Help us film as many video profiles as possible

UNIFIED DATABASE OF ORPHANS

The priority activity of the “Change One Life” foundation is to promote family placement for orphans. The organization began its activities in the spring of 2012. Over four years of work, more than seven thousand children, with the help of our foundation, were able to find parents.

The Change One Life Foundation offers a fundamentally new approach to finding children. We are making a video about a specific child. For one and a half to two minutes, older children talk about themselves and their hobbies. What if we're talking about about babies, then a teacher comes to the operator’s aid and talks in detail about the child’s character, his favorite toys, food preferences, etc.

Unlike other federal or regional banks and databases of orphans awaiting placement in a family, with the help of video we try to provide potential parents with the most complete information about their future child.

HOW TO WORK WITH THE CHILDREN'S DATABASE OF THE "CHANGE ONE LIFE" FOUNDATION?

The database of orphans of the Change One Life Foundation is the simplest interface that allows potential parents to obtain information about the child. We currently have over 24,000 profiles in our orphan bank, which means your child could be just around the corner.

We bring to your attention step by step instructions on working with the video database of orphans from our foundation. So:

— Step No. 1. Using the search form on our website, enter the desired parameters: the age of the child, the presence or absence of brothers and sisters, the form of placement in the family (please note that we take this information about children from the website of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation www.usynovite. ru).

— Step No. 2. To sort the questionnaires according to the specified parameters, click the “search” button and wait a few seconds while the system forms a database of children who meet your requirements.

— Step No. 3. Check out the video profiles of children who fit the given parameters.

— Step No. 4. Once your selection is made, contact regional operator database of orphans by phone indicated in each child’s application form.

Please note: Before you start looking for a child, you must familiarize yourself with the requirements for adoptive parents and make sure that you meet them. According to the law in our country, any adult citizen can be a foster parent, with the exception of:

— persons recognized by the court as incompetent or partially capable;

- spouses, one of whom is recognized by the court as incompetent or partially capable;

- persons deprived of parental rights by court or limited by court in parental rights;

- persons removed from the duties of a guardian (trustee) for improper fulfillment of the duties assigned to him by law;

- former adoptive parents, if the adoption was canceled by the court due to their fault;

- persons who, at the time of adoption, do not have an income that provides the adopted child with the subsistence minimum established in the constituent entity of the Russian Federation in whose territory the adoptive parents live;

— persons who do not have a permanent place of residence;

- persons who have or have had a criminal record, are or have been subject to criminal prosecution (except for persons against whom criminal prosecution was terminated on rehabilitative grounds) for crimes against life and health, freedom, honor and dignity - the individual (with the exception of illegal placement in a psychiatric hospital , slander and insult), sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual, against family and minors, public health and public morality, as well as against public safety;

— persons who have an unexpunged or outstanding conviction for serious or especially serious crimes;

— persons living in residential premises that do not meet sanitary and technical rules and standards;

- persons who have not been trained in the school of adoptive parents (except for close relatives of the child, as well as adoptive parents in respect of whom the adoption has not been cancelled);

- persons who, for health reasons, cannot exercise parental rights.

Get more detailed information You can learn about the procedure for adoption or registration of guardianship on our website in the “” section.

You can also study the “” section on our website. Experts from our foundation will answer you: lawyers, current adoptive parents.

We will be glad if the advice of our experts will make your path to your child easier.

Write to us! We are always very happy and important to hear that our site has helped children and their parents meet!

“Change one life” meets the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. This is an effective, although far from the only tool for family structure, said the director of the foundation Yulia Yudina Internet portal “Mercy.ru”, commenting Facebook post, published earlier by TV presenter Timur Kizyakov.

In his publication, the host of the “While Everyone is Home” program assessed the work of the “Change One Life” foundation in creating videos about orphans as ineffective. He contrasted the high standards by which video passports were prepared for the “You’re Having a Child” section with the quality of any other video materials produced in Russia used to place orphans in families. In addition, Timur Kizyakov denied accusations related to the financing of his program.

Earlier it was reported that the “While Everyone is Home” program was closed due to fraud related to the financing of the production of video passports of orphans for the “You’re Having a Baby” section. According to media reports, funds for creating these stories were drawn simultaneously from several sources: from the Ministry of Education and Science, from Channel One and from sponsoring companies.
The program “While Everyone is Home” has been broadcast on Channel One since 1992. In 2006, the section “You will have a child” appeared within its framework, which talked about orphans in need of adoption. Each child was given a separate story, which was called a video passport. The cost of one video passport was 100 thousand rubles. Timur Kizyakov defended in court the copyright for the production of such video passports.

“We saw a post published by Timur Kizyakov in social network. We can't comment on the main part of his post, but we would like to respond to the part where the Change One Life Foundation was mentioned. First of all, we are surprised by Timur’s attention to our fund and his decision to evaluate the effectiveness of our work,” noted Yulia Yudina, commenting on criticism from the TV presenter. —

We respect all organizations that create videos about children in orphanages and distribute them in the media. We are also happy to share and share our technology, thanks to which over five years of work we have been able to create more than 30,000 video profiles, that is, to film half of all the children who need a family.

From the very beginning of the work of our foundation, since 2012, we set the task: to create video profiles as much as possible more orphans in Russian orphanages, so that as many boys and girls as possible become visible, and they have a chance to leave orphanages forever.

Therefore, we work almost throughout Russia - in 78 regions. We photograph all children who can be helped to find a family - of any health group, of any age.

The video questionnaire allows you to show children from the most remote corners of Russia. And we declare with full responsibility that a video profile is better than its absence. Before we started creating the questionnaires, we conducted a survey among parents about what was important for them to see in the video, and created technical requirements for filming video questionnaires.

The video profiles created by our foundation correspond to technical requirements Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and are also posted in the federal data bank on orphans.

In 2012 (the start of the fund’s work), there were about 120,000 orphans and children left without parental care in the country. There was very little information, the parents had high request for a video presentation of the child.

Every parent who watched the video questionnaire and became interested in the child, complete information contacts the guardianship and trusteeship authority about the child. This is the only organization authorized to decide whether to join a new family or not.

As for calculating the effectiveness of video questionnaires, absolute accuracy is impossible here. In Timur Kizyakov’s post, we first saw the term and the percentage of “self-development” for orphans; it is not known to the expert community.

A video questionnaire is an effective tool, but it is far from the only one in the process of family arrangement. We must not forget about the work of guardianship authorities, about volunteer associations, about non-profit organizations that work to increase the child’s chances of being placed in a family.

We must not forget about the prevention of child abandonment and support for families who have already adopted children.

The video questionnaire cannot lead to the return of the child. Potential adoptive parents may have high expectations that “such a cheerful child in the picture will always have fun and will not cause trouble.” To combat these high expectations and other myths associated with adoptive children, all potential adoptive parents are required to attend foster parenting school.

Based on our experience of communicating with adoptive mothers and fathers, we know: most adoptive parents understand that a video - no matter how high-quality and detailed it is - is in many ways a superficial way of getting to know a child, in a sense, a subjective view of him. And, of course, to make a decision about a family arrangement, it is important for parents to personally get to know their future son or daughter, and they also really need follow-up support.

That's why we created information portal, which we support on a daily basis in order to provide maximum information for potential and current adoptive parents. We make films about them and for them, write articles with expert advice, answer their questions, conduct consultations with psychologists and organize webinars and forums. We strive to keep abreast of all aspects of the topic of family placement for orphans in our country.

During the entire existence of the fund, we have never resorted to financing from budget funds, we are supported by a large number of companies and ordinary people.

They and the parents for whom we work are the main ones in assessing our effectiveness,” emphasized Yulia Yudina.

02/08/2019 The Ministry of Education will submit a bill on changing the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government .

On February 8, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation held hearings on the bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Protection of Children’s Rights.” The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation T. Yu. Sinyugina.

During her speech, T. Yu. Sinyugina said that the department is ready to submit a bill to change the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government.

We have met with you several times over the course of six months. And the reason for our meetings was an interested and caring conversation and work on a bill, which today is ready for us to submit to the Government,” said T. Yu. Sinyugina.

For information

In December 2018, members of the Interdepartmental working group The Ministry of Education of Russia has prepared a bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Protection of Children’s Rights.” The bill was posted on the federal portal of draft regulations for wide public discussion.

The bill contains new approaches to the transfer of orphans to families that will develop the institution of guardianship and improve the conditions for training people who want to take an orphan into their family.

For the first time, the bill proposes to introduce the concept of “escort” into federal legislation. It is planned that this authority will be vested in authorized regional authorities and organizations, including non-profit organizations.

The document pays special attention to the adoption procedure; a provision has been added on the procedure for reinstating adoptive parents in the responsibilities of parents if they were previously deprived of this opportunity.

Alcohol abuse by parents, their evasion of responsibilities towards children, and intra-family conflicts are the main causes of social orphanhood in the country.

02/08/2019 The Ministry of Education will submit a bill on changing the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government .

During her speech, T. Yu. Sinyugina said that the department is ready to submit a bill to change the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government.

For information

In December 2018, members of the Interdepartmental Working Group under the Ministry of Education of Russia prepared a bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Protection of Children’s Rights.” The bill was posted on the federal portal of draft regulations for wide public discussion.

Alcohol abuse by parents, their evasion of responsibilities towards children, and intra-family conflicts are the main causes of social orphanhood in the country.

Among more than 50 thousand profiles in Russian orphanages, it is difficult to find exactly the child whom the family wants to adopt. There are specialized websites to help such families.

Where to start searching for those who want to become adoptive parents?

1. Decide where to look

Usually, when children are officially abandoned by their natural parents or their parents are deprived of their rights, the child receives the status of “subject to placement in a family.” From this moment the search for a new family begins. A personal file is opened and “attached” to the district care of an orphanage or orphanage (depending on age). If within a month the child has not been placed in a family, his data is transferred to the regional directory.

So, from the custody of the district of any city near Moscow, the questionnaire data goes to the bank of the Moscow region. Moscow and St. Petersburg have their own databases. And almost every subject of the Federation has its own websites with catalogs of children’s profiles. Within home region you can find a child faster than at the federal level - in addition to posting on websites, announcements about children in need of a family home are regularly published in local publications, special social videos are shown on regional TV channels, and all sorts of events and promotions are held to draw attention to orphans .

The federal data bank “Usynovite.ru” unites all children and teenagers looking for foster parents or adoptive parents. 51,072 profiles of orphans in need of a family have been collected here. In questionnaires, in addition to a photo (video) of the child, they usually indicate the first name without patronymic and last name, month and year of birth (the full date is not specified). They also give brief description: interests, hobbies, temperament, health characteristics. The questionnaire provides contact information for the guardianship and trusteeship authorities in charge of the child, and indicates possible types of family arrangement - adoption, guardianship. The reasons for the lack of parental care of the mother and father are also explained. More detailed information can only be obtained through a personal meeting with the child and guardianship officials.

A regional or federal data bank issues a referral to visit a child, but first coordinates a meeting with the district guardianship authority: it is possible that someone has already started visiting the child by contacting the district directly, or there are relatives who have decided to take him into the family.

N.B.: in many cases, it is very difficult for adoptive parents to choose a child based on a photo, since most catalogs contain low-quality photographs, many of the photographs were taken by the guardianship officials themselves. Such photographs are clearly not suitable for a full-fledged federal database application form, experts say.

“I’m studying the website “Usynovite.ru.” It’s good that such a resource exists, and it helps to find orphans who can be adopted into a family. But there are no words for how children are photographed. Like before execution or after serving time in the zone - expressed your outrage on your Facebook page Alexander Gezalov, publicist, public figure, expert at the Fund for Support of Children in Difficult Life Situations, member of the Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of orphans and children without parental care. - In a number of regions, photographs were taken as if on purpose - “don’t take these children.” When will foundations and NGOs start helping to support orphans in such a way as to reveal the real pros and cons?”

Unfortunately, in Russia there are not many NGOs dealing with the problems of children left without parental care, which can create high quality videos and take presentable photographs.

One of the pleasant exceptions is the “Change One Life” charity foundation. The foundation's website contains the largest database of video profiles of children dreaming of finding a loving family. There are currently 19,724 children on the waiting list. Each video is a mini-story about a child, his hobbies, dreams and desires. It is these kinds of video stories that give a child a chance to find his parents faster. The foundation’s employees also help families prepare for welcoming a child into the family: they advise on family issues, regularly conduct webinars, and provide free tickets for parents who are traveling to another region to pick up a child.

There are examples in the regions. For example, the Happy Children charity foundation from Krasnoyarsk also takes high-quality photos and videos, specifically collecting donations for this. Professional photographers and videographers are invited, a colorful portfolio of the child is created, which is subsequently published on the Internet.

2. Learn to read advertisements. Including between the lines

What should you pay attention to in advertisements and questionnaires?

1) Child's health. It is not customary to write in detail about health characteristics in questionnaires. Therefore, it is important when communicating with representatives of regional guardianship to find out detailed history life and development of the child. Often social workers know the directors of orphanages personally, so when visiting the guardianship authorities, you can ask them to call the orphanage where you are going to pick up the baby. It is important to ask how the child grows: is he constantly isolated from his peers or, on the contrary, is he trying to be the center of attention, etc. But you need to keep in mind that children in orphanages are sometimes given a diagnosis of “developmental delay” for no reason, as noted by many families who have adopted children. This is because in most cases the staff’s attention is not enough for all the children, and the child’s development without the constant help of an adult may be delayed.

Photo: Vladimir Pesnya/RIA Novosti

2) Having brothers and sisters. According to Alexander Gezalov, it is necessary not only to indicate whether the child has them, but also to provide a link to their profiles. Indeed, according to Article 124 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, the adoption of brothers and sisters by different persons is not allowed, except in cases where the adoption is in the interests of the children.

It is quite possible that the guardianship authorities will not allow the children to be separated, and then the adoptive parents must decide whether they can take into the family several at once, and even of different ages. Charitable Foundation from St. Petersburg, “Children are Waiting” indicates links to the portfolio of brothers and sisters in the questionnaire of each ward, which gives future parents the opportunity to consider further actions.

3) Relevance of information. Data about children arrives in federal databases with delays and is updated quite rarely. For example, information about children under one year of age is updated once a year, and for children over one year of age, updates are made every three years. Therefore, you need to double-check whether this child has a family. The fastest way to do this is at the regional level.

Update from 02/01/2018 Clarification: in accordance with clause 23 of the Procedure for the formation, maintenance and use of a state data bank on children left without parental care, sends to the federal operator updated information on the establishment, change, clarification or removal of a diagnosis for children left without parental care, within 3 working days from the date its receipts, but at least once a year; photographs of children left without parental care until the child reaches 3 years of age - every 4 months; for children aged 3 to 7 years - every 6 months; for children over 7 years of age - every 2 years.

3. Be aware of deadlines

If future parents have already decided which child they want to meet in person, then they will be given (by local or regional guardianship authorities) a referral to meet him. It is valid for a month, after which you need to make a decision and report it to the guardianship authorities. It is worth remembering that while one family is thinking, other potential adoptive parents are not allowed to meet with this child.

Updated 02/01/2018 Bug fix: a referral to visit a child left without parental care is valid for 10 working days rather than a month. We apologize to the readers.