Kazakhstan to begin closing orphanages in 2018

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Beginning from 2018, the orphanages of Kazakhstan will be transformed into the centers for the support of families and children from deprived backgrounds.

Unlike the orphanages, the centers will temporarily accommodate and help children until they are adopted by new families, Chairman of the Children's Rights Protection Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science Yerzhan Yerssainov said today on the sidelines of the meeting on transformation of orphanages.

According to the Committee, the total percentage of adopted children in Kazakhstan is 16% to date. In whole, the number of children in orphanages is reduced annually by 1,000.

Last year, there were more than 8,000 children in orphanages. This year, this number makes 7,200.

Two  family support  centers have been functioning in Astana and Almaty since 2016. The facilities were opened under a pilot project. 

"Presently, we are considering an opportunity of opening similar centers in other orphanages. And we suppose that establishment of such centers will help us reduce orphanages across Kazakhstan," Yerssainov said.