Uzbekistan is in the process of replacing the system of state orphanages. To improve the situation of orphans and children without parental care, orphanages are being replaced by family-type homes. However, experts believe that during the change from one system to another, the mechanisms have not been fully developed, and as a result, new problems have emerged.
For several years now, the country has been reforming the system for raising orphans and children without parental care. As part of this reform, orphanages are being disbanded and replaced by family-type children’s homes.
Since September 1, 2022, in accordance with the Presidential Decision “On additional measures to improve the activities of family-type children’s homes”, many benefits have been provided to citizens who wish to foster children from children’s homes. In addition to payments for each child, such people are paid a salary, and all benefits are also granted to the children of the guardians of such family homes.
While assessing the positive aspects of the reform, experts note the excessive haste and a number of shortcomings that have already appeared in the course of the reform and which need to be eliminated.
Not much time has passed since the introduction of family-type children’s homes, experts say. However, we can already say that one of the main problems that existed before the reform – neglect of orphanage graduates after the age of 18 – remains unresolved.
After graduation from family homes, upon reaching the age of 18, the graduates leave their families, and foster parents have no influence on their future life. In addition, accustomed to the fact that the state provides them with huge benefits, most of the children do not make efforts to build their own lives and develop further.
Difficulties in raising older children
Lyubov Khalikova, 55, established the first family orphanage in 2021 in Termez, the center of Surkhandarya province in southern Uzbekistan. She is a widow and after her husband died, she began having hearing problems. With three adult daughters of her own, the woman has taken in six children – two boys, aged 14 and 9, and four girls, aged 15-16.
In an interview with CABAR.asia, she said that she had worked as a school teacher for 30 years and had raised her own daughters. One day, the director of the Termez orphanage suggested she write a book about the history of the institution. In order to better understand the problems from the inside, she took a job there.
“To better study the inner experiences of children brought up in the orphanage to write a book, I got a job as an educator in the orphanage and worked there for four years,” she said.
Since she herself had only girls, she dreamed of adopting a boy for many years. And when preparatory classes for parents wishing to adopt children were opened, Lyubov Khalikova enrolled there.
At the end of 2021, when the decree “On measures to introduce a radically updated system of upbringing of orphans and children left without parental care” was published, parents who had completed the training came to the orphanage where she worked and got acquainted with the children. And then they took the children they liked. Only the older children remained.
“Out of 75 children from orphanages, only six children remained, two boys and four girls. They themselves did not like any family, they wanted to stay in the orphanage. I knew these kids very well. I told them that I wanted to take them in. They were very happy,” Lyubov says.
This orphanage in Termez was thus closed.
“I brought the children to my house, introduced them to my daughters. We started living together. My daughters and I had a very good relationship with these children. Because they knew me for many years. The state also helps us a lot,” she says.
The state allocates two million two hundred thousand soums ($182) for each child. She is paid a salary of three million soums ($250) to look after these children. At the beginning of each month, all the money is credited to her bank card.
Nevertheless, Khalikova said she has found it difficult to raise the girls. The state provides tablets and laptops for each child, but she doesn’t always have time to monitor what they watch on the Internet. In addition, it’s only been two years and the older children have not had time to receive home education, have not changed their habits and have already left her home.
“There are a lot of difficulties too. I am a single woman, there are still difficulties. When my eldest daughter came from Tashkent, she collected everyone’s tablets and checked them. She found bad things. My daughter took the tablets away from them and said she would only return them when they were fixed. This has caused problems. I hide knives, scissors at night without letting the kids know. I am afraid they will do something. I trust my boys, but the girls have gone out of my trust,” she says.
Difficulties also arose because in the government orphanages these children did not have to work, they were provided with ready hot meals, washed and ironed by the orphanage staff, so they were not used to running their own homes.
“Now we all do household chores together too. They feel they have sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles. They do their own housework. They do their own laundry. They tell me about their problems and accomplishments. Together we do all sorts of small chores. We also go on trips to other areas. Everything is set up for them by the state. Every month National Guard officers, psychologists come to these guys and talk to them. Recently they brought new tablets. Now they understand the concept of family,” she said.
Difficulties also arose because in the state orphanages these children did not have to work, they were provided with ready hot meals and were washed and ironed by the orphanage staff, so they were not used to running their own homes.
“Now we all do household chores together too. They feel they have sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles. They do their own housework. They do their own laundry. They tell me about their problems and accomplishments. Together we do all sorts of small chores. We also go on trips to other areas. Everything is set up for them by the state. Every month National Guard officers, psychologists come to these guys and talk to them. Recently they brought new tablets. Now they understand the concept of family,” she said.
Khalikova said the eldest of her orphans is 18 and her contract with her is over. The state gives orphanage graduates quotas to enter the country’s universities, and after graduation they are given a fully furnished one-room apartment and a lump-sum payment of 33 million soums (US $2,697.44).
“Our eldest daughter has turned 18. Her contract with me has ended. Now she has entered a higher education institution. She is living in a dormitory for now,” she said.
However, Khalikova believes that even at 18, these children are still children, and they are not yet ready for independent life. The state pays them large sums and provides them with separate apartments, but young people do not know how to properly manage these funds.
“I believe that the system of adapting these children to life is poorly organized. Because children get out of the control of adults after the age of 18 in family orphanages. The state provides them with apartments with furniture. In addition, they get independence and large sums of money. I know a case, just recently the state allocated a house and 33 million soums to a child. And the boy spent that money on various things in one hour,” she said.
Even after the age of 18, these children need to be looked after by adults, Khalikova said. They don’t know how to properly manage the funds they are given. Excessive tutelage and state benefits lead even the children themselves to believe that the state is obliged to do everything for them. Many don’t even strive to do well in their studies because they know that the state has given them benefits and if they score 30% of the total marks, they will be admitted to higher education institutions on the basis of a grant.
“I think that control is lost once one enters an institution of higher learning. His life after the age of 18 becomes free, uncontrolled. They are inexperienced and it is more difficult for them to adapt to adult life. Because up to the age of 18 everything is done for them by the state, and then it turns out that they have to do everything themselves. Large sums of money, are given apartments or rooms in houses on the territory where he was born, go to higher educational institutions. Many inmates of orphanages do not appreciate the opportunities provided by the state. But if, after the age of 18, these children don’t score 30% of the total number of points sufficient for higher education, their future life becomes uncertain,” Khalikova said.
All of this leads to these children going down a “bad path,” she said.
Stories of female graduates of the family orphanage
Two of Lubov Khalikova’s children have turned 18 and are about to leave the family home. Sevinch Chorieva entered higher education, while Madina Salimova failed to get the required number of points. Both of them are worried about their fate and do not know what the future holds for them.
In an interview with CABAR.asia, Sevinch Chorieva said she was very happy to be living in a family home and that she had managed to get into university.
“Our mom accepted us as her daughters. I haven’t yet seen a single aspect that I didn’t like about the family orphanage. Because here we are all one family. But I turned 18 and was accepted into a higher education institution. Now I’m leaving the family orphanage. I’m starting university. Now I’m worried that I’m being overlooked. I think we need some support even after 18 years to adjust to life after those 18 years,” she said.
She also shared her worries about the fate of her classmates who failed to enroll in an educational institution.
“I will say one more thing. Kids like me know that we have the privilege of getting a higher education, so we didn’t study as we should. I was lucky and got accepted. But what will those who turn 18, living in a family child care home without access to higher education, do. Family children cannot continue to stay in these homes. How will they live, even if the state provides housing? What will they eat? What will they wear? These questions also remain open,” Sevinc said.
Madina Salimova says she regrets not studying well.
“I wasn’t even interested in studying, I didn’t prepare and didn’t score enough points for admission, thinking I had the privilege of getting into a tertiary institution. I was not able to get in. Now I don’t even know what to do. It is also inappropriate for me to stay here after I turn 18. Because the state doesn’t pay them money either. Now I live here, my mom loves me even if they don’t pay for me. Now I study well on the computer, because I want to work well, earn money and prepare for my studies, now I read more books,” she says.
Amounts and payments, benefits and entitlements
Another problem is that some foster parents who have expressed a desire to take children into family homes are not always willing to raise them unselfishly. Often they take them because of the money paid by the state and because of the large number of benefits. There are cases where children are exploited.
In accordance with the Presidential Decision on additional measures to improve the activities of family children’s homes, starting from September 1, 2022, family children’s homes may be established by citizens wishing to bring up orphans and children deprived of parental care on the basis of a decision by the khokim of the district or city concerned, without the status of a legal entity.
The National Guard and the child protection departments of district and city khokimiyats are responsible for coordinating and monitoring the activities of family children’s homes.
In accordance with this decision, citizens who have established family children’s homes are allocated monthly funds from the State budget at five times the basic calculation value (about 135 United States dollars) for children under 7 years of age and seven times for children aged 8-18 (188.56 United States dollars), and a minimum wage (980,000 sums or 80.47 United States dollars) is paid for each child in a family children’s home, and one and a half times the minimum wage for children with disabilities.
A minimum monthly wage (80.47 United States dollars) is allocated for the treatment and rehabilitation of each child with a disability placed in a family children’s home.
The children are entitled to participate free of charge in circles and courses at State sports complexes, spiritual-educational centers, clubs, equestrian sections, Ishga Markhamat monocentres and other educational centers located in the region.
The Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan provides them with free sanatorium vouchers every year. The district or city administrations organize free trips to the country’s historic cities, theatrical performances and concert programmes for them. Children may also undergo a full medical examination twice a year free of charge in State treatment and preventive care establishments.
All benefits provided to the children will also be provided to the native children of citizens who have created family orphanages.
Meanwhile, experts say that the decision to abolish orphanages and transfer children to family orphanages was made hastily and the mechanism has not been fully thought out yet. It was not quite the right decision to hand over control over the implementation of this decision to the National Guard, because they had no experience in dealing with such issues.
Lawyer and blogger Shermukhammad Dekhkonov, a former pupil of an orphanage in Fergana Oblast, said there are positive aspects to the transfer of orphans from state-run to family homes, but there are also negative consequences.
“If it’s a real family and they raise the children well, the children from orphanages will develop the concept of family and real attachments,” he said.
However, he believes that such large payments at a time when it is difficult to earn money in the regions, there is a temptation to open family orphanages just because of material benefits and state benefits.
And such examples have already been observed. Dehkonov recounted a case in which one such adoptive family in Fergana used the money allocated by the state for the maintenance of children to buy two cars, while the girls who were adopted were “fed only tomatoes and bread”.
“The girls were intimidated, telling them to sit quietly. I was also intimidated for interfering in their family when I talked about it: ‘Why are you doing this?’ In many families, the children don’t eat enough.” In the orphanage, they were fed five times a day every day. And now in some families they can’t even eat three times a day. … Many children have lost weight and become sick. […] Children cannot express their pain. If children object, adults silence them by scaring them by screaming. Because there can be no objections to this, because family orphanages were created on the initiative of the president,” the blogger said.
Shermukhammad Dehkonov believes that the reform was not fully thought out and was carried out hastily.
“The transfer of children from orphanages to family children’s homes was carried out urgently, immediately after the presidential decree. In fact, I think it was necessary to move to this process step by step. Control of this process was handed over to the National Guard, which had no experience in this area at all. The National Guard quickly closed the orphanages to make themselves look better and put the children in family foster homes,” he said.
But the problems remained. And now they will only increase, Dehkonov said.
“In the Fergana district of Uzbekistan, two family orphanages have closed. Former orphanage residents like me used to go to their orphanages on holidays. Where will we go now? Where will a child go if his foster parents suddenly die and the child becomes an orphan? It takes 3 or 4 months before the National Guard finds a new family and gives these children away. The documentation issue also takes a long time. Where will the child go in the meantime? These questions remain open,” he said.
Umida Mamanova, former head of Tashkent’s Children’s Home No. 21, agreed, noting the importance of every child being raised in a family. But the hasty liquidation of orphanages and the transfer of children to unprepared families was wrong.
Mamanova believes that children who grew up in orphanages need a special approach, most of them have psychological traumas. Even specialists can’t always find it. And many families who have been handed children lack such knowledge and experience.
“These children have now fallen into the hands of non-specialists. The supervision of these children was handed over to the National Guard, who had no experience at all. They have no experience in this area. It’s a good idea, but the lack of specialists may not work. It should be a gradual transition,” she said.
Mamanova believes that along with family orphanages, state orphanages should have been left behind.
She proposes to create some kind of centers for 30 or 40 people, where the health of these children and their mental state would be checked for 6 months. Children who have their own parents or relatives could wait there for a while.
“I mean, they find close relatives, I think they need a center where families can find them. Where will children from certain families go now, if the parents are dead, or from families deprived of parental rights. They get stuck on the street. That’s why temporary detention centers for children should be created,” she believes.
Journalist Nozima Tashpulatova (Uzbekiston 24 radio channel), who covers social issues, also said the project has not been fully developed.
First, the existing infrastructure has not been sufficiently studied, and children have been placed in families with little specialized training. In addition, family orphanages became a source of income for some families. The material resources allocated by the state for children were being used in the interests of these families themselves, the journalist believes.
“When I recently traveled to Kashkadarya province, I saw a boy who was a shepherd. Russian by nationality, he speaks Uzbek well. I asked the child how he got here? He told me that he had lived in an orphanage, and then when family orphanages were created, he was adopted by a family. Now he said he came to the house of a close relative of this family for the summer to graze herds,” she said.
Cover photo: ru.freepik.com