Introduction: Russian child welfare reform and institutional change

The authors introduce the ongoing child welfare reforms in Russia and consider the international and national context, as well as the main drivers of these reforms and their current results. In addition, a literature review of the field is also provided. Child welfare reform in Russia builds on the idea of every child’s right to grow up in a family. The main aim is to deinstitutionalise the child welfare system by promoting adoptions and fostering, restructuring the remaining residential institutions into home-like environments, and creating community-based family support services. The chapter introduces the main concepts and terminology used to describe the child welfare system and the research questions of the volume, and it employs a neo-institutionalist framework as the theoretical framework of the book. The volume analyses how reform is implemented, which echoes a fundamental change in the ideological premises of child welfare policy. Thus, the reform has shifted the course of the child welfare policy in Russia. The volume examines how the reforms are affecting the institutions and practices of child welfare in Russia, what kind of institutional change has followed the shift in the ideals, and what are the intended and unintended consequences of these reform processes. Finally, the chapter gives a brief overview of the chapters in the volume.