ABSTRACT
Drawing from neo-institutional theory, the authors analyse the unintended consequences of Russian child welfare reforms. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with child protection officials and other practitioners and experts across 2015–2018 in North-West Russia and Moscow. Departing from the initial goals of the reform and their measurement, the chapter investigates tensions between them through three empirical cases and shows that these tensions result in many unintended consequences. After an analysis of the empirical cases, the authors explain the key reasons for the identified unintended outcomes. The chapter argues that the crude quantitative measurement of institutional change has led to severe unintended consequences, institutional traps, and mismatches between federal-level goals and local circumstances, which are actually hampering the achievement of the intended qualitative changes to the services available to children deprived of parental care.
