Russia & Ukraine

Some reports reveal that there are more than 4 million Russian orphans and homeless children. Most of them live on the streets or in underground sewers and desperately need food and clothes.

Over 800,000 of these children live in orphanages which often do not have hot running water or even such basic necessities as a shower or a toilet. Statistics show that only one out of ten Russian orphans becomes a functional member of society. The others are lost to drugs, crime and suicide. Unfortunately, most Russian orphanages receive only promises from the government.

About 15,000 Russian orphans leave their orphanages each year, once they are 15- 16 years old (the 9th grade). Of these, 5,000 are unemployed, some 6,000 are homeless, around 3,000 resort to crime, approximately 1,500 commit suicide, and roughly half the girls are forced into prostitution.

And now, Russia has one of the fastest growing HIV-Aids epidemics in the world, with 100 new infections every day. Increasingly, women and their infants are being affected. Latest figures show 22,000 babies have been born to HIV-positive women. And many are being abandoned by their mothers into the care of the state.

The number of orphans in Russia and the Ukraine is growing with fewer 2,500 being adopted annually.