Orphanage #23

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Reviews

Posted 1/2003
"My husband and I adopted a 15 month old boy from orphanage #23 in June 2002. I cannot say enough good things about this orphanage. He was very well taken care of. The director/doctor and her staff seem to really care about the children."

Posted 3/11/2003
From Dr. Aronson's webpage from her 1998 trip.

http://www.orphandoctor.com/stories/draronsontorussia.html

"Orphanage #23 is an infant orphanage about 1 hour from the center of the city. The orphanage was well hidden behind locked gates in a setting of low income high rise apartment buildings. When we arrived, we were greeted by Irina, the nurse who is the director of the orphanage. She welcomed us with overwhelming warmth and kindness as if we were old friends.

The rooms of the orphanage were bright and colorfully decorated. The cribs were clean and the children were dressed beautifully. Even children who were obviously severely disabled, were clean and clothed as if they were going for an outing. The children were in the playground in their underpants playing actively in prefabricated plastic modules that had been donated by a group of Italian families who had adopted children from this orphanage. The caretakers were playing with the children and there were lots of smiles, giggles, and conversations.

The babies were fed formula in this orphanage which is rare in Russia. Most orphanage children eat Kefir (cold yogurt) which is unpleasant tasting and provides limited nutrition. Many of the children in this orphanage were handicapped kids. I stopped counting the children with Down syndrome after a while. They were loved and developing to their potential because Irina had arranged for a physical therapist to work with the kids from their earliest moments in the orphanage. She even had a music room with an infant stimulation box.

Irina gave us an honest appraisal of the philosophical approaches to handicapped children in Russia. She told us that handicapped children usually end up dying young in most orphanages because they cannot get the services that they need. It is a triage system. She requests that handicapped kids be placed in her orphanage and she takes pride in her ability to care for these children successfully."

For more information:
Moscow Adopt
Email: bruce@eckent.com

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