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The event was supported by Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Alexander Gutsan, Murmansk Region Governor Andrei Chibis, the regional government, and the Fund to Support Children in Difficult Life Situations.

Opening the forum, Maria Lvova-Belova reported that her team had visited 36 regions as part of the National Inspection of the System for the Prevention of Social Orphanhood. They reviewed 2,900 children’s personal files and selected half of them for potentially returning children from orphanages to their families.

The inspection team visited eight of the eleven entities in the Northwestern Federal District, namely the Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Leningrad, Murmansk, Novgorod and Pskov regions and the republics of Komi and Karelia. They inspected 57 children’s facilities, 19 guardianship and custody agencies, and 24 commissions for the affairs of minors and protection of their rights. Work on 250 cases is underway.

The Children’s Commissioner outlined measures that could help direct the operation of the social orphanhood prevention system towards keeping children in their families. The priority task is to adjust the governance system, state programmes and efficiency indicators so that children are not removed from their families without serious reasons. Another priority is to provide judicial protection to families seeking to regain their parental rights.

About 400 people took part in the onsite work of the inspection, which included practical workshops and seminars. The main topics addressed were comprehensive assistance to parents at home and in day care and crisis centres, the operation of commissions for the affairs of minors and guardianship organisations, developing infrastructure for children with disabilities, parent clubs, and cooperation with NGOs.