Yesterday, six large families mothers from Vitebsk region were awarded the Order of Motherhood, and 25 women received the regional prize named after Z. Tusnolobova-Marchenko.

Every child has the right to maternal care, and the women of Pridvinye serve as the best example of this, warming not just one child's heart with their warmth, just like those women who were honored yesterday at the regional executive committee.

“Children are our continuation, and if there are many of them, it means we will leave even more behind,” believes the youngest award-winning mother of this year, Elena Gornak from the Vitebsk region. The woman is only 26 years old, but she is a mother with experience. Due to her mother's serious illness, she had to take care of her younger sister. Now Elena herself has five children. In the difficult parental endeavor, the young woman has a reliable shoulder – her husband Valery. He works as a private entrepreneur, trying to provide for his large family so that his wife can manage the household and raise children.

Yesterday, Elena, among other women of the Vitebsk region, was presented with a high award for parental labor in a solemn ceremony at the regional executive committee. In total, six residents of Pridvinye were awarded the Order of Motherhood for raising five or more children this year. And 25 women received the regional prize named after the Hero of the Soviet Union Z. Tusnolobova-Marchenko. Among them is Dina Slavuk, a mother of three children from the Orsha region. Her female destiny has not been easy: her child was diagnosed with cancer, and he became disabled. However, despite all this, Dina finds the strength to live, fight for her family happiness, and help others. As a member of the local branch of the Belarusian Republican Society "Children in Trouble," she supports families raising children with disabilities.

Mothers who have taken in other people's children, giving them love and care, deserve special attention. And there are many such women among the award recipients. For example, Tatyana Grabko from the Gluboksky district. Having raised three of her own children, she and her husband have helped almost 20 boys and girls left without parents start their lives. Three children have been returned to their biological families. For more than five years, Tatyana Mikhailovna has been the head of a family-type home, where comfort and love reign. Today, eight foster children live with the couple. For this invaluable contribution and important role in their lives, she received the Z. Tusnolobova-Marchenko regional prize.

The women were congratulated on their well-deserved awards by Vladimir Terentyev, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee. Raising children, especially if there are many of them, is a difficult and responsible task, so state, local government, and public support for families is very important.

– In Belarus, family support, and the protection of motherhood and childhood are priorities in state and social policy, – emphasized Vladimir Vladimirovich. – Since January 1, 2015, additional state support measures for families have been established. The opportunity to receive non-cash funds in the amount of 10 thousand dollars upon the birth (adoption) of a third and subsequent child, the so-called family capital, has been provided. In the Vitebsk region, 840 families have applied to the labor, employment, and social protection authorities to exercise their right to appoint family capital. The practice of providing targeted assistance to low-income families has been continued. Children under the age of two are provided with food products; this year, more than 1,880 infants received such assistance totaling 12.5 billion rubles.

Thanks to an effective system of measures taken by the state to economically support families with children, demographic indicators have significantly improved throughout the country, notes Vladimir Terentyev. Meanwhile, there is a problem of social orphanhood, the solution of which the region is also working hard on. More than 70% of orphans and children left without parental care are in family-based upbringing. Currently, 716 families have taken in 1,834 children for upbringing. Since 2007, 615 children have been adopted in the Vitebsk region. It is planned to increase the number of foster families created on a professional basis. 158 boys and girls live and are raised in 26 family-type homes, and the construction of three more similar institutions is underway in the Vitebsk, Gorodok, and Postavy districts.

Every child has the right to maternal care, and the women of Pridvinye serve as the best example of this, warming more than one child's heart with their warmth, as do those representatives of the fair sex who were honored yesterday at the regional executive committee. Currently, about 650 decorated mothers and almost 400 recipients of the award named after Hero of the Soviet Union Z. Tusnolobova-Marchenko live in the region. It is gratifying that the daily work of mothers, which requires complete dedication, does not go unnoticed and unappreciated.

Natalya Ryzhkova. Photo by Anton Stepanishchev. "Vitebskiye vesti".