A Russian woman revealed what people who take children into custody actually receive

What kind of fabulous earnings are we talking about? And what does the guardian actually get with this “huge money”? We will look at the example of the Moscow region. There are currently 22.5 thousand children in care in the region.

First things first. No, not about a child who finds himself in a difficult life situation; the average person doesn’t care much about him. First about money.

The guardian will receive 24,604 rubles at a time (if the child is one, healthy and under seven years old) or 187,996 rubles (if the child has a disability, is over 7 years old, or has brothers and sisters). Please note that this is a new pay scale. It was introduced only in February 2024. And this will affect those who are applying for guardianship now. Those who have done this before are not entitled to such payments.

In addition, everyone is entitled to an annual allowance of 45 thousand rubles (for soft equipment), monthly payments for each child – from 13 thousand to almost 24 thousand. The final payment depends on the age of the child. They pay the maximum for babies. Minimum – for preschool children from 3 to 7 years old. If there are several children, then it is necessary to register the status of a foster family. In this case, the guardian will receive a “salary” of 3 thousand rubles, plus additional payments of 3 thousand for each child. Additionally, the region will pay extra if the children lived in the Moscow region before the arrival of a guardian in the family. From 5 to 19 thousand monthly. The amount will depend on the health and age of the child. Maximum – for children with severe disabilities. Even when organizing a foster family, you can receive compensation: 6,900 for each family member when organizing a family vacation, 4,600 for organizing a vacation for an orphan child in the summer, plus free travel for the supervised child by public transport and by rail to the vacation spot and back, all this once a year .

This is where the rain of money dries up. And the “wonderful life” of foster families begins.

I note that people in the topic clearly separate two concepts: guardianship and foster family. These are different forms of family structure. In Russia, there are several options for transferring a child to a family: adoption, guardianship, foster family and patronage.

Guardianship and foster care are the most popular. If only because they give a chance to children who do not have adoption status. Parents are in prison, have limited parental rights, have disappeared from the child’s life, and “forgot” to fill out the necessary papers. This is all a reason for the baby to “hang out” in an orphanage. Such children cannot be adopted. And here a chance appears – guardianship (if there is only one child) or a foster family (if there are many of them).

The guardian must undergo mandatory training at a foster parent school. Complete medical documents. Show the guardianship authorities your home, a certificate of income and the consent of everyone registered in his apartment to the appearance of a new tenant. And only after that he will receive a referral to meet the child. It is worth noting that in the Moscow region there are now about four hundred children in the database. This is a very small number. And these are, as a rule, very problem children. Bedridden disabled people with mental retardation, large families of five or six children who are not sent separately, teenagers.

But now the acquaintance has taken place, everyone agrees to everything, the documents are signed, you can go “get rich” (as envious people think). A child from a government institution is handed over to his guardian naked. Literally. Bring your own panties, tights, sweaters, jeans, dresses, jackets, and shoes according to the season. Toys and furniture for the child (he cannot sleep on the sofa with you) should already be purchased. If you are taking a schoolchild, then you will also have to buy a uniform, a change, a briefcase, and stationery quickly. If there are several children, feel free to multiply expenses by their number. You will receive your “mad” money within three months after the child is transferred to the family. But the guardianship service will come to you with a check in two weeks.

Then responsible adults usually take the child to the doctors. Yes, of course, medical documents after a government institution are in order. But sometimes, for some reason, some of the diagnoses disappear from them. And the outwardly not entirely healthy child turns out to be absolutely healthy. Therefore, it is better to get an alternative opinion. Considering the state of medicine in the Moscow region, this will have to be done for a fee.

It is worth noting that, in addition to the above payments, the guardian will not receive anything else from the state. Even if there are three minors in the family together with the adopted child, the status of a large family is not granted. This means there are no benefits or discounts at children’s entertainment centers, museums, circuses, or theaters. Children are not fed for free in schools. They do not give discounts on kindergarten fees.

That is, it turns out that two out of three children are “our own”, and one is “state”. Naturally, none of the adoptive parents do this, so depending on their financial capabilities, they take their children to have fun and be culturally enriched, some once a month, and some once every six months. Less often it is impossible, guardianship asks for a report. And any parent knows that a trip somewhere is not only about money for travel and entrance fees, but also “to eat”, “oh, what a toy”, “I want that magnet” and other cute little things.

Organizing a vacation also turns into a difficult quest. Remember, at the beginning of the article we believed that the state would pay for summer vacations for the ward and even the entire foster family? There is one caveat. You cannot go to the seaside and rent a room there from a kind local resident. This must be an official boarding house or sanatorium where documents and checks will be issued. How many days can you live in such a place for 6,900 rubles per person?

It’s no better with children’s vouchers. Try sending your child to a summer camp for 4,600 rubles. If tours start from 15 thousand rubles per week. And during the summer holidays there are more than 10 such weeks.

People who take custody of children are usually very responsible parents. This means that children will be developed. Clubs, tutors, sports sections. Any talent requires significant investment. And some sports literally hit the wallet. Not even at the cost of training, but at the cost of accompanying equipment and competitions.

A child with learning problems also requires a lot of investment. Speech therapists, speech pathologists, neuropsychologists and simply psychologists – all this places a financial burden on the guardian. Does the child need these specialists? If, for example, his own mother drank vodka relentlessly, and then, in front of her son or daughter, stabbed another roommate to death? If a child from infancy watched not sparrows on the street, but the sexual relations of adults? What if you used yogurt jars instead of toys (if there were any)?

“But you weren’t forced to take the child!” – many will now exclaim. They didn’t force me. But we started with the fact that guardians allegedly make money from their charges.

And also about intangible costs. The guardian is obliged to bring the ward once a year for a medical examination at the local clinic. In the Moscow region, this process becomes a personal hell for guardians, children and doctors. On a weekday morning, you need to take your child to the clinic and go through a dozen specialists, take tests, do an ECG, and an ultrasound. Moving through a medical organization resembles Brownian motion. No one will allocate a separate office “for some orphans” and gather specialists there in order to simplify the process as much as possible. No, there are three rooms on the first floor, four on the fourth, then go down to the second and donate blood if you have time. There are gigantic queues everywhere. Complete everything in the psychiatrist’s office (who, by the fourth hour of chaotic running around, is already needed by the guardian). At this time, doctors are also forced to conduct scheduled appointments. And the icing on the cake will be that half of the examination results will not appear in the child’s medical record. And if any certificates are needed, you will have to go through everything again.

Did you breathe out after the medical examination? That’s not all. You need to submit a report. Once a year, both guardians and adoptive parents submit documents: about the movement of money in the child’s bank account (state payments and alimony, if any), expenses for the year, use of the ward’s property, if any. Don’t worry, the state will ask for every penny allocated. Suddenly, the guardian bought new socks for his ward instead of candy. It’s good that you only have to submit such a report once a year.

Well, don’t forget that a guardian is a full-fledged representative of his ward. Any problems: from a gigantic debt for utilities in an apartment that belongs to a minor, to unpaid child support from biological parents on time – everything falls on the shoulders of the guardian. As well as deviant behavior of the child. Shoplifting, fights in schools and on the street, cigarettes, alcohol, early love – for children who have been through orphanages, these frequent teenage problems take on some kind of cosmic proportions. And they require an attentive, sensitive, careful decision on the part of an adult. To whom at any moment they can say: “You are not my mother/father at all.” And from clean sheets and hot soup, children will run to a drug addicts’ den just because their mother is there.

And everyone will see the car that the guardian earned himself, because in fact he is a great IT specialist, a luxurious vacation for which the whole family saved for six months. And shake their heads: “The state pays you so much money, but you can’t properly take care of an orphan”…