Sad Stats...

Since ending the school year (both grad school & elementary school) I've picked up more reading of others blogs who are adopting and the many great adoption web sites. So often were asked "Why Russia?" or "What are the needs there?". So I've decided to post some recent findings and stats about Russian orphans...

More than 700,000 orphans are living in 2,000 state-run orphanages. Of those, 95 percent have a living parent unable to or unwilling to care for them. That doesn't include the estimated 2 million to 4 million homeless orphans living on the streets and in railway stations.

Of those who are not adopted and leave the orphanage between the ages of 16 and 18

• 50 percent of the girls become prostitutes
• 40 percent of the children become addicted to drugs or alcohol
• 40 percent commit crimes
• 10 percent commit suicide

Also...

• Just 1 in 10 former Russian orphans becomes a functional member of society.
• 132,500 children are abandoned to the state in Russia every year, up from roughly 67,000 in 1992.
• Nearly 4,640 Russian orphans were adopted by Americans in 2005, down from a record 5,865 in 2004.
• 13 out of every 100 children adopted by Russians are eventually returned to the orphanage.
• 40 million children in the former Soviet Union are living in poverty.

Sources: Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Commission for Children at Risk, Human Rights Watch, European Children's Trust, Rosstat Agency