In Ukraine, foster families help children have hope for future

Svitlana and Ruslan live in a small village in Poltava, Ukraine. They have been together for over 16 years and have four children. After the full-scale war began, they began thinking about how they could help other children.

"The starting point for us was numerous videos from constantly-shelled Kharkiv,” says Svitlana.

“We believed that we couldn't stand aside and we had to support the children. That's how we started to learn about foster care.”

After talking with their children, the couple decided to start fostering. They have since welcomed seven children aged 3 to 13 into their home.

"One of the boys went back to his family and some twins were adopted,” says Svitlana, smiling. 

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the number of families who are temporarily unable to care for their children has increased. Fostering can offer a sense of normality, and the opportunity to live in a safe, secure family environment.

The ‘Family for every child’ project, launched in February this year, aims to help reduce the number of cases where children are placed in institutional care. A total of 184 municipalities from 21 regions, including 10 municipalities in the Poltavska region, are involved in the project.

Svitlana says that although fostering has not been easy, she and her husband have tried hard to give the children warmth, care and a sense of security. The couple advises others thinking about fostering to consider the pros and cons carefully. 

"For me, the greatest happiness is seeing children change,” says Svitlana. 

“I feel proud that we managed to cope with the problems and challenges, helped them, and put our hearts and souls into it. You know that all this was not in vain, because staying in a foster family saves children from orphanages and boarding schools.”

“I decided to help them”

Olena, from another village in the Poltava region, had a similar motivation to become a foster parent while raising her own two daughters. She recently welcomed five children from a family facing difficult circumstances.

"It is a very difficult time, many children have been left without care because of the war,” says Olena, a qualified teacher who has always loved working with children. “So I decided to help them. Now I think we will move from foster care to another form of family education – guardianship, adoption or foster care.”

To begin her fostering journey, Olena took part in a two-month training course. Then, in January 2024, five siblings – three girls and two boys whose mother had contacted Children’s Services to ask for help – arrived at her home. Very quickly, they made many new friends, bonded with Olena's daughters and finished the school year successfully. They also joined local clubs, learning to sing and dance.

"I try to put myself in the children's shoes to understand them better,” says Olena. 

“We constantly communicate, talk, relax and sometimes joke around together. We enjoy going for walks. If we have any difficulties or questions, Children's Services comes to our aid.”

Natalia Gavrilenko is the head of the Children's Department of the Executive Committee at Khorol City Council.

"A foster family can be established by Ukrainian citizens who have undergone specialised training,” explains Natalia.

“A foster parent must have an assistant. Together, they take care of, look after and support children from families in difficult circumstances. For children in foster care, it is necessary to provide a separate room and all amenities.”

Potential foster carers and their assistants receive training at the regional centre for social services.

"In most cases, children need foster care because their parents are temporarily unable to fulfill their duties properly, sometimes due to unemployment or illness," she says.

"The family foster care service allows us to reduce the trauma for children by preventing them from being placed in institutions,” adds Dmytro Lobanov, who works as a Child Protection Specialist for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Poltava. “The conditions in a foster family are different from those in institutions. That's why foster care is so important.”

Dmytro says there is an increasing need for foster care due to the ongoing war.

"Some institutions have been relocated abroad because of the security situation,” he says. “It is not always possible to return children to their biological families. We are working to ensure that children are placed in foster families while their permanent placement is resolved. Family-based foster care prevents children from being placed in institutions again and makes their return and reintegration less traumatic."

As of April 2024, there were around 300 foster families in Ukraine. But many more are still needed, with thousands of children in need of this service.

The ‘Family for every child: Better care for Ukrainian children’ project is jointly implemented by UNICEF Ukraine, the Every Child Partnership, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the National Social Service of Ukraine and the Coordination Centre for the Development of Family-based Care and Childcare, with financial support from the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).