"Compaction" of children in orphanages : the version of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of Moscow

However, the graduates and teachers of this Center did not agree with the messages of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population in Moscow.

Irina Mishina

The Department of Labor and Social Protection of Moscow sent a long message to the editorial office, in which it proves that it is better for children not to live in a large green area with a developed infrastructure.

At the same time, an appeal was sent to our editorial office by the staff of the Lesnoy Family Education Assistance Center with a request to save this institution, which since 1939, has been a real home - both for children and for their educators.

Teachers and graduates of the orphanage did not agree with the theses of the Department of Labor and Social Protection. However, about everything in order.

1.  The Department of Labor and Social Protection of Moscow, in its response, states: "For several years, orphans have not been admitted to the Lesnoy Family Education Assistance Center The children living there grew up and graduated. In the fall of 2021, there were 14 children left in the Lesnoy Family Education Assistance Center, provided that the institution is designed to accommodate more than 70 children". "That's right. Children in this Center with a beautiful territory, located in a picturesque corner of the Moscow region, by a strange coincidence, simply are stopped being transferred, obviously someone is preparing the territory for some other purposes unknown to the public", - comments Angelika Pavlova, a teacher at the Lesnoye Central Educational Institution.
2. The department further states in its letter that the Lesnoy center "is designed to accommodate about 70 children". "This is false information", - explains Igor Saidov, a graduate of the Lesnoy Family Education Assistance Center, - Provided that the building occupies 2477.3 sq. m., 9 family-type apartments, 4 bedrooms each, are located in this institution. The capacity of each bedroom is 4 people, from this it is easy to conclude that at least 108 children can live in this center. It should also be noted that in the State Educational Institution of the Central Educational Institution "Lesnoy", work with children with disabilities was built with each individually, based on their state of health and capabilities. Thus, the statement of the Department of Labor and Social Protection that children will allegedly be better off in another center of Moscow, and not in the Lesnoy Family Education Assistance Center is false".

3. Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population in Moscow states: "The transfer of pupils to the Scarlet Sails Family Education Assistance Center was not even planned, so the information that the institution was not going to accept children is incorrect."The Department of Labor and Social Protection, apparently, did not expect that we would make inquiries through our channels in an official government document - the "Bulletin of State Registration".

So in this document, part 1, N 45 (915) of 11/16/2022, it just says about the unification of the Lesnoy Family Education Assistance Center with other structures, in particular, with the Family Education Assistance Center "Scarlet Sails". We provide an excerpt from this document.  

4.  In the response of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population in Moscow, it is claimed that children will allegedly "be better off" in a new place. However, if we compare the conditions of GBU Family Education Assistance Center "Juno", where the children were transferred, and GBU Family Education Assistance Center Lesnoy, then from the official document of the logistics and information support of GBU Family Education Assistance Center "Juno" (https://usynovimoskva.ru/our_centers/yunona /, https://t.me/gbu_cssv_unona , https://vk.com/gku_cssv_un ) it follows that the area of the centers where the children were transferred is much smaller than the area of the Center "Lesnoe". So, the total area of GBU Family Education Assistance Center "Juno" is 1,136. 60 km. m, and this is a 2-storey building, and GBU Family Education Assistance Center "Lesnoy" has a total area of 2,477.3 sq. m. buildings for living (these are two sleeping buildings, three floors + a school) and 6.4 hectares of land. These data are given on the basis of an extract from the "Order of the Government of Moscow dated 08.07.2010 number 1425-RP".  Thus, the conclusion of the Department of Labor and Social Protection that the accommodation of children in the GBU Family Education Assistance Center "Lesnoy" was allegedly worse, does not correspond to reality. 
5.  The information raises questions that "the center where the guys were transferred is located within the MKAD, thanks to which the city infrastructure has become more accessible to the guys, they have more opportunities". Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population in Moscow claims: "Now children can attend free additional education clubs in the capital's institutions, it has become easier for children to undergo medical examination in a polyclinic, it has become possible to attend entertainment events in Moscow". Igor Saidov, a graduate of the Family Education Assistance Center Lesnoy, claims: "And what, before that, in the "Forest", the children did not have such an opportunity?! I would like to remind you: all conditions for comfortable living and upbringing were created in the GBU of the Family Education Assistance Center "Lesnoy", individually therapeutic and preventive work was carried out with each child. In particular, there was individual additional education. Two three-storey dormitory buildings with a library, with a correctional and developmental department, which has a relaxation room, the latest equipment for classes with children, all conditions are created for carrying out therapeutic and diagnostic activities and for patient care. In addition, there is a music salon, a barber shop, a dining room, a sports and gym, a swimming pool, an Office of social orientation. Why was it necessary to deprive sick children of all this?"
6.  In its response, the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population quotes the words of specialists who consider the transfer of children to another institution located in Moscow to be the right decision. "Mr. Kolyanka, Sinitsyna and Shablonova, who spoke in favor of relocating sick children to urban conditions, are former employees of the Center, they changed their place of work before the disbandment of the "Lesnoy" Family Education Assistance Center and got new jobs with the help and direct participation of the Department of Labor and Social Protection. More than 30 teachers who stayed with sick children until the last, did not abandon them and did not run away to more "bread" places, appealed to the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population with a petition about their disagreement with the department's decision", - said Igor Saidov, a graduate of the Lesnoy Family Education Assistance Center. The Department of Labor and Social Protection states: "Every year the number of orphanages in Moscow is decreasing... the city is constantly working with foster families and every year there are fewer children left without parental care".
7. And what is there to be happy about? Children with severe lesions of the nervous system, in particular with Down syndrome, need not so much foster families as daily work with specialists, which is possible only in the format of a state institution. Yes, foster families with disabilities receive more than 30 thousand rubles a month from the state. But where is the guarantee that this money will be used for its intended purpose and that the children will receive the necessary and qualified assistance? In addition, disabled children need such help constantly, every day. Will the foster family cope with this? You will agree that there are more questions than answers.

"We have nothing against children living in families. But we are talking not just about orphans, but about orphans with disabilities (limited health opportunities). There is no official answer about the reduction of orphans with disabilities transferred to family forms of the device today", - explains Igor Saidov, a graduate of the "Lesnoy" Family Education Assistance Center. And the last.

We do not know how the territory of more than 6 hectares, which was freed from children, will be used later. However, the question haunts me: what is the need to disband a wonderful center located in a picturesque place, where there is all the necessary infrastructure for the rehabilitation of sick children and, most importantly, where these children are loved and cared for?