Today has been a long, busy, exciting and productive day!  We attended the first day of the Third Russian-American Child Welfare Forum "Protecting Children from Abuse and Violence: Potential of Family, Society, and State".  The day began with welcomes from many dignitaries followed by 'reports' (Presentations) by key government officials and practitioners (both Russian and American).  The notable Russian dignitaries included Pavel Astakhov, Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation (Similar in position to Acting Assistant Secretary, George Sheldon, of the US Dept of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families).  Also present at the conference was the Governor of Khanty-Mansiysk, Autonomous Region of Yugra (located in Western Siberia). 

 

 

 

Our host, Alexander Spivak, President of the National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NFPCC) also spoke at the beginning of the conference.  He and his staff at the NFPCC have worked tirelessly to make us feel welcome, comfortable and help us to learn about the culture and child welfare practices in Russia. 

 

 

Being a connoisseur of sorts when it comes to conferences, event planning etc. I must share with you all that this conference is AMAZING!  The registration materials are in both Russian and English.  We were all given (all participants, not just visiting Americans) small briefcases with conference materials and regional gifts (a small indigenous statue, a commemorative plate, and a photo book of the region). The event venue is a beautiful conference center.

We were all anticipating a great day with valuable information and new relationship building.  We relied heavily on our Russian [to English] interpreters.  The conference center also provided headsets for simultaneous interpretation during the plenary session.

It would be too difficult to detail [here] all of what we learned at the Forum today.  JaeRan, Tracy and I have agreed that we will be reflecting on the presentations for days and weeks to come.  That said, here are some brief thoughts about what we learned:

• We (Russians and American child welfare communities) are more alike than we are different
• Russians are trying to implement similar solutions to those we are implementing in the US, including inter-agency collaboration and workforce training (inclusive of broad stakeholder groups-lawyers, medical professionals, educators etc.)
• The Russians struggle with similar issues as we do, including burnout and secondary traumatic stress on the workforce, securing sufficient funding & resources, and finding competent staff in rural communities,
• In practice, they struggle (as we do) with hard to place kids (sibling groups, older kids, kids with disabilities)
• Russians have a strong value of having kids placed in family settings
• Their child welfare services are delivered by each region of the Federation (there are 83 regions within Russia; 143 million people/9th largest country in the world). Like states in America, Russian Regions have autonomy in local legislation, policy and practice
• Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion.  During the conference, discussion took place as to the role of religion, churches, and faith in the child welfare system. 
• Related to foster and adoptive placement-they, like the US, find youth who have difficulty adjusting from congregate care (residential treatment centers and group homes in the US) to family care
• They have identified the need for professionals within the community to be better trained about child maltreatment issues and issues associated with living out-of-home. This might include teachers in the schools receiving training to work with these kids as they transition
• Teenagers that are placed away from their homes, particularly when they are placed in rural communities where foster homes can be found, have difficulty finding jobs/employment as they age which can jeopardize stability and permanency.
• The workforce is comprised of people with 'general degrees' (not specific to child welfare). Many professionals in the field are psychologists.
• Service providers, specifically those offering clinical intervention, need specific training/content in trauma. It was said in a presentation, "Sometimes bad advice from a psychologist can be detrimental to a family - We know this to be true in US too. 
• In Russia there are over 152 ethnicities. The regional child welfare systems are serving very diverse ethnic communities and they struggle with meeting the unique needs of individual children-in much the same way that we do in the US.

While we know presenters at the Forum are talking about programs that are working really well, new pilots, and new and pending legislation,  some conference participants did appear to challenge and question the current state of practice and were pushing their colleagues for continued improvement.

At the conclusion of the Forum, a local school for gifted children performed for us before our evening dinner with other conference attendees.  These are children training to be performers and therefore pictures were allowed. These are NOT children receiving child welfare services-that was not their association with the conference.  As you can see that they are extremely talented kids.  There were performances in dance, music and even fashion.  We've included some photos below and will post short videos tomorrow. Take a look-you won't be disappointed!