Comparative Analysis of Post-orphanage Adaptation of Orphaned Children Deprived of Parental Care: 20 Years Later

Abstract

The article looks into the results of the comparative analysis of post-orphanage adaptation among the orphanages graduates of years 2001 (N=968) and 2021 (N=1792). Due to the active development of family-oriented forms of adoption of orphaned children, the year 2021 sample also included children graduates from foster families (N=1413). The study was conducted using the questionnaire from 2001 containing questions about major aspects of graduates' lives: life values and plans for the future, education, employment, family life, recreational activities, asocial behavior (with adjustments for the realities of today's legal system). Changes have been shown that occurred over 20 years in governmental policies toward orphan children and orphan graduates. Significant changes are observed in the graduates' subjective assessments of their own preparedness for independent living and of their psychological well-being. The comparative analysis revealed that only quantitative changes occurred in different aspects of their lives, while the list of the graduates' problems remained the same. Quite unexpectedly, it turned out that there are no significant differences for a number of adaptation parameters between graduates of organizations for orphaned children and those from substitute families of 2021. This can be explained by the fact that foster parents generally don't prepare their fostered children for independent living, whereas professionals of orphanage institutions support their ex-wards children until the latter turn 23.