The Minister of Health, Mr Zurabov, has told the deputy heads of Federation executive agencies that the measures in the demographic field have begun to show positive results.

He said that in the first half of this year, the number of births had risen by 6% compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, he observed that the highest birth rate for 15 years had been attained in July. A trend had begun to take shape for the number of families living precariously and being dependent on social security to diminish.

Mr Zurabov also emphasised that action should be taken not only to cater for children after their parents had been deprived of their parental rights but also, and indeed mainly, to the avoid such situations and the onset of serious family difficulties in the first place. Referring to the delegation of guardianship powers to local authorities from 1 January 2008, the minister stated that regional legislation should be enacted setting out clearly the functions of the agencies concerned and their financial and staffing norms. He said that in those regions where delegation was effected without the corresponding norms being in place, the full potential would not be realised. He also mentioned the consequence of family placements for orphan children, which was redundancy of institution staff. To resolve this situation, Mr Zurabov called for a ‘service network to be created for befriending foster families to which institution staff would transfer’.