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The older an orphan is, the less the chance of adoption. In Russia, the chance of a child over 5 being adopted is only 5 percent.
The future of the other 95% is very grim. Life in the orphanage is very difficult, however that is not the only thing these
children have to worry about. The real tragedy begins when the children are released. One of Solnishka’s goals is to
provide services and resources for older children, who have come of age and will be graduating from the children’s home
and released to Russian society to fend for themselves. We also strongly promote older child adoption. Upon “graduating”
from the orphanage these children are released at the age of 16-18, with no job, family, or support.
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The sad statistics are that about 15,000 children leave Russian orphanages each year, once they are 16 to 18 years old.
"Of these, 5,000 are unemployed, some 6,000 are homeless, around 3,000 resort to crime, approximately 1,500 commit
suicide within the first year, and over 60% of the girls are forced into prostitution."(From The CoMission for Children
at Risk, 2002.)
"There were over 700,000 orphans in Russia in 2000. After leaving their orphanages:
50% - fall into a high-risk category
40% - become drug users
40% - commit crimes
10% - commit suicide"
Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation
The average life expectancy for released Russian orphans is 23.
It is difficult to look at these innocent children knowing their grim future in Russia.
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