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Ukraine, like many Former Soviet Union countries, has seen rapid social, economic and political changes in the twenty years since independence. There is a strong reliance on institutions in Ukraine. Placing a child in an institution is viewed as acceptable and even preferable for families struggling with poverty, substance abuse, physical or psychological health conditions, domestic violence or unemployment. Since 1995, the number of children in institutional care has increased by 50%, with over 1,000 children abandoned each year. There are few alternative forms of childcare to institutions in Ukraine and traditional family support networks are slowly breaking down. As an emerging economy Ukraine has suffered severely from the global economic crash and has seen the highest rate of inflation in Europe as a result, putting more poor families at risk of abandoning their children to institutions.
EveryChild has been working in Ukraine for more than ten years. We work closely with the Government to reform policy to ensure long-term and sustainable change. We offer technical advice and training to service providers to build on existing services and pilot alternative forms of childcare and we work at community level to innovate new services.
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Preventing children being placed in institutional care - Kiev
EveryChild is working with the Ukraine Government, service providers and in local communities to prevent children from being abandoned into institutional care. Through the project children and families are directed towards the support services that they need to stay together as a family. EveryChild is working with the Government to change policy so that more services are available to vulnerable families before they reach crisis point.
EveryChild social workers intervene at a crisis point in vulnerable pregnant women’s lives, ensuring better outcomes for both the expecting mother’s and their children.
Other early intervention services involve working to reduce stigma in society towards single pregnant women and raising awareness on the importance of family care, as well as improving the skills of service providers, medical staff and social workers to provide quality support and care to vulnerable mother’s and their children.
EveryChild in Kiev State Art Gallery
EveryChild Ukraine is celebrating its 10th year working in the Former Soviet Republic with a groundbreaking photographic exhibition. EveryChild hopes the exhibition in Kiev State Art Gallery will help promote its message that every child has the right to grow up in a family.
> Take a walk through the gallery...
Prevention of child abandonment project - Kiev
EveryChild is working in two baby homes in Kiev to provide early intervention services to mothers who are at risk of abandoning their newborn babies. There are many factors that make a new mother vulnerable to placing her child in a baby home, including poverty, lack of financial support, disability, HIV/AIDS, alcohol or drug addiction, being a care leaver and being a single mother. All this ensures that the children can be fully reintegrated back into communities.
Supporting care leavers - Kiev region
Children leaving the care system often lack the skills and support mechanisms needed to be able to deal with everyday life in the community, rather than in an institution. Children are often ill-prepared for independent living because of the inadequate social and personal skills development they have received during the years of living in an institution. EveryChild sets up care services, trains mentors and trains children in vocational and living skills. Mentors support the care leavers so that they are better equipped to deal with adult life.
Emergency foster care - Brovary
EveryChild has piloted the first emergency foster care service in Ukraine. The new model of emergency foster care service ensures that abandoned babies receive care from a family until a time when they can be adopted or returned to their birth parents if appropriate. Working alongside the local authority in the Kiev region, EveryChild has trained and supported emergency foster families to care for children who would ordinarily be confined to a hospital or children’s home.
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