Abandoned Children: Social Progress & Support

In Kazakhstan, despite reforms, abandoned children lack support from the state. Social staff lack training and the assistance provided does not always correspond to the real needs of the children.

Abandoned or abandoned children are children whose parents are alive but who do not have parental custody. In Kazakhstan, according to data from the national statistics office, there were 21,387 abandoned children in 2023, including 15,668 placed under the guardianship of family members, 1,660 in foster families, and 3,727 in foster homes for minors.

In addition, according to data from the Committee for the Protection of Children’s Rights, 7,731 families in difficulty were registered with the authorities, among which 12,432 children lived.

Every year, about 2,000 children arrive in juvenile adaptation centers. Kazakhstan carries out preventive actions against crimes, illnesses, suicides and harassment of minors. But according to official data, no targeted action is taken regarding the prevention of child abandonment.

This article proposes to review the situation based on a study carried out with 32 stakeholders between December 2024 and January 2025.

Situations often handled by the juvenile brigade

These situations are mainly reported by the school. More rarely, the report is made by neighbors or family, or even by medical or preschool educational establishments. These reports are taken care of by the minors’ police, transmitted to the homes, then sent to the Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Minors.

This Commission makes a decision about the child within 15 to 20 minutes. There is no support from social services, monitoring of the situation being carried out largely by the police, generally from the juvenile brigade.

“We can sometimes accompany people. If a person is on the right path to rehabilitation, we try to support them so that they can provide for their family in the future”says Matveï, from the juvenile brigade.

A real legislative effort, but implementation which still remains insufficient

Following the adoption in 2024 of amendments to Kazakh legislation – known as the Saltanat Law – new help centers are expected to be opened across the country to facilitate support for families in difficulty. These amendments came into force on June 12, 2024, but the work of the centers is still being organized on the recruitment and training of staff, or the study of methods of social work with families in difficult situations.

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“The problem is that we built the centers but didn’t start training the staff until much later. People worked for six months, but not in the right direction. Mobile groups have been formed, but people are not ready”explains Elena, childhood mediator.

Following legislative reforms, it was agreed that children from families in difficulty should also be able to benefit from the services of help centers. Reporting information to family support centers must now be transmitted within one working day.

Disconnect between the needs of families and the support offered on the ground

But the aid offered does not always correspond to the needs of families. Indeed, families in difficulty can find themselves in a precarious situation following a divorce or illness, but there is currently no clear system providing for intervention.

Finally, help centers are not intended to support people who are victims of domestic violence, unless they show signs of physical violence. Their functions are limited to facilitating access to existing services for all victims.

Prevention has therefore evolved little, and abandoned children will continue to be placed in adaptation centers for minors and in homes for orphans and abandoned children.

The rights of children in care

The phenomenon of abandoned children is not tolerated in the country. Police forces take children to juvenile rehabilitation centers and homes, depending on their age and health, and the parents are identified and prosecuted for failing to fulfill their obligations. In the absence of parents or the impossibility of identifying them, most children are placed under the guardianship of members of their family, some are transferred to homes for orphans and abandoned children and, finally, some are placed with foster families or adoptive families.

The main advantage of the system of support for Kazakh children is that it guarantees them access to housing, food and medical care. Over the past ten years, the care and socialization of orphans and neglected children has been considerably improved and expanded at the legislative level. Children now attend preschool and school establishments, they can be placed with foster families or adoptive families and even, since July 1, 2025, with professional foster families. Children also have the opportunity to visit relatives and friends and get tutors.

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All orphans and abandoned children benefit from social benefits. They have a priority right to accommodation after leaving children’s homes or foster families at the age of 18. Then, they are entitled to payment of benefits for loss of family support to the child’s personal accounts. Finally, they have access to preferential quotas for access to higher education in the country.

A change of name which does not result in a change of practice

According to the nomenclature of educational institutions in Kazakhstan, there are officially no orphanages in the country. Establishments for orphans and abandoned children were renamed “help centers for children requiring special social services”. However, the website of the Public Services of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the State Bureau of Statistics continue to use the term “orphanage”. The change in the name of the organization did not lead to rapid changes in practice.

As the study on which this article is based has shown, practices on the ground do not keep pace with legislative changes. This is explained by the contextual specificities of legislative initiatives, as well as the gap between progressive innovations and the real resources of the system, especially in terms of qualified personnel and social infrastructure.

The analysis of interviews conducted during the study, as well as information bulletins from recent years, makes it possible to highlight two major drawbacks of the current child care system in Kazakhstan: persistent violence and corruption, which reflect the general socio-cultural context of the country.

Violence against children that goes unpunished

Kazakh news over the past five years does not paint a rosy picture of these centers. On May 25, 2020, a high mortality rate among children with disabilities at a specialized boarding school was reported in Aïagoz. On August 18, 2021, educators tied up disabled children in Atyrau. On February 1, 2023, the director of an orphanage in Pavlodar was suspected of having attempted to embezzle six million tenge (10,356 euros). Study participants reported instances of child abuse, both within the family and in homes.

“There are cases [de violences]. You may have heard about this child who was placed for two or three years in an institution where he suffered sexual abuse and physical violence. No one intervened, then he was placed with a foster family who didn’t know about it. The most interesting thing about all this is that it was only later that we learned that everyone knew: the educators and the director knew, but they couldn’t do anything.says Tokhtar, member of an NGO.

“We found out all this by chance, because the child was very withdrawn, he didn’t like being held, he didn’t like the simple gestures that exist in a family between parents and children. It was by chance that her host family learned about it, and when she decided to contact the police, the child flatly asked them not to get involved, not to talk about it. It was too traumatic for him. And that’s when he said that everyone knew, but they never did more than discuss it. No action was taken. This situation shows that although homes protect children behind walls, they do not guarantee a safe environment”concludes Tokhtar.

Among the disadvantages of the child care system in the country, the lack of qualified personnel and the fragmentary nature of services pose problems. Social sciences and international practice have demonstrated that the family or the continuous presence of an adult with the child is extremely important for his development, and social pedagogy in institutions can be an alternative, while the absence of the first and the second leads to destructive factors for the child’s development and has a negative impact both on the future of the child and on society as a whole.

Lack of support and monitoring

In Kazakhstan, the authorities responsible for child protection, which are the structures authorized to defend the rights of children, do not provide support, monitoring or control of the care of children, which are nevertheless key elements of social work.

In this context, it is particularly important to ensure that the child is monitored by child protection services specialists during his placement outside his family, in particular by informing him in understandable language of the reasons for this situation, by explaining to him what will happen next and by providing him with emotional support.

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International practice provides for compulsory psychological support in the event of a child’s displacement, for which specially trained family companions are used, who ensure the emotional stability of the child. The presence of qualified psychologists at the time of removal or movement makes it possible to observe the child’s condition and respond to stress reactions in time, which is essential for his safety and well-being.

“If each movement of a child away from home was accompanied by a specialist, children would more easily cope with the trauma of separation”believes Nikita, member of an NGO.

A lack of qualified personnel

These gaps in support are also linked to the lack of clear coordination at the level of local authorities as well as the low level of professional training of specialists who work with families. The lack of skills and clear protocols for service delivery, as well as the insufficient motivation of social workers complete the picture: they are overloaded and do not have the time or resources to work in depth with each family.

The situation is aggravated by the absence of night and emergency care services in the social protection system: emergency cases linked to violence most often occur outside working hours, but the relevant services are not available during this period. As a result, response functions are often transferred to police and doctors, who do not always have the necessary skills and qualifications.

One of the reasons for this situation could also be the lack of qualified personnel, because before the start of 2025, child protection and guardianship services had one or one and a half employees per district, making a total of 303 employees for all 188 districts of Kazakhstan. Awareness of the shortage of personnel in this area occurred, but it was not until the end of 2024 that steps were taken to increase the number of child protection services.

Objectives revised upwards

“For the first time, the law sets the number of child protection services employees: one specialist per 5,000 children. Today, the number of employees of regional child protection services has increased from 303 to 692 people. In 2025, it is planned to significantly increase this figure, which will improve access to help for children and their families, as well as the quality of the work of child protection services »reports an article from the media Vecher.kz.

Despite its positive aims, this initiative has a major drawback in that Kazakhstan does not have training or professional development for social workers who care for children. Consequently, the new staff will be recruited from among teachers, lawyers and other professionals available without specific training.

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Lack of knowledge of the specifics of the work and lack of skills in working with children in this category can lead to an increased risk of harming the child, further traumatizing him, or even inflicting psychological violence. Not to mention the worsening of turnover already existing in the sector due to professional burnout and fatigue.

Here is what Alma, representative of the child welfare agency, says about the current staffing situation: “We can’t do it physically, and sometimes we can’t do it morally either. »

Punitive measures rather than help for victims

The lack of specialized training associated with great responsibility and emotional burden also exists among other professionals who work with children, including police officers, investigators and school psychologists, which reduces the effectiveness of their work.

Lack of motivation among professionals, due to low salaries, stress and lack of career prospects, contributes to staff turnover. In addition, there is often no practice of professional development and timely introduction of innovative methods and technologies in the field of social work. As Madina, a member of an NGO, points out, “It is important to train these specialists in new technologies that exist in practice, within the international community. »

Furthermore, according to Aïguerim of the Psychological Support Center, the lack of training for employees of child protection services and commissions responsible for juvenile affairs leads them to focus on sanctions and punitive measures rather than help and support. According to her, “People don’t know how to support or help, they only think about punishing. »

An evolving family placement

Family placement of abandoned children remains a major problem that must be addressed as a priority according to the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Current practice does not allow a child to be placed directly with a foster or adoptive family. Potential adoptive parents choose children online, such as on a sales site, after registering on a specialized portal containing the database of children to be adopted.

Since July 1, 2025, it is possible to place a child in a professional foster family. However, Kazakhstan does not yet have a social infrastructure specifically designed for this purpose, nor qualified professional personnel to select, prepare and support these families.

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These services are always provided by specialists from child protection services, child welfare centers, as well as volunteers and employees of non-governmental organizations. This results in a high risk of children from foster families returning to institutions and violence from foster parents.

However, as Nikita, a member of an NGO, points out, the professional possibilities of teachers and psychologists, particularly in schools, are limited by the legislative framework, despite their skills. Psychologists who have the skills and knowledge to make diagnoses and prescribe treatments cannot actually practice their profession fully due to restrictions on their rights.

Distrust of public services

Overall, trust in public services in Kazakhstan is limited, particularly when it comes to protecting children’s rights. Non-governmental organizations are seen as more accessible, more humane and more reliable, particularly in emergency situations. Children and their families often prefer to contact the NGOs whose contact details they have.

This is explained by both the high level of empathy and responsiveness of NGOs and the distrust of the impersonal and formal actions of state structures. As Vladimir, an NGO representative, explains, “an ordinary person trusts another ordinary person more than a person in uniform or in an official position. »

As many respondents point out, children and their families are not convinced that recourse to state structures will provide them with real help. That’s why they sometimes don’t even try to involve them in solving their problems.

Administrative reforms

Since 2020, several legislative initiatives have been taken in the field of orphan protection, but in practice no significant changes have been observed. In the absence of parental care, the state can provide these children with material protection, but it cannot provide them with protection and emotional support, which are just as important as material assistance during the child’s development period.

The Government of Kazakhstan continues to actively promote reforms on paper, in connection with which taxpayers do not always have access to reports on the effectiveness of the use of funds allocated for the implementation of this or that legislative initiatives. Among these are the Children of Kazakhstan program for 2007-2011: the index of children’s well-being, programs for the prevention of bullying and suicide, as well as plans for the implementation of gender equality and family policy.

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Given the ineffectiveness of previous initiatives, new reforms and programs are needed. For example, on March 14, 2025, during the fourth session of the National Kurultai, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev gave new instructions regarding the well-being of children.

“Representatives of local authorities and public figures remain on the sidelines of the prevention of family and domestic violence. In addition, work in this area is currently regulated by different documents and is not sufficiently coordinated. That is why I think it is right to concentrate all measures within the framework of a single program called Children of Kazakhstan”he said.

An unsatisfactory assessment

Family planning, reducing the number of divorces, sex education, strengthening parental responsibility and reducing unpaid alimony must be prioritized, with regular reporting to the population on the results obtained and media coverage of civil trials, like the progress of the trial for the murder of Saltanat Nukenova. At the same time, the state and society must adopt zero tolerance towards violent and irresponsible parents.

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The current and future situation of abandoned children in Kazakhstan can be considered unsatisfactory, as the system is poorly effective in practice, with no signs of stability of personnel and resources at both the central and local levels, resulting in poor quality of services and a decline in public trust, and the absence of mechanisms and policies to protect the interests of children, including their mental health and cognitive development.

All initiatives in this area require careful planning and review, including with regard to staff training costs, social protection of child protection service employees and the provision of suitable infrastructure.

Aïguerim Mousabalinova
Doctor and children’s rights advocate
For Cabar Asia

Translated from Russian by Céleste de Ploëg

Edited by Sistine Varenne

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