Influencing change for children in Ukraine

02 February 12

We are playing a key role in a breakthrough in Ukraine's childcare policy, as the country embarks on a new national strategy to reform its social care system.

This week Halyna Postoliuk, our Ukraine Country Director, was invited to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Ombudsman for Children's Rights, to discuss our family-based approach to childcare and our vision for a Ukraine free from institutions.

This meeting followed a visit to one of our flagship programmes in Ukraine, the Ray of Hope Centre in the Makariv region, by the Ombudsman for Children's Rights and the Governor of the Kyiv Oblast, in which Makariv is located. The opening of the Centre in October last year marked the final stage of closing the Barvinok Institution, which shut its doors for good in 2010. While all of the children from the institution were placed in alternative, family-based care or supported to live independent lives, the reasons for children being institutionalised at such an alarming rate have not disappeared.

There is a strong history of dependency on institutions in Ukraine. The nation currently has one of the highest records in Europe for institutionalising children, with an estimated 70,000 children currently resident in 636 institutions. Over 800 babies are abandoned in Ukraine every year.

The Ray of Hope Centre provides support for highly vulnerable families to avoid them breaking apart, one of the main reasons for children being separated from their families and placed into institutions in the first place. Through the Ray of Hope Centre, we have been able to demonstrate that it is possible to totally transform childcare from a system based on institutions to one based on families. Not only have we closed down an institution housing 79 children, we have set up services in the community to make sure it is never needed again, creating lasting change for all children in Makariv.

We welcome the opportuity to shape national strategy to reform social care in Ukraine.

Read more about our work in Ukraine.