(KZN.RU,
June 2, Alsu Safina). The project for the provision of free-of-charge temporary
use of apartments for foster families, taking children with disabilities on the
upbringing, started in Kazan. Very soon three families will be able to
celebrate a housewarming in three-room apartments with an area of about 95
square meters each in a new residential complex on Bashirov Street within the
framework of the project “Good Kazan”. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan,
visited one of the apartments and talked with future tenants: the family of
teachers and professional parents Maria Kazantseva and Denis Shirokov who
already have the experience of raising two adopted sons and plan to take four
more children with developmental features on the upbringing.
Now foster
children are already being brought up in each of the three families. Due to
better housing conditions, families will be able to take a few more children
with developmental features. Housing is provided to them for 3 years with the
possibility of prolongation of the contract. After the adoptive children reach
the age of majority, professional parents will be able either to take other children
to the family or to cede housing to the next family.
It is
planned that foster families will celebrate housewarming on July 8, on the Day
of Peter and Fevronia, which is the Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity in
Russia. Now the repair is in full swing in the apartments, which is held at the
expense of patrons.
Families
will live in neighboring houses. A draw decided whichever one of the three
apartments will be obtained. “We got the apartment that we liked the most”,
Maria Kazantseva rejoiced. According to her, they were able to take part in the
selection of wallpaper, chandeliers, etc. when arranging the apartment.
Maria and
Denis showed the Mayor of Kazan a kitchen where the kitchen set is already
installed and the dining table is standing, behind which a large family will
gather together, rooms of boys and girls, and a living room.
The couple
took on the foster child for the first time in 2008. Now their son Konstantin,
who was then a difficult eleven-year-old teenager, graduated from a school, got
a job and live separately from his foster parents. In 2014, the son Semyon
appeared in the family, who was left without parents. In the next school year,
he will go to 11th grade.
Soon the
family intends to raise two more boys with hearing impairment from the
Privolzhsky orphanage, 10 and 14 years old. They go to the Kazan boarding
school named after E. Lastochkina for children with disabilities. Now the
operation in Moscow will be made to the youngest boy with the participation of
the charity fund “Volunteers to help children. Children are in trouble”. It is
planned that also two girls will become new members of the family. Given the
complex history of the children, the couple passed professional parenting
courses at the Center for Assistance to the Family Organization of Children at
the end of last year.
“As long as
we have the strength, we can help, give advice, and teach a child something.
After all, children with limited health opportunities need support. Such
children are usually avoided and rarely taken in families”, Maria Kazantsev and
Denis Shirokov explained their desire to become a large family. “And they, like
other children, expect that they will be taken into the family. Every child
must have a family”.
“This is
beyond praise. You are remarkable people! The road that you passed is a feat in
everyday life. You take children with health problems, professionally approach
their upbringing. Thank you very much”, Ilsur Metshin thanked Maria and Denis.
The Mayor
of Kazan reminded that the issue of the need to improve the living conditions
of families raising complex foster children was brought up a year ago by
Tatiana Stepanova, the chairman of the city public organization of foster
families “We are together”, at the meeting with the leaders of charitable
organizations. “Thank God, the solution was found, even if not as fast as we
would like. There are three apartments for such families with professional
parents”, noted the Mayor.
Tatiana
Stepanova, in her turn, expressed her gratitude to the Mayor of Kazan for his
support, which enabled them to help children in difficult life situations. “Now
one child is brought up in each of these three foster families. 12 more
children will find a family and will live with their fathers and mothers thanks
to this citywide project”, Tatiana Stepanova shared her joy. “Professionals
should be in any case, especially in ours”, she marked and added that it is
important to continue the development of the project and train professional
parenthood.
“We will
continue this experience”, said the Mayor. Now there are 200 children in Kazan
who need foster parents. “We would like all of them to have a family”, noted
the Mayor. “The state, of course, cares for children but nothing can replace
parents and family warmth. You are wonderful and amazing people!”
Such foster
families are an example of how to deal with children left without parental
care. “This experience is already taking over from us. Our task now is to move
forward both in quantity and quality of families”, the Mayor believes.
The Mayor
separately thanked Andrei Zakamsky, the director of the group of repair and
construction companies “Taliga” and “Progress”, and Andrei Belyakov, the
director of the company “Briz”, thanks to which they managed to implement this
project.
Svetlana
Bogova, director of the Center for Assistance to the Family Organization of
Kazan, under the patronage of which these foster families are now, gave the
Mayor a holiday card with poems about the family, made by the children.
The project
of professional parenting began to be developed by the city public organization
“We are together” in 2009. Training is conducted on the basis of the Center for
Assistance to Family Organization, together with their specialists, topics are
developed and classes are conducted. To date, 27 families have been trained in
professional parenthood in Tatarstan.