Front Page News on Baby Home

The following article was reported in the St. Petersburg Times, on March 27, 2009. It give a good background as to what the Lomonosov Baby Home has been going through these past few weeks. The post following this will give an update from our meeting on April 10, 2009.

Lomonosov Orphanage Appeals for Aid to Prevent Closure
St. Petersburg Times, on March 27, 2009

The staff of the Lomonosov orphanage in the St. Petersburg suburb of Lomonosov are calling for help to save it from closure.

“If we meet the demands of the fire inspectorate by June 1 of this year we’ll be able to save our children’s home,” said Antonia Petrova, head doctor of the orphanage.”

“In order to do that we need to raise about 2.5 million rubles ($75,000) or for someone to donate the necessary construction materials to us,” Petrova told The St. Petersburg Times on Thursday.

If we don’t manage that, we won’t be able to look after children here anymore, and we’ll have to lay off 100 staff from our orphanage,“ she said.

The work of the orphanage has been temporally stopped for a period of 90 days by a court ruling made on the basis of a report of the Petrodvrets District Fire Inspectorate.

The inspections found numerous safety violations in the wooden building, which was built in 1892. The majority of those violations can be resolved within the time period set by the court and the Fire Inspectorate has said that it is ready to assist in eradicating the violations in order to prevent the orphange’s closure.

Earlier the Leningrad Oblast Health Committee ruled that the orphanage be closed and that its children be distributed among other orphanages, the decision being made in the belief that the Fire Inspectorate was certain to close the institution down.

As a result, all 95 children under four years of age were moved to various other orphanages in the Leningrad Oblast. They include 22 HIV-positive children who were receiving special care at the Lomonosov Orphanage.

In interviews on Thursday, the orphanage staff and volunteers said that the removal of the children would have a negative impact, especially upon those who have been diagnosed HIV-positive. Lomonosov Orphanage is the only specialized establishment in Leningrad Oblast tailored to meet the needs of children suffering from such illnesses.

“If we remove the fire violations we won’t be able to return all of the children that we had to transfer to the other orphanages, but we’ll be able to get our HIV-positive children back, received new children and keep 100 staff at the orphanage,” Petrova said.

Petrova explained that in view of the current economic crisis it would be “a tragedy” to lose the orphanage’s staff and leave such qualified individuals without jobs.

In order to conform with the fire safety regulations, the orphanage needs to replace it’s linoleum flooring with a more fire resistant material and fit its kitchens with fire-proof windows and ceilings, among other works.

The staff at the orphanage are appealing for money, building materials and labor fromk those who are willing to help.

They hope that construction and repairs companies will respond to their appeal.

If you would like to provide assistance the orphanage’s phone number is (7-812)-422-3759.