FROM THE EXPERT:
By Amy Norton 

FACT: More than 13,000 children in Russia were born to HIV-positive mothers at the end of 2003.
 
And of this number, more than 10 percent were abandoned to orphanages. Since then, the number of children infected with HIV has grown significantly meaning more and more reside in the orphanages around Russia.

In large cities like St. Petersburg, we have seen the number of children with HIV in orphanages double in the past two years. This issue has become one of primary importance to the officials and caregivers who are responsible for these children. Once a child is placed in the baby home or orphanage system with a record of being born to an HIV-positive mother, it is nearly impossible to find a Russian family to adopt them.

Unfortunately, drug use is on the rise in Russia as well, and most of the reported HIV cases are the result of drug use with infected needles. Many mothers abandon their children at a hospital when they realize they themselves are infected because they do not want anyone to know they have the disease, nor do they feel they can care for a child with the same affliction. There is still a tremendous stigma associated with HIV in Russia and very little information available on how to prevent its transmission or care for someone with the disease.

As we continue to support and provide for the children in the orphanages of Russia, we at Buckner cannot ignore this growing and pressing problem. The orphanages, shelters and baby homes receive more and more of these children each month, and they are desperately trying to meet their needs. Buckner has helped provide specialized equipment for blood testing and sterilization of bottles, clothing and linens and we have renovated floors and wings of orphanages to provide secure areas for these children. We have been asked to provide training materials for staff, the children and for schools, and most importantly, we have been asked to find adoptive families for the children who were born to HIV-positive mothers but do not have the disease. Thankfully, we have already had several families adopt these precious children, but we are still in great need of more families to adopt.
Amy Norton, pictured with a child in Russia, has worked with Buckner for more than 10 years and currently serves as Director of Shoes for Orphan Souls.
Lydia, a grandmother volunteer at Hospital #15 in Russia, holds a bay boy with HIV. The number of children born to mothers with HIV has doubled in the past two years.

This issue was so evident on my last trip to Russia in Nov. 2005. We have an established program at Hospital 15 in St. Petersburg where wonderful Christian ladies love, feed and care for children who have been abandoned or brought in from the streets. The hospital is really more like a shelter, and it’s the first place many children come before going to the orphanages.

I came to a room where Lydia, one of our grandmothers who has worked faithfully for five years, was holding a newborn baby boy. He was only two days old. She shared that he was HIV positive and was suffering from withdrawals because his mother was on drugs. She had not slept since he arrived at the hospital. The baby had a fever and would only stop crying when she held him. The doctors were still unsure as to any neurological damage he might have. Unlike many people, Lydia was not afraid to hold this baby boy close and pray for him and his future. I told her that in heaven she would have many jewels in her crown. As we continued to talk, with tears streaming down both of our faces, she shared that all children need to be loved and especially to know God’s love for them. She wanted to show them that special love, no matter how small the child or what their circumstances might be.

There is only so much we as an organization can do to battle this growing epidemic in Russia, but to show God’s love through the arms of a staff member in Russia or through a family here in the United States, we are taking one step closer to making the biggest difference of all.

Amy Norton is the director of Shoes for Orphan Souls, a ministry of Buckner Orphan Care International. She formerly served as the director of international programs for more than 10 years. For more information about children with HIV in Russia or about Buckner’s ministry, please contact 1-877-7ORPHAN.