Care for children’s social welfare strengthens in Azerbaijan

By AzerNews

No child is in children's home by his or her own wish. Children who are brought up in these homes need much more attention and care than children who have a normal family. Official statistics show that about 1,171 children in Azerbaijan are orphaned or deprived of parental care. The reasons are different; some of them have lost their parents during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while some others are seriously ill and in need of special education and care and some other suffer from poverty in their family.

Children deprived of parental care in Azerbaijan live in children's homes till the age of 18. Afterwards, they leave that place and begin an independent life without any support. Some buildings have been built in the country for these children over the past few years.

The government will continue supporting these children past the age of 18.

"The government will always care about these children. Children deprived of parental care have no serious problems after the age of 18. They are provided with a dwelling place and a job by the government," Deputy Chairman of the parliamentary committee on social policy Musa Guliyev told AzerNews.

A new residential building for children who have no place to live in will be built in the country. The Cabinet of Ministers' report shows that the government took the necessary steps for the construction of the building in 2013. The building will consist of 120 one-bedroom apartments for children who are orphaned and deprived of parental care, have no place of residence, and have graduated from orphanages and educational boarding schools.

Guliyev said several buildings for such children who are 18 years old have been built. "The Heydar Aliyev Foundation and State Oil Company provide these children with all the necessary living conditions," he said.

He noted that Azerbaijan has adopted some countries' practices for solving these children's problems completely.

"The district executive powers of Baku can allocate one or two-bedroom apartments to such children. Another option is providing them with social houses. Teenage boys can be directed to the military sphere, after which they can enjoy the benefits of servicemen," Guliyev said.

Azerbaijan's parliament intends to discuss a draft bill on building small towns for teenagers deprived of parental care. These towns are planned to be built in Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, and Nakhcivan to provide teenagers with living conditions and solve their social problems.

But Guliyev does not stand for building special small towns for children who leave children's home.

"These special small towns can slow down their integration process into the society. These children should not be isolated from the society, they should be integrated into it," he said.

Guliyev believes that such buildings should be built not in Baku, but in the regions.

"Children deprived of parental care can be surrounded with more love and care in the regions than in the capital, because the regions' mentality is different from that of a big city," he concluded.