ECONOMIC reforms in eastern Europe have led to a dramatic deterioration in the quality of life for millions of children, according to a new report from the UN children's fund, UNICEF.
A massive increase in the number of children in institutions, increased incidence of childhood diseases and the highest rates of teenage suicide in the world are just some of the "exclusively negative" results of the transition from communism, the agency says.
The report, Children at risk in Central and Eastern Europe: Perils and Promises, also documents the growing impact of conflicts and social breakdown on children's lives and the disintegration of education and health services which are essential to their well being.
It concludes that the hopes that children's needs would be better met under the new market led economies have been "largely betrayed". The result has given eastern Europe its first taste of previously unknown social ills such as drug abuse and child prostitution, on top of more familiar problems such as malnutrition and the prevalence of infectious diseases.
Local conflicts have forced millions of people out of their homes in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, parts of Russia, Tajikistan and the former Yugoslavia, giving rise to almost two million child refugees.
Infectious diseases such as diphtheria and tuberculosis, which had almost been eradicated in the old USSR, are on the rise again and falling life expectancy has caused further problems; more than 500,000 Russian children lost a parent prematurely between 1990 and 1995. "Apart from the emotional pain involved for children, the illness or premature death of a parent jeopardises the family's economic wellbeing, increasing the risk of undernutrition, disease and neglect.
"There is also an increased risk for the child of being removed from the family and of being placed in public care," the report states. About one million children are in public care in the region, more than in the late 1980s, when images of children living in atrocious and unsanitary institutions shocked westerners and helped to topple the communist regimes.
Yet only a small proportion of these are orphans; most are "social orphans" who have been abandoned by their parents. In contrast to the west, only 20 per cent of children entering care are placed with foster parents. Although many countries have banned the adoption of children in western countries, the practice continues.
"There will always be means to circumvent the law when prospective adopters are prepared to pay tens of thousands of dollars to obtain a child in a country where $200 is a good monthly salary", says the report. Yet Romanian adoptions took children from their biological families rather than institutions.
The report suggests more emphasis should be placed on partnerships between parents and the state, and on providing service to support vulnerable families. Modads of good practice which have worked in the west, such as community nursing, child welfare services and family centres, should be introduced in the region.
