Parents to pay for abandoned handicapped babies

Some parents have already received court rulings, ordering to refund the expenditures for caring about their children abandoned since 2007. A woman in the village of Kramyanets in the Lahoisk district has recently received a letter from the district court, ordering her to pay over Br4 million to the local state-sponsored orphanage. The baby was abandoned 7 years ago.

Under the presidential edict No 18, effective since January 2007, negligent parents have to compensate to the state for carrying about their children. Not only alcoholics or other socially lost people but also those whose children were born with physical or mental illnesses and abandoned by their parents are regarded as "negligent parents".

In fact, it is better for children to stay at an orphanage with doctors aroun than at home. But Aleh Vyalichka, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on healthcare, physical culture and sports, explained the European Radio for Belarus that only the parents who refused from their parental rights or were deprived of their parental rights by courts, are targeted.

If parents do not abandon their handicapped babies, they are granted an allowance to cover orphanage fees.

Parents are charged between Br170,000 to Br200,000 per month, but very few actually compensate the state.