Prevention of unemployment among graduates of orphanages on the basis of a study of youth from adaptation center «House of youth» in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Orphanages, widespread in Kazakhstan, in recent years have faced multiple challenges, including the economic crisis. Despite their significant quantitative and qualitative differences, many of them have certain characteristics. These similarities include educators who have minimal social and emotional interaction with children and, consequently, some degree of social and emotional burnout and neglect; big turnover of caregivers; large groups of children and a high level of non-specialized professional staff. This paper presents some research results based on the case of Kazakhstan and the changes that need to be implemented for effective social adaptation of children raised in orphanages, their sustainability in career choice and further integration into society. Generalized studies conducted in the orphanage «House of Youth» are a demonstration of both the effectiveness of social interventions and their ability to improve children’s development in Kazakhstan. A research was conducted in «House of youth» – a center for adaptation and support of graduates of social institutions – in order to identify the main strate-gies and preferences of orphans and children without parental care. According to the results of the expert interview, where 80 young people from «House of youth» participated, 18.5% of respondents do not work anywhere, and a lot of employees (21%) temporarily work as wage-workers, which subsequently can cause the risk of losing their jobs. Having analyzed the results of the study, we prepared recommen-dations for modernization and correction of the career guidance work of orphanages. Also, proposals were included to the authorized bodies to improve the quality and efficiency of the work carried out to combat unemployment among graduates of orphanages.

Key words: orphans, orphanages, unemployment, intervention, professional choice, House of Youth