Children's Village - SOS Tomilino: “We create happy families. Non-children's games around children's villages SOS Children's villages sos
10 kilometers from Moscow, in Tomilino, there is an SOS village. This is not just an orphanage, but a whole village where orphans live. At the same time, ideal living conditions have been created for them and the environment that replaces the family has been recreated.
There are more than 500 SOS villages around the world, which are inhabited by 60,000 children deprived of parental care. In Russia today there are six such "children's" villages: in Tomilino, Lavrovo, Pushkin, Kandalaksha, Pskov and Vologda.
We present to your attention a photo report by Sergei Nikitsky, who visited the SOS village in Tomilino and spoke about his impressions.
The village is more like an elite cottage village than an orphanage.
All children's SOS villages, as in the case of Tomilino near Moscow, are located near the settlement. This is done on purpose so that children can quickly adapt to society, communicate with other people.
The village has a protected area, but the freedom of children is not limited - they can invite friends to visit and walk with them.
On the territory of the village there are all conditions for sports: there are fitness equipment and a football field.
In the photo, the director of the children's village in Tomilino, Anatoly Vasiliev, with a boy who was abandoned by his adoptive mother from America and sent back to his homeland alone.
Each cottage is a complete home. All houses are arranged according to the same principle: on the ground floor there is a kitchen and rooms in which families spend time together. The second floors are given over to living rooms. SOS-mother and 6-8 children of different age and gender live in the house. Here everything is like in an ordinary family: their joys and sorrows, their worries.
The entire household is on SOS-mother - a professionally trained foster parent. SOS moms are carefully selected from hundreds of candidates. The main selection criteria are human qualities, not education. Although there are former businesswomen and nuclear physicists among SOS mothers. Preparation for the responsible role of "mother" lasts 2 years.
SOS-mother plans the family budget: the money she receives in her hands goes to food, clothes, household items, trips. Children grow up, help their mother, and also go to kindergartens and schools. As soon as a place in the family home is vacated, then children from shelters who cannot find foster parents in ordinary life can apply for a place in the family.
Unlike orphanages, family traditions are strong in SOS villages. Children with mothers gather at the same table, talk about what happened during the day, celebrate holidays. They even make pickles.
This is what the living rooms of children in cottages look like.
Home library.
They even wear crocs here.
The village has its own circles, where classes in applied arts, sports, choir, etc. are held. An individual development program is developed for each child.
Here are the children themselves.
The SOS village has one more advantage over the orphanage. Family ties are honored here. All conditions have been created in the village so that children from a large family would live together, although in an orphanage they would most likely be separated.
The budget of the children's village SOS Tomilino is 40 million rubles a year for 70 children. It's hard to believe, but almost all the work is done on charitable donations. And each of us can help. More details at www.sos-dd.ru.
SOS children's villages found themselves in a difficult situation: formally, they are orphanages, so children from SOS families were taken to external families. But the children here already feel like part of the family. The leadership of the Children's Villages decided to change the status of the project participants.
The international organization SOS Children's Villages has existed since the late 40s of the last century and is still one of the most successful models of living for children left without parental care. When asked how children live in the Children's Village, an employee of the organization often answers succinctly: "Like in an ordinary family."
Each Children's Village consists of separate houses, in each house several children of different ages live under the supervision of an employee of the organization, the so-called SOS-mother, or, less often, two employees - a husband and wife. Children go to ordinary schools, are observed in ordinary medical institutions.
In Russia, SOS Children's Villages appeared about 20 years ago and have been successfully developing up to now. But last year the country took a course to reduce the number of orphanages and transfer as many orphans as possible to foster families.
Formally, the Children's Village is the same institution. And although many children call SOS moms just moms and perceive SOS families as practically their own, for the state they are no different from ordinary orphanages, which means that a particular child can be transferred to foster parents at any time if they express a desire .
Since last year, about 10 children have been taken from Russian Children's Villages to external families - children, each of whom already felt like a part of another family. The only solution that seemed right in this situation to the leadership of the Russian Children's Villages was to transfer SOS families to the status of foster families. For a child, nothing changes, he continues to live the same way he lived. But SOS mom and SOS dad become his official guardians, and no one has the right to take him away from such a family.
Accordingly, the relationship of these families is changing not only with the state, but also with the SOS system. The executive director of the Russian organization "SOS Children's Villages" talks about how the transfer of SOS families to a new quality is going on Nikolai Slabzhanin.
- SOS-family - in fact the same large foster family. There are relatively few such families in our country. And there is a need for them. According to our estimates, in the Children's Villages, approximately a quarter of the pupils are children from large families in which parents were deprived of parental rights. But most of these children remain today in orphanages.
These children come with a rather complex background, and the form of support from the institution is important here. The SOS family is a professional substitute family, and its life is more regulated, there is a great participation of the entire SOS system, specialists who work with problem children. And in the relationship of the foster family with the SOS system, rather, the declarative principle works to provide support. That is why our transition period has not yet ended, because it is important for the administration to understand what this foster family needs from the specialists of the Children's Village. And we have kept the entire range of services that we provided to SOS families.
But the needs of families themselves change when they move to a new status. For example, such families need the support of a psychologist more, and the support of a social worker becomes less in demand. After all, foster parents take on part of the functions of a social worker - for example, receiving financial benefits due to children, resolving issues related to the future housing of children. The foster parent represents the interests of the child in court, in this case we only advise him, accompany him if necessary.
We see that the ties that arise in the families of the Children's Villages are really family ties. We take into account the situation in each family. Somewhere a child, and somewhere a potential adoptive parent is not yet psychologically ready for such a transition. Here it is necessary not to pursue the plan, but, first of all, to take into account the interests of each individual child.
Why are we still trying to transfer all SOS families to the status of foster families? We had cases, albeit isolated ones, when children were taken from the Children's Villages to ordinary foster families. And representatives of the authorities tell us that they cannot act differently, because they have indicators on adoption, they must report on these indicators. But it turns out that the child ends up in the orphanage system twice: the first time his biological parents were deprived of their rights, but there was a situation that may have threatened his life and health, the second time he is taken away from a normal SOS family, which he himself perceives like your own.
In fact, many of those who come to the Children's Villages to look at the children who are going to be adopted give up their intentions when they see the life of these children in the village. They see already established family relationships. But this is not always the case, because when adopting children, people have different motivations. Someone needs to take as many children as possible because in a number of regions there is a very high level of material support for families raising adopted children, sometimes even apartments are given to such families.
– Is the situation with the transfer of SOS families to the status of foster families an exclusively Russian idea?
- You know, no. For example, in Ukraine this transition happened very quickly. This process is also underway in Georgia. But it is better for different children to be in different types of families, someone is better off in a reception room, someone is better off in a classic SOS family.
- If we talk about the history of the international organization "SOS Children's Villages", how often did the organization's policy change depending on changes in the legislation of a particular state?
– The first thing an organization does when it appears in a country is to enter into an agreement at the government level confirming that its services are in demand in that country. And our organization undertakes to act within the framework of the legislation of this country. After all, in fact, SOS Children's Villages in Russia are Russian organizations, just like in any other country, they are local organizations, but working according to standards common to the entire SOS system and under a common brand.
Yes, it happens when we see that the rights of children are being violated, we try to make appropriate statements. For example, when there were changes in the Law on Education and orphans lost benefits when entering higher educational institutions, we, together with other non-profit organizations, held various meetings, conferences, wrote letters and achieved certain positive results.
Our experts participated in the development of the Family Policy Concept until 2025. But in principle, of course, if the law changes in the state, we have to adapt to these changes. Right now, in connection with the new policy of our government, we are forced to transfer SOS families to the status of foster families.
But we are trying to prove both to the Ombudsman for Children's Rights and directly in the government that Children's Villages require special treatment, that it is impossible to destroy existing families, that the main thing is the interests of a particular child. Moreover, the “National Strategy for Action for Children for 2012-2017” says that Children's Villages - SOS - is a tool for deinstitutionalization, that such organizations will replace the system of orphanages, using international best practices.
And we are ready to share this experience, we are regularly approached from different regions. Our third resource center will soon appear in Vologda, where we will share information. We received a grant from the Ministry of Economic Development for the creation of this center.
– What Russian organizations are already adopting your experience?
- In Vologda, the Children's Village - SOS was built with donations from the family of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tsvetkov, founder of the Victoria Children's Fund, chairman of the board of directors of the financial corporation Uralsib. And the next project of this fund: the creation of a Children's Village in Armavir.
Photo from the site http://armavir.ru
The children's village "Victoria" was opened and it was originally created from foster families. She is not part of our organization, but specialists from the Victoria Foundation came to us and consulted.
There is also the organization "Father's House" - these are two boarding houses for family education, which were created at the expense of Pavel Pavlovich Borodin, chairman of the presidential administration Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, and his wife. These boarding houses were originally created according to the SOS model. They recently celebrated their 15th anniversary. This organization does not plan to switch to foster families.
Still, it is important for us to preserve the usual model of the SOS family. Children are different, and they are not indifferent to what family they are in. Some people feel better in the reception area, while others feel better in an ordinary SOS family, which is connected to the Children's Village as tightly as possible. The main thing here is a real family.
- Why is that?
It is important for a child to be a member of a community. And for some, it's good to be not only part of the family, but also part of the Children's Village. For example, we have a boy who has experienced several rejections. According to psychologists, he can be rehabilitated if he is in a large community, such as the Children's Village is. That is, an ordinary family already causes rejection in him.
Perhaps, after some time, he will be ready to live in an ordinary family, but for now, the best option for him is with more active intervention of specialists in the lives of children. After all, foster parents can say: “We will figure it out ourselves.” Just our colleagues, who supported the creation of Children's Villages already for foster families, faced such a difficulty. But in cases where the family is large and has difficult children, the intervention of specialists may be necessary.
We expect that some changes will take place in the Russian legislation early next year and the status of a professional foster family will be determined. It is necessary to proceed from the interests of each individual child. Alas, sometimes these interests are in the background, and in the foreground is the race for numbers.
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Dmitry Galkovsky 5.01.2015
Dmitry Galkovsky 5.01.2015
SOS - Potemkin villages!
After the Second World War in Austria, and then in other Western countries, a system of so-called "children's SOS villages" was created. The author of the project was a 28-year-old Wehrmacht soldier Hermann Gmeiner. Demobilized after the war, the seriously wounded front-line soldier decided to devote himself to raising orphans. In war-torn Austria, this was a huge problem. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the country's economy was destroyed.
Gmeyer's system proved to be simple and effective.
1. Orphanages are created exclusively with donations from ordinary citizens.
Despite the meager funds, people willingly donated small amounts to help orphans, as they were well aware of the scale of the problem and, moreover, the very type of such charity was traditional.
In fact, a well-staged fundraiser was Gmeiner's main contribution to solving the problem. He had a great talent for persuasion and devoted most of his time to this occupation. As he later joked: "In fact, all my life I stood with outstretched hand."
2. The basis of the staff of orphanages are women who lost their children and husbands during the war, and who are unable to create new families in the face of huge losses of the adult male population.
At the same time, such women do not work in boarding schools, but are housewives living in their own homes and raising 6-8 orphans at home, preferably with the preservation of internal family ties (for example, in the case of kinship, brothers and sisters are brought up together). Such houses form a "children's village" of 11-15 houses, which has a common infrastructure (school, shop, outpatient clinic, etc.) In addition to the right to live, "mothers" are paid an amount for the maintenance of children and the house, which they spend at their own discretion and involving raised children. Thus, among other things, children are taught to run a household and to make household purchases, which is completely absent in ordinary orphanages.
In addition to "moms", in children's villages there are support staff "aunts", who simultaneously take a course of study and, upon successful work, receive a certificate of "mom".
The system of children's villages has proven to be excellent and has now largely replaced the classic orphanages in most developed countries.
Which is not surprising, since in Gmeiner's project, the problem of state orphanhood was cleverly integrated into the natural environment of the human community. The state in this case was the collective father of orphans, but carrying out its inevitable barracks and unified paternity by recruiting failed mothers. The state strengthened their specialization (not 1-2-3 children, but 6-8) and replaced them with a husband, providing housing and livelihoods.
It is unlikely, by the way, that Gmeiner himself was so cunning. It was used as a project brand, and the idea itself was put forward earlier in Pestalozzi's homeland by Freemason Walter Robert Corti. The first children's village was built in 1946 in Switzerland, and was conceived in advance as an international project. For Corti, the main point was another, third, point of the system - children of various nationalities should be brought up together in a family environment, which will prevent the development of interethnic conflicts and, ultimately, world wars.
Society for the care of orphans. Royal Russia
Well, there is a rational grain in this. Now the Pestalozzi Children's Village, created by Korti, is a kind of Artek for orphans from all over the world. Who knows, if children from Russia and Ukraine had been brought up together in the real Artek for the last 23 years, maybe there would not have been a fratricidal conflict between our countries.
But if we are not talking about big politics, but about solving the pressing problems of state education, the system of "children's villages" is not as good as it might seem at first glance.
The situation of post-war Europe is long gone. In the conditions of modern female emancipation and the elimination of the sexual disproportion of huge military losses, it is difficult to find a sufficient number of "mothers" who are able to sacrifice their own family life for the sake of raising other people's children. In addition, no matter how scary it sounds, it was the absence of destructive wars that sharply lowered the “quality” of orphans. Military orphans are often the children of quite prosperous parents who died at the front, were lost during the mass movements of the civilian population, were killed during the bombing or died of starvation. Modern orphans are mostly children of alcoholics, criminals, people with genetic abnormalities. Raising them outside of stationary orphanages is difficult, if not impossible.
Under these conditions, the system successfully functions in the West for only two reasons. Firstly, citizens of developing countries are widely involved in the "children's villages" both as staff and as pupils. Secondly, the costs of maintaining such settlements are sharply increasing.
As it is easy to see, the latter circumstance undermines one of the fundamental principles SOS -villages - their cheapness. After all, "SOS" is not only a signal for help, but also an abbreviation for " social support ', that is, 'public assistance'. This is the assistance of the population to the state charity system, which is unable to effectively cope with its tasks. And the help is from the poorest layers.In SOS villages, the age-old slogan of helping orphans and widows was brought to the point of “saving the drowning is the work of the drowning themselves” when widows began to help orphans.
Now there is nothing of this in the Gmeiner project at all. This is an expensive alternative to the system of the richest countries in the world, albeit the worst, but much more massive and cheaper. And more simple in terms of staff training, management and control.
There is no doubt, "if we all had a house in the mountains, where there are no bombings", we would have to choose the system of "children's villages".
But what is it in the context of the current economic and social situation in the Russian Federation and other CIS countries, and even more so in the context of the social failure of the 90s? And it was then that they began to plant exemplary children's villages in our country and oppose them to the system of socialist orphanages.
What has this led to in practice? Several children's villages were created (in Tomilino and other places). All these projects received support at the state level, thus funds were taken from 25,000 orphans and directed to the construction of several cottage settlements for 500 children. In these elite settlements (really elite for that time), “mothers” were settled by a large intelligentsia, who, of course, never lived in such luxurious conditions for a Soviet person, and who did not have real skills in raising orphans (and often children in general). It is not necessary to describe what happened as a result, suffice it to say that even the first village in Tomilino stands one quarter empty.
But it's not that. You never know what good wishes ended in a fiasco. The problem is that from the very beginning, “SOS villages” in the Russian Federation began to be aggressively opposed to state-run boarding schools and orphanages. So the Russian-language Wikipedia literally says the following:
"FROM once striking is the striking contrast between the happy faces of children who live in a “family” consisting of a mother, several aunts and dozens of brothers and sisters of different ages, and Russian orphans who leave the orphanage with a clear attitude that man is a wolf to man.
Meanwhile, the Soviet system of orphanages successfully coped with the huge problem of post-war orphanhood in conditions much worse than in Austria, a huge system of pioneer camps was created in the USSR, and pedagogy was elevated to the rank of a scientific and applied discipline, which has its own Academy of Sciences. All this is obvious in order to educate "communist mowgli cubs"
No doubt, "children's villages" is a huge step forward compared to a provincial orphanage, where teachers receive a beggarly salary, and children do not have proper care and live in either a hospital or barracks. But what will happen if the starting conditions are equalized? If in an ordinary orphanage for 50 children 10 nannies and teachers are allocated, 20 times more money is spent on construction, and the orphanage itself is located in a resort area? Or vice versa, organize a "children's village" in a wooden barracks? Maybe the difference will not be so overwhelming?
And where, by the way, is a free discussion about the problems and troubles not of classic orphanages, but of Potemkin SO S -ov? After all, raising orphans from difficult families cannot be an easy, cloudless pastime in any conditions. This is hard, CONFLICT work, and the goal here is not the upbringing of cherub children, but an attempt to correct a crippled and spoiled childhood, to somehow help the unfortunate orphans heal their terrible injuries and somehow make amends for the collective guilt of society before their unfortunate fate.
SOS Children's Villages) is the largest international charitable organization supporting orphans, children left without parental care, and children who are at risk of losing their families. The abbreviation SOS in the name of the organization is an abbreviation of the phrase "social support" (Eng. social support), which also corresponds to the international designation of the SOS distress signal and symbolizes the urgent need of the most vulnerable members of society, children, for help and protection.SOS children's villages - an alternative to orphanages
Children's Village-SOS is a unique, as close as possible to the family, long-term form of education of orphans and children left without parental care. This model has been successfully operating for 60 years in 132 countries around the world.
Unlike most state-run orphanages, which are designed primarily to solve the problem of "maintenance" of orphans, SOS Children's Villages create conditions for a happy childhood, comfortable growing up and effective social adaptation of children whose return to their families is not possible.
The SOS children's village is 11-15 houses united in a mini-community, in each of which 6-8 children of different ages live together with an SOS mother. As in a normal family, SOS-mother takes care of and educates children and teaches them everything that she knows herself and that they will need in independent adulthood: from cooking and cleaning around the house to budget planning and shopping. This seems self-evident - if you do not know that most of the graduates of state orphanages have no idea about life, the rules of behavior in society and money. In orphanages, they live “with everything ready,” and they enter adult life completely unprepared.
Children from SOS Children's Villages go to ordinary kindergartens and study at ordinary schools, which contributes to their adaptation to society at an early stage.
Another important difference between SOS Children's Villages and orphanages is the attention to the child's biological family. First, siblings are never separated, as is often the case when orphans of different ages are placed in orphanages. Secondly, children's connections with the biological family are maintained: relatives can visit them in the SOS Children's Village and spend time with them.
History
The first SOS Children's Village opened in 1949 in the city of Imst (Austria) for children who lost their parents during World War II. The founder of the organization Hermann Gmeiner (1919-1986) said that if he managed to build at least 3 SOS Children's Villages in Austria, his life would not be lived in vain. Today, in 133 countries on all continents, there are more than 500 SOS Children's Villages and another 1,500 various programs and projects to help children in difficult life situations, including humanitarian disasters, strengthen families and prevent social orphanhood.
The initiator of the creation of this institution in Russia is Elena Sergeevna Bruskova. In the 1970s, while a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda, she ended up in Austria. It was there that she first visited the so-called children's village. She was immediately struck by the striking contrast between the happy faces of children who live in a “family” consisting of a mother, several aunts and dozens of brothers and sisters of different ages, and Russian orphans who leave the orphanage with a clear attitude that man is a wolf to man. First, she wrote two books about the pedagogical phenomenon of children's villages she saw, then she made a series of television programs. Later, the first like-minded person appeared, a simple rural teacher [ who?] . In the future, all the funds and documents for the construction of the first village were quickly collected. There was no refusal from any official.
Village arrangement
The corridor system turns ordinary orphanages into barracks, for this reason the village consists of several cottages. One family lives in each such house - "mother" and 6-8 orphans. Also, each of the two houses has "uncle"- nanny, mother's assistant.
In order to become a "mother" of the children's village, that is, to take responsibility for several children living in one of these institutions, special introductory courses take place, which last 7 months. First, a woman is offered to work as an aunt. Women are paid for their work in caring for children and have days off. Mom and aunt replace each other on weekends and during holidays.
So that the houses do not look the same and monotonous, the mother of each house receives money in her hands and buys everything for the house herself. This is her house, she equips it.
Some SOS Children's Villages offer vacations for tourists to raise funds. One such village is located in the picturesque region of Caldonazzo in Northern Italy.
SOS Children's Village is a charitable organization; exists solely at the expense of sponsors, however, it accepts not only monetary donations, but also clothing (children's furniture, household appliances, etc.).
By country
Russia
In 2011 the Children's Village-SOS Tomilino will be 15 years old. During this time, 62 pupils came out of here into adulthood. 17 of them already have their own families, many of them are raising their kids. Five of them were educated in higher educational institutions of Moscow, 54 graduates received special vocational education. All of them are happy to return to their family homes with their mother, brothers and sisters. To the question: "What is the Children's Village-SOS Tomilino for you?", they answer: "Native home and family."
Six "Children's Villages - SOS" have already been created in Russia: in Tomilino (near Moscow), in Lavrovo (Oryol region) (in the Orlovsky district of the Oryol region), in Pushkin (near St. Petersburg), in Kandalaksha (Murmansk region), in Pskov. In Vologda, the SOS children's village opened on May 22, 2012. .
The honorary role of the ambassador of the Pushkin village SOS is performed by Andrey Arshavin. .
The Russian Committee "Children's Villages - SOS" is a member of the international charity organization SOS Kinderdorf International, which provides assistance to children in 132 countries around the world.
Belarus
There are two "Children's Villages - SOS" in Belarus, the first of which was created back in 1995.
On a fundraising trip for the benefit of the SOS organization, June 30 - July 1, 2010, the Swiss delegation, which included figure skater Stephane Lambiel, visited the children's village in Bến Tre. The visit of the two-time world champion caused a lot of emotions among the children. He played with them and showed various elements of figure skating.
Kazakhstan
In August 1994, the National Association "SOS Children's Villages of Kazakhstan" began its work on the initiative of the First Lady of Kazakhstan
Plan
Introduction
1 Psychological substantiation of the idea
2 History
3 The organization of the village
4 Facts
5 Address
6 SOS Children's Villages of Kazakhstan
9 Sources
Introduction
SOS Children's Village SOS-Kinderdörfer) is a special type of orphanage with long-term upbringing close to family. The organization provides assistance to children left without parental care.
1. Psychological substantiation of the idea
Harry and Margaret Harlow watched as baby monkeys, growing up without a mother, walked one after another in a "chain", sat hugging each other. The monkeys, who grew up in complete solitude, had serious deviations in behavior. They were frightened by the approach of other people, showed particular aggressiveness at the sight of another monkey. Harlow, came to the conclusion that the basis of this behavior is the lack of feelings of affection. The behavior of monkeys is very similar to the behavior of children growing up without parents.
2. History
In December 1949, the first village in the federal state of Tyrol (Austria) was opened. In August 1994, the National Association "SOS Children's Villages of Kazakhstan" began its work, and the first Russian SOS children's village was established in 1996 in Tomilino near Moscow.
The initiator of the creation of this institution in Russia is Elena Sergeevna Bruskova. In the 70s, as a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda, she ended up in Austria. It was there that she first visited the so-called children's village. She was immediately struck by the striking contrast between the happy faces of children who live in a “family” consisting of a mother, several aunts and dozens of brothers and sisters of different ages, and Russian orphans who leave the orphanage with a clear attitude that man is a wolf to man. First, she wrote two books about the pedagogical phenomenon of children's villages she saw, then she made a series of television programs. Later, the first like-minded person appeared, a simple rural teacher. In the future, all the funds and documents for the construction of the first village were quickly collected. There was no refusal from any official.
3. The device of the village
The corridor system turns ordinary orphanages into barracks, for this reason the village consists of several cottages. In each such house lives one family - "mother" and 6-8 orphans. Also, for each of the two houses there is an "aunt" - a nanny, mother's assistant. In order to become a "mother" of the children's village, that is, to take responsibility for several children living in one of these institutions, special introductory courses take place, which last 7 months. First, a woman is offered to work as an aunt. Women are paid for their work in caring for children and have days off. Mom and aunt replace each other on weekends and during holidays. So that the houses do not look the same and monotonous, the mother of each house receives money in her hands and buys everything for the house herself. This is her house, she equips it.
Some SOS Children's Villages offer vacations for tourists in order to raise funds. One of these villages is located in a picturesque area Caldonazzo, in Northern Italy.
SOS Children's Village is a charitable organization; exists solely at the expense of sponsors, however, it accepts not only monetary donations, but also clothing (children's furniture, household appliances, etc.).
