A family for every child: the number of people willing to become foster carers has increased in Ukraine
10 May 2024 17:31
The project “A Family for Every Child: Development of Family Foster Care” was presented in 21 regions, thus increasing the number of people willing to become foster carers. This was reported by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Nazar Tanasyshyn stressed that social support and protection of families with children and children, in particular the development of family-based forms of education, is a priority for the state.
“Today, Ukraine, with the assistance of the EU and other international partners, is reforming the system of care and support for children. We already have some successes and steps forward. The key goal of these changes is to ensure that all children in Ukraine grow up and are brought up in a safe environment with caring adults. And family-based child patronage is one of the components on the way to this goal. It is about supporting biological parents, social services in communities, and a family environment for a child in need,”
– said Nazar Tanasyshyn.
184 communities have been selected to participate in the project “Family for Every Child: Development of Family Patronage”, and agreements have been signed with almost all of them. Such cooperation opens up new opportunities to ensure the right of every child to grow up in a family.
The presentations in the regions were attended by heads or deputy heads of regional military administrations, representatives of children’s services, social services, employment centres, community leaders, and foster carers themselves. They shared their experience, explained what motivates them to help children, talked about challenges in their work, cooperation with specialists and support from an interdisciplinary team.
Zinaida Kyianytsia, Deputy Director of the international charity Partnership for Every Child, explained how patronage works. This organisation helps implement the project in communities.
“The family of the foster carer is an important, but not the only component of patronage. Foster care involves the coordinated actions of the foster carer and their family members, a social worker, a child service that manages the child’s case and makes appropriate decisions, and an interdisciplinary team. This includes a doctor, teacher or educator, psychologist and other specialists. Everyone’s efforts are aimed at making the child feel safe and happy,”
– explained Zinaida Kiyanytsia.
Training for community professionals has already begun in many regions. They are taught how to properly inform about foster care services, where and how to look for foster carers.
Training for potential foster parents, adoptive parents, and foster carers is also underway. By the time the project presentations were completed, candidates had already appeared in Poltava, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Volyn, Chernihiv, and other regions. They are preparing to start their studies.
Thanks to the new project, the communities will receive material, informational, and consulting support. And families who want to become foster families will receive social and psychological support, as well as support from an interdisciplinary team.
Work with communities will continue until July 2025. During this time, we plan to create 250 new foster families.
