Resources and helplines for families fleeing Ukraine

Volunteers in and around host communities have turned out by the thousands to escort refugees to safety. Many are unregistered, acting in goodwill to link families to accommodation and support. But the outpour of help at border crossings also provides cover for traffickers and other predators seeking to exploit women and children fleeing war. 

If you're crossing a border:

❌ Don’t trust job or educational offers from anyone other than authorities, especially if you're pressured to commit right away or required to separate from your friends or family.

✅ Keep digital and paper copies of your passport, ID and other certificates.

❌ Never leave your passport, ID or other certificates with someone you don’t know.

✅ Stay with your family and friends as much as possible. It’s always safer to travel with people you know.

✅ If you must get in a car with someone you don’t know, take a photo of the license plate and send it to someone you trust. Tell that person where you are going and when you should arrive.

✅ Exercise extreme caution when giving your personal details to others, including on social media.

✅ If a stranger offers help and something doesn’t feel right, trust your instinct.

If you're travelling with children:

✅ Teach your children their full names, your full name and your phone number. Have them practice repeating it.

✅ Identify a meeting point and plan to go there in case you get separated from your children.

✅ For very small children, prepare an identity tag (like a bracelet or something attached to their clothing) with the child’s name and your contact details.

✅ For children with mobile phones, save your contact as 'AA Emergency Contact 1' and that of a trusted loved one as 'AA Emergency Contact 2,' etc.

✅ Talk to your children about the potential risks of travelling and encourage them to share with you anything that may be worrying them.

✅ As much as possible, allow your children time to rest, sleep and even play while travelling.

❌ Don’t allow your children to be taken out of your sight or to any location without you.

✅ If anyone is acting or threatening to act violent against you or your children, seek immediate safety before informing the authorities.

✅ While travelling, hold your child's hand or take other precautions to keep them close.

❌ Beware of anyone offering you a job, shelter or education for your children. Don't accept offers of services or support from anyone other than an authorized official.

If you're helping an unaccompanied child:

❌ Don’t assume the child is lost. A parent or caregiver may be close by.

✅ Ask others in the immediate vicinity if they know the child. Ask for the child's name and other family details.

❌ Don’t accept help from any stranger who offers to escort the child to safety.

✅ Keep the child's belongings with her at all times. These might help authorities trace her family.

❌ Don’t share information about the child with anyone else, aside from competent authorities.

✅ Contact a competent authority – such as the local municipality government, border police, or Ukraine’s consular services in the host country. Share the child’s information and location, and follow the authority’s instructions.

✅ Explain to the child what will happen next, without promising to find his parents. This could cause him additional confusion or distress.

✅ Don't leave the child until she is safely in the hands of a competent authority.