Hospital Children
Love Russia recently discovered a phenomenon which takes place in large city hospitals or hospitals near the railway lines.  Young pregnant women travel hundreds of miles to these hospitals when they are close to giving birth, enter the hospitals to give birth, then leave during the night leaving  their babies behind (giving false or no details about themselves). In Russia it is illegal not to have identification papers so the babies cannot be registered and therefore do not exist legally.  The hospital administrators cannot take the babies to the orphanages without papers resulting in the babies being left in a room for up to three years while the nightmare of trying to find relatives or making them legal wards of the state slowly gets underway. As the children do not legally exist the hospitals cannot claim financial help for them. Nurses, who work in the hospital, endeavour to look after the children and provide clothing and toys, but the children will be left for hours on end when they are busy on the wards.  Love Russia is providing clothing and nappies for the children and funding a group of carers to go into these hospitals to give dedicated 24/7 care and interact with the babies.