Rescue Centres
Anya, the director of the rescue shelter introduced us to a family of four children that had just been brought in to the shelter.  They had been discovered on a train coming into Moscow from the north of Russia.  The children had started the journey with their mother who told them that they were all going back to their grandparents in Moscow but during the journey the mother had disappeared.
Little Nadia has lived with her mother and grandmother who were both alcoholics one day her mother was beaten and died on the streets and her grandmother drank herself into unconsciousness. Nadia had been alone in the flat for days before neighbours found her. At three years old she was unable to speak and very scared of people with scars to show how she had been beaten in her short life.
Facts: Preeyuts (Rescue Shelters) are safe houses where children who have been found on the streets,  abandoned, orphaned  or removed from dysfunctional families live for a short time while social workers endeavour to find relatives and work with them to reinstate the child with a  family member.  Preeyuts are usually small (about 25 places) and homely giving a warm and loving atmosphere for the child during a traumatic time in his or her life.  If a family member cannot be found to care for the child they are then moved to a children’s home or orphanage/Internat usually close to the area that the family came from.
Love Russia sponsors places at the preeyets to help them keep the places open. One place costs around £14 per month and could help up to ten children in one year. Twenty five places in each preeyut means that as many as 250 children can be cared for in one year.