With the New Year just around the corner, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said 2008 will be dedicated to family values. RT met two families who live in very different situations to find out what values they hold dear.

The crisis of the family has been an issue of serious concern for the Russian President.

“A secure family is hard work. If a society isn't attentive enough to family values, there are children who are left alone and parents who are forgotten,” Putin said during a special event in support of household values.

Throughout Russia, even though more children were born during this year than the previous the birth rate is still lower than the death rate.

Statistics says too many homes are broken, with half of the marriages ending in divorce. Marriages break up because of problems with housing, drinking and poverty.

Marina is a single mother of six. Two of her husbands died, and she divorced the last. She believes that though single parents say life is tough, nothing can be better for a child than a real family.

“Even though there is no father – what am I going to do? These are my children! I can't give them away!” Marina says.

Marina hasn't worked for the past ten years because she is busy raising her children. The family lives on social welfare, but Marina says the Government doesn't do enough to support single parents.

“The way the Government supports us leaves us hoping for the best. I don't know how they count the money they give us to support our children,” she says.

A happy home of 17 kids

The Saltikov family has seventeen children, with the oldest being 26 and the youngest – just over a month old.

Nikolay Saltikov, whose family of over twenty people shows how a large number of children can create a happy home, is convinced that respect is the key.

“The Modern Russian people never started loving children. But the main reason is that there is no spirituality, people don't believe in God,” Saltikov says.