Maria Lvova-Belova visited Tomsk Region

In the run-up to the working visit,
advisers to the Commissioner for Children’s Rights visited nine institutions in the Tomsk Region, reviewed the work of the child protection bodies and juvenile
affairs commissions, and conducted several interviews with parents.
The children’s ombudsman highlighted
positive practices in the region that deserve to be replicated, including a dedicated Department for Family and Children’s Affairs, mobile narcotic drug
treatment teams for parents addicted to alcohol, and palliative care teams.
During a meeting with the head of the region Vladimir Mazur the Commissioner for Children’s Rights put forward
several proposals to improve the prevention system. In particular, the parties
agreed to establish a commission in the Tomsk Region to look into whether the children
are being placed in group homes for legitimate reasons. The commission will
help address the causes of social orphanhood and find ways to have children reunite
with their families. The governor noted that the number of children at state
institutions in the region had gone down from 865 to 686 over the past five
months, and emphasised the region’s efforts in working with at-risk families.
At a meeting with the region’s
prevention system bodies and institutions’ leaders, Maria Lvova-Belova came up
with a number of recommendations, such as focusing on supporting families while
children are in care, expanding family assistance services at existing
institutions, and changing performance indicators for children’s fixed-site
institutions focusing on family support and family-preserving practices.
In addition, the children’s ombudsman opened a seminar for guardianship and trusteeship staff, visited the Malyshok regional
centre for family placement assistance, the Rostok centre for helping children
left without parental care, a children’s hospital, and the Little Mother
shelter.