separate beds, which are lined up in rows. The outside often has a playground and a covered area that seats many children for outside play. Often times the playground and outside equipment is in need of updating and repair, however, the orphanage budget does not have the money to replace or repair the equipment, so they do the best with what they have.

The workers are very protective of the children's health, as an illness can quickly spread creating an epidemic throughout the entire house. The children are sent to the hospital for fevers and other illness we might consider to be minor because the caregivers are trying to keep all of the children free from getting sick. The workers are also very careful with the people that come into contact with the children and enter the baby house so they can limit the exposure to germs to the children.

Kazakhstan's first lady Sara Alpysovna Nazarbaeva is the President of "Bobek" Children's Foundation, established in 1992, and is the winner of The International I. Dogramachi World Health Organization Prize and The International Unity Prize. She has dedicated her life to underprivileged children, and has taken upon herself the responsibility for thousands of orphaned and handicapped children. She has created this foundation to help mother and child care, provide supervision of foundling homes and orphanages, provide equipment and supplies to schools, aid gifted children from low-income families, and assist to the child health care system. In 1997 she launched the first National Children's Rehabilitation Center and the "SOS Children's Villages of Kazakhstan" which are the family villages for orphans. Mrs. Nazarbaeva plans on building these children's villages so the orphaned children can live in a family setting. These children's villages consist of several houses build together in a group where many children live in one house with several caretakers. Mrs. Nazarbaeva understands the need for the family, and her plans for the children's villages will enable the orphaned children to grow up in a family atmosphere.