Two family-type children's homes will open on June 1 in the Vitebsk region

Two family-type children's homes are opening in the Vitebsk region on the International Children's Day, the regional executive committee reported.

One housewarming party will take place in Gorodok. This will be the second such institution here – on Bagratyan Street, next to the first similar home. The customer for the construction work was the Capital Construction Department of the Gorodok District, and the contractor was Gorodok PMK-51. About Br1.8 billion from the regional and republican budgets were spent on the facility. The total area of the five-room house with an attic is almost 130 sq.m, with a household plot and outbuildings located nearby. The house is fully ready for occupancy. According to the Department of Education, Sports and Tourism of the District Executive Committee, the new residents will be the married couple Vladimir and Yulia Saprikov, who already have their own child, and five children (blood brothers and sisters) who were left without parental care this spring. The second facility will open its doors in the agro-town of Mazolovo and will be the fourth in the Vitebsk region. Its difference from most such homes is that it was built with the involvement of sponsorship funds – about Br1.93 billion. Another Br1 billion was allocated from the state budget. And the furnishing of the premises in the two-story five-room cottage was carried out thanks to a charity event announced by the district organization of the NGO "Belaya Rus".

More than Br53 million were collected, and the local farm also helped plant a fruit and berry garden on the household plot. Now the keys to this entire household will be received by foster parents Olga and Alexey Pisetsky. They have already released two of their own children into "free swimming" and now, continuing to raise their youngest son, they will take under their guardianship one boy and four girls who were left without parents. In addition to the mentioned socially significant facilities, another such home was occupied this year – in Postavy. According to the first deputy head of the education department of the regional executive committee, Leonid Stepanov, family-type homes are being built under the demographic security program, and previously the state program "Children of Belarus" was in effect.

Thanks to this, there are currently 30 houses for families raising orphans in the Vitebsk region (including this year's facilities). Such houses are absent only in Sennensky, Dubrovensky, and Lioznensky districts. Considering that each house is designed to accommodate a family with a maximum of 10 children, and the number of children left without parental care is decreasing annually (71 children were identified in the first quarter of 2016), the need for the construction of new facilities is gradually disappearing.

Ekaterina Knyazeva - BELTA.